The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers

The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers practice test and answers with explanations are given here for your practice. The reading passage has six paragraphs along with 13 questions. The questions are divided into two categories: true false not given, and matching features questions.

Table of contents:

• Solution for The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom
• The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers IELTS Reading Practice Test
• Passage
• Questions
• Answers with Explanations

Solution for The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom

We have provided The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers in the table below.

Answer Table

1. TRUE	5. TRUE	9. C	13. E
2. NOT GIVEN	6. TRUE	10. A
3. TRUE	7. FALSE	11. B
4. FALSE	8. F	12. D

The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom IELTS Reading Practice Test - Exam Review

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The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers is provided here for your practice, and it will assist you in improving your ability to understand and comprehend. To solve the questions quickly, read the passage thoroughly, and highlight the keywords. You can easily crack your IELTS reading module with effective strategies.

Passage

We have given The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading reading passage. Read the passage attentively and answer all the questions (1-13). Check your answers with The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers with location.

The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom

A. The first reference to a paper mill in the United Kingdom was in a book printed by Wynken de Worde in about 1495. This mill belonged to a certain John Tate and was near Hertford. Other early mills included one at Dartford, owned by Sir John Speilman, who was granted special privileges for the collection of rags by Queen Elizabeth, and one built in Buckinghamshire before the end of the sixteenth century. During the first half of the seventeenth century, mills were established near Edinburgh, at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, and several in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Surrey.

B. The Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since 1694, with simple watermarks in them since at least 1697. Henri de Portal was awarded the contract in December 1724 for producing the Bank of England watermarked bank-note paper at Bere Mill in Hampshire. Portals have retained this contract ever since but production is no longer at Bere Mill. There were two major developments at about the middle of the eighteenth century in the paper industry in the UK.

The first was the introduction of the rag engine or Hollander, invented in Holland sometime before 1670, which replaced the stamping mills, which had previously been used, for the disintegration of the rags and beating of the pulp. The second was in the design and construction of the mold used for forming the sheet. Early molds had straight wires sewn down onto the wooden foundation, this produced an irregular surface showing the characteristic “laid” marks, and, when printed on, the ink did not give clear, sharp lines. Baskerville, a Birmingham printer, wanted a smoother paper.
James Whatman the Elder developed a woven wire fabric, thus leading to his production of the first woven paper in 1757. Increasing demands for more paper during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led to shortages of the rags needed to produce the paper.

C. Part of the problem was that no satisfactory method of bleaching pulp had yet been devised, so only white rags could be used to produce white paper. Chlorine bleaching was being used by the end of the eighteenth century, but excessive use produced papers that were of poor quality and deteriorated quickly.

By 1800 up to 24 million pounds of rags were being used annually, to produce 10,000 tons of paper in England and Wales, and 1000 tons in Scotland, the home market is supplemented by imports, mainly from the continent. Experiments in using other materials, such as sawdust, rye straw, cabbage stumps, and spruce wood had been conducted in 1765 by Jacob Christian Schäffer. Similarly, Matthias Koops carried out many experiments on straw and other materials at the Neckinger Mill, Bermondsey around 1800, but it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that pulp produced using straw or wood was utilized in the production of paper.

D. By 1800 there were 430 (564 in 1821) paper mills in England and Wales (mostly single vat mills), under 50 (74 in 1823) in Scotland, and 60 in Ireland, but all the production was by hand and the output was low. The first attempt at a paper machine to mechanize the process was patented in 1799 by Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert, but it was not a success.

E. However, the drawings were brought to England by John Gamble in 1801 and passed on to the brother's Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier, who financed the engineer Henry Donkin to build the machine.

The first successful machine was installed at Frogmore, Hertfordshire, in 1803. The paper was pressed onto an endless wire cloth, transferred to a continuously felt blanket, and then pressed again. Finally, it was cut off the reel into sheets and loft dried in the same way as hand made paper. In 1809 John Dickinson patented a machine that used a wire cloth-covered cylinder revolving in a pulp suspension, the water is removed through the center of the cylinder, and the layer of pulp is removed from the surface by a felt-covered roller (later replaced by a continuous felt passing round a roller).

This machine was the forerunner of the present-day cylinder mold or vat machine, used mainly for the production of boards. Both these machines produced paper as a wet sheet, which require drying after removal from the machine, but in 1821 T B Crompton patented a method of drying the paper continuously, using a woven fabric to hold the sheet against steam-heated drying cylinders. After it had been pressed, the paper was cut into sheets by a cutter fixed at the end of the last cylinder. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the pattern for the mechanized production of paper had been set.

Subsequent developments concentrated on increasing the size and production of the machines. Similarly, developments in alternative pulps to rags, mainly wood and esparto grass, enabled production increases.

F. Conversely, despite the increase in paper production, there was a decrease, by 1884, in the number of paper mills in England and Wales to 250 and in Ireland to 14 (Scotland increased to 60), production being concentrated into fewer, larger units. Geographical changes also took place as many of the early mills were small and had been situated in rural areas.

The change was to larger mills in, or near, urban areas closer to suppliers of the raw materials (esparto mills were generally situated near a port as the raw material was brought in by ship) and the paper markets.

Questions

Questions 1-7

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer of the reading passage on The History of Papermaking in the U.K.?
In Boxes 1-7 write:

TRUE                if the statement agrees with the writer
FALSE               if the statement doesn’t agree with the writer
NOT GIVEN     if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. The printing of paper money in the UK has always been done by the same company.
2. Early paper-making in Europe was at its peak in Holland in the 18th century.
3. 18th-century developments in molds led to the improvement of a flatter, more even paper.
4. Chlorine bleaching proved the answer to the need for more white paper in the 18th and 19th centuries.
5. The first mechanized process that had any success still used elements of the handmade paper-making process.
6. Modern paper-making machines are still based on John Dickinson’s 1809 patent.
7. The development of bigger mills near larger towns was so that mill owners could take advantage of potentially larger workforces.

Questions 8-13

Match the events (8-13) with the dates (A-G) listed below.
Write the appropriate letters in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

8. The invention of the rag engine.

9. A new method for drying paper is patented.

10. The first successful machine for making paper was put into production.

11. Manufacture of the first woven paper.

12. Watermarks were first used for paper money.

13. The first machine for making paper is patented.

DATES

1. 1803
2. 1757
3. 1821
4. 1697
5. 1799
6. 1670
7. 1694

Answers for The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom with Explanations

The History of Papermaking in the United Kingdom Reading Answers with explanations is given below for your knowledge.

(Note: The text in Bold mentions the location and keywords for the justification. The lines in italics show the referring lines of the passage.)

1. Answer: True

Explanation: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th line of paragraph B proves that Henri de Portal was awarded the contract in December 1724 for producing the Bank of England watermarked bank-note paper at Bere Mill in Hampshire. Portals have retained this contract ever since but production is no longer at Bere Mill. There were two major developments at about the middle of the eighteenth century in the paper industry in the UK.

2. Answer: Not Given

Explanation: There is no information available regarding this question in the passage.

 3. Answer: True

Explanation: 8th, 9th, and 10th line of paragraph B states that Baskerville, a Birmingham printer, wanted a smoother paper. James Whatman the Elder developed a woven wire fabric, thus leading to his production of the first woven paper in 1757. Increasing demands for more paper during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led to shortages of the rags needed to produce the paper.

4. Answer: False

Explanation: 2nd line of paragraph C justifies that Chlorine bleaching was being used by the end of the eighteenth century, but excessive use produced papers that were of poor quality and deteriorated quickly.

5. Answer: True

Explanation: 2nd and 3rd line of paragraph E narrates that The first successful machine was installed at Frogmore, Hertfordshire, in 1803. The paper was pressed onto an endless wire cloth, transferred to a continuously felt blanket, and then pressed again. Finally, it was cut off the reel into sheets and loft dried in the same way as hand-made paper.

6. Answer: True

Explanation: 5th and 6th lin of paragraph E explains that In 1809 John Dickinson patented a machine that used a wire cloth-covered cylinder revolving in a pulp suspension, the water is removed through the center of the cylinder, and the layer of pulp is removed from the surface by a felt-covered roller (later replaced by a continuous felt passing round a roller). This machine was the forerunner of the present-day cylinder mold or vat machine, used mainly for the production of boards.

7. Answer: False

Explanation: 3rd line of paragraph F describes that The change was to larger mills in, or near, urban areas closer to suppliers of the raw materials (esparto mills were generally situated near a port as the raw material was brought in by ship), and the paper markets.

8. Answer: F 

Explanation: 5th line of paragraph B tells that The first was the introduction of the rag engine or Hollander, invented in Holland sometime before 1670, which replaced the stamping mills, which had previously been used, for the disintegration of the rags and beating of the pulp.

9. Answer: C 

Explanation: 7th line of paragraph E represents that Both these machines produced paper as a wet sheet, which require drying after removal from the machine, but in 1821 T B Crompton patented a method of drying the paper continuously, using a woven fabric to hold the sheet against steam-heated drying cylinders.

10. Answer: A 

Explanation: 2nd line of paragraph E indicates that The first successful machine was installed at Frogmore, Hertfordshire, in 1803.

11. Answer: B 

Explanation: 8th line of paragraph B says that Baskerville, a Birmingham printer, wanted a smoother paper. James Whatman the Elder developed a woven wire fabric, thus leading to his production of the first woven paper in 1757.

12. Answer: D 

Explanation: 1st line of paragraph B cites that The Bank of England has been issuing bank notes since 1694, with simple watermarks in them since at least 1697.

13. Answer: E 

Explanation: The last line of paragraph D depicts that The first attempt at a paper machine to mechanize the process was patented in 1799 by Frenchman Nicholas Louis Robert, but it was not a success.

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