fourdrinier machine

[See def.] A papermaking machine, the first to make a continuous web. It was invented by Louis Robert, of E onne, and patented by him in France. A Mr. Gamble and the brothers Fourdrinier improved it. The machine was perfected by others. The e ential features of the machine are: (1) A stream of paper pulp flowing on to the surface of an endle , horizontal, wire web; (2) a tremulous motion to the web to shake out the water, which falls in a rain beneath, and to felt the fiber; (3) a traveling deckle which keeps up with the motion of the web, and forms the lateral margin of the paper; (4) a porous dandy which pre es the pulp and absorbs some of the water; (5) a couching roller to take up the web; (6) a pre ure roller to abstract moisture; and (7) drying, sizing, finishing, measuring, and cutting devices.