Printing and writing papers
are
paper
grades used for
newspapers
,
magazines
, catalogs,
books
,
notebooks
, commercial
printing
,
business forms
,
stationeries
,
copying
and
digital printing
. About 1/3 of the total pulp and paper marked (in 2000) is printing and writing papers.
[1]
The pulp or
fibers
used in printing and writing papers are extracted from
wood
using a chemical or mechanical process.
Paper standards
[
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]
The
ISO 216:2007
is the current international standard for
paper sizes
, including writing papers and some types of printing papers. This standard describes the paper sizes under what the ISO calls the A, B, and C series formats.
[2]
Not all countries follow ISO 216. North America, for instance, uses certain terms to describe paper sizes, such as Letter, Legal, Junior Legal, and Ledger or Tabloid.
[3]
US Paper Sizes
Size
|
Width x Height (mm)
|
Width x Height (in)
|
Aspect Ratio
|
Half Letter
|
140 x 216
|
5.5 x 8.5
|
1:1.5455
|
Letter
|
216 x 279
|
8.5 x 11.0
|
1:1.2941
|
Legal
|
216 x 356
|
8.5 x 14.0
|
1:1.6471
|
Junior Legal
|
127 x 203
|
5.0 x 8.0
|
1:1.6000
|
Ledger/Tabloid
|
279 x 432
|
11.0 x 17.0
|
1:1.5455
|
Most types of printing papers also do not follow ISO standards but have features that conform with leading industry standards.
[4]
These include, among others, ink adhesion, light sensitivity, waterproofing, compatibility with thermal or PSA overlaminate, and glossy or matte finish.
[4]
Additionally, the
American National Standards Institute
or ANSI also defined a series of paper sizes, with size A being the smallest and E the largest. These paper sizes have aspect ratios 1:1.2941 and 1:1.5455.
[3]
ANSI Standard Paper Sizes
ANSI Paper Size
|
Width x Height (mm)
|
Width x Height (in)
|
Aspect Ratio
|
Closest ISO Size
|
A
|
216 x 279
|
8.5 x 11.0
|
1:1.2941
|
A4
|
B
|
279 x 432
|
11.0 x 17.0
|
1:1.5455
|
A3
|
C
|
432 x 559
|
17.0 x 22.0
|
1:1.2941
|
A2
|
D
|
559 x 864
|
22.0 x 34.0
|
1:1.5455
|
A1
|
E
|
864 x 1118
|
34.0 x 44.0
|
1:1.2941
|
A0
|
Vietnam
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]
Types
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]
History
[
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]
The
history of paper
is often attributed to the Han dynasty (25-220 AD) when
Cai Lun
, a Chinese court official and inventor, made paper sheets using the “bark of trees, remnants of hemp, rags of cloth, and fishing nets.”
[5]
Cai Lun's method of papermaking received praise during his time for offering a more convenient alternative to writing on silk or bamboo tablets, which were the traditional materials in ancient Chinese writing.
[6]
On the other hand, archeological evidence supports that the ancient Chinese military had used paper over a hundred years before Cai Lun's contribution
[6]
and that maps from early 2nd century BCE were also made with paper.
[5]
With this, it appears that what Cai Lun accomplished is not an invention but an improvement in the papermaking process. Today, even with the presence of modern tools and machines for papermaking, most processes still involve the traditional steps that Cai Lun employed, namely the process of soaking felted fiber sheets in water, draining the water, and then drying the fiber into thin sheets.
[7]
In 1690, the first paper mill in America was established by
William Rittenhouse
.
[8]
The mill became the largest manufacturer of paper in America for over a hundred years until other paper mills sprang up, including the paper mill by
William Bradford
which supplied paper to the
New York Gazette
.
[9]
References
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]