|
|
The word " Paper " comes from the ancient Egyptian writing
material called papyrus, which was woven from papyrus plants.
Papyrus was produced as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, and in
ancient Greece and Rome. Further north, parchment or vellum,
made of processed sheepskin or calfskin, replaced papyrus, as
the papyrus plant requires subtropical conditions to grow. In
China, documents were ordinarily written on bamboo, making them
very heavy and awkward to transport. Silk was sometimes used,
but was normally too expensive to consider. Indeed, most of the
above materials were rare and costly.
While the Chinese court official Cai
Lun is widely regarded to have first described the modern method
of papermaking (inspired from wasps and bees) from wood pulp in
AD 105, the 2006 discovery of specimens bearing written
characters in north-west China's Gansu province suggest that
paper was in use by the ancient Chinese military more than 100
years before Cai in 8 BCE [1]. Archæologically however, true
paper without writing has been excavated in China dating from
the 2nd-century BCE. Paper is considered to be one of the Four
Great Inventions of Ancient China. It spread slowly outside of
China; other East Asian cultures, even after seeing paper, could
not figure out how to make it themselves. Instruction in the
manufacturing process was required, and the Chinese were
reluctant to share their secrets. The technology was first
transferred to Korea in 604 and then imported to Japan by a
Buddhist priest, Dam Jing from Goguryeo, around 610, where
fibres (called bast) from the mulberry tree were used. After
further commercial trading and the defeat of the Chinese in the
Battle of Talas, the invention spread to the Middle East, where
it was adopted in India and subsequently in Italy in about the
13th century. They used hemp and linen rags as a source of fibre.
The oldest known paper document in the West is the Missel of
Silos from the 11th century.
Some historians speculate that paper was the key
element in global cultural advancement. According to this
theory, Chinese culture was less developed than the West in
ancient times prior to the Han Dynasty because bamboo, while
abundant, was a clumsier writing material than papyrus; Chinese
culture advanced during the Han Dynasty and preceding centuries
due to the invention of paper; and Europe advanced during the
Renaissance due to the introduction of paper and the printing
press.
Paper remained a luxury item through the
centuries, until the advent of steam-driven paper making
machines in the 19th century, which could make paper with fibres
from wood pulp. Although older machines predated it, the
Fourdrinier paper making machine became the basis for most
modern papermaking. Together with the invention of the practical
fountain pen and the mass produced pencil of the same period,
and in conjunction with the advent of the steam driven rotary
printing press, wood based paper caused a major transformation
of the 19th century economy and society in industrialized
countries. Before this era a book or a newspaper was a rare
luxury object and illiteracy was normal. With the gradual
introduction of cheap paper, schoolbooks, fiction, non-fiction,
and newspapers became slowly available to nearly all the members
of an industrial society. Cheap wood based paper also meant that
keeping personal diaries or writing letters ceased to be
reserved to a privileged few. The office worker or the
white-collar worker was slowly born of this transformation,
which can be considered as a part of the industrial revolution.
Office:
36-36/1 Puttamonthon 2 Rd , Bangpai,
Bangkae, Bangkok 10160
Tel
: 02-413-3014 , 02-455-8232 Fax
: 02-803-0370
Factory:
66,66/19 Moo 3 Nongbua, Bankhai, Rayong 21120
Tel
: 038-961377 Fax : 038-961382-3
E-Mail :
<<< Click
here >>>
|
 จำกัด (มหาชน)_files/space.gif){kind=small}
