Paper and Pulp Industry
The paper and pulp business, which has its roots in China and dates back more than 2,000 years, creates the various types of paper used for printing, bags, signage, cardboard, and other things. In 1690, German immigrant William Rittenhouse brought the business to colonial America. Rittenhouse, who came from a line of papermakers, settled close to Philadelphia, constructed a log mill, and started producing paper. The mill was run by the Rittenhouse family until 1820. The first newspaper in Philadelphia, The American Weekly Mercury, was established by Andrew Bradford, a partner in Rittenhouse, and it used Rittenhouse paper. Evolution Paper-making has its roots in ancient Egypt, where thin layers of papyrus plant were used to form sheets, and then stacked on top of each other at right angles and pounded together. The true paper was first created in China, with evidence of the first paper making dating from around the 1st century BC. Around 1799, the Fourdrinier Machine ena...