|
The process was unchanged
until 1807 with the development by the Fourdriniers of a continuous
paper making machine. The machine mechanised the wet end of the
process and revolutionised the making of paper so that one machine
could do the work of 32 operatives. However the wet paper had
to be wound onto wooden reels and later cut by hand into sheets
for drying.
Thomas Bonsor Crompton was
a man of outstanding ability with a reputation that extended
far beyond the confines of Farnworth. Thomas addressed the problems
associated with the Fourdriniers machine and added a series of
steam heated drying cylinders to dry the wet paper. Thomas Bonsor
was only 28 when he patented his invention No. 4509 in 1820.
He installed the new machines in his mill at Farnworth and built
and sold complete machines to other paper mills. Production in
the mill rose and the paper manufactured by the new machine could
be produced at a fraction of the cost of hand made paper. At
one time the mill at Farnworth produced two per cent of the country's
total paper production. This was the birth of the modern paper
making machine. A substantial amout of the production was used
by the London and provincial press and led to his ownership of
the Morning Post.
Thomas Bonsor could well be
called the first papermaking tycoon and his mill at Farnworth
became a showpiece for the craft. In 1833 he built a large cotton
mill at Prestolee and this was probably responsible for his use
of cotton waste as a raw material from which to make paper. He
was always experimenting with materials that had been considered
unsuitable for use in the manufacture of paper. In 1828, in conjunction
with Enoch Taylor, Thomas Bonsor patented a rotary paper cutter
for sheeting paper from the roll.
He died on 5th September 1858
and was buried in St. John's churchyard, Farnworth. The mill
at Farnworth passed to William James Rideout who continued the
tradition of making paper until the great depression of 1883
when the mill closed and the making of paper ceased. William
J Rideout built Holy Trinity Church Prestolee at a cost of £7000
as a memorial to his uncle Thomas Bonsor Crompton. |
