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Henry Fourdrinier

(11 Feb 1766 - 3 Sep 1854)

English inventor of paper-making machinery known by his name, which is still at the core of modern continuous production equipment.

Short biography of Henry Fourdrinier >>

Henry Fourdrinier - Patent 2950

24 July 1806
Henry Fourdrinier

“A machine for cutting paper on a different principle from any hitherto used.” This cutting machine consists of a knife set in a frame which is caused to move up and down by means of a screw; the screw being actuated by a handle and intermediate wheels. The paper to be cut (say a ream in thickness) may be placed on a roller above a horizontal frame or table, or on the table itself, over which bas been stretched a moveable web which may be an endless web caused to revolve round rollers placed at each end of the table, or it may be unwound from one roller and wound on the other; and on the travelling web, and travelling with it, are placed a number of blocks or pieces of wood upon which the knife descends and cuts the paper to the desired size.

[Printed, 6d. See Repertory of Arts, vol. 10 (second series), p. 321; Rolls Chapel Reports, 7th Report, p. 195.]

From: The Patent Office, London, Patents for Inventions. Abridgments of Specifications Relating to the Manufacture of Paper, Pasteboard and Papier Mache, Part II (1859), Section II, 7-8. (source)

See also:

11 Feb - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Fourdrinier's birth.
The Fourdrinier Paper-Making Machine - from Paper Manufacturing in the United States (1916).
The Fourdrinier Paper-Making Machine - from Paper & Paper Making Ancient and Modern (1863).
Fourdrinier Patent 2951 (1806) - Method of making a machine for manufacturing paper of an indefinite length, laid and wove, with separated moulds.
Fourdrinier Patent 3068 (1807) - Making paper by means of machinery.
Henry Fourdrinier Biography - from Dictionary of National Biography (1889).
Henry Fourdrinier Obituary from Gentleman's Magazine (1855).
24 Jul - events for date of patent on Paper-Making Machine.

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Carl Sagan: In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. (1987) ...(more by Sagan)

Albert Einstein: I used to wonder how it comes about that the electron is negative. Negative-positive—these are perfectly symmetric in physics. There is no reason whatever to prefer one to the other. Then why is the electron negative? I thought about this for a long time and at last all I could think was “It won the fight!” ...(more by Einstein)

Richard Feynman: It is the facts that matter, not the proofs. Physics can progress without the proofs, but we can't go on without the facts ... if the facts are right, then the proofs are a matter of playing around with the algebra correctly. ...(more by Feynman)