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Within eight years, he had 18 so-called Fourdrinier machines in operation at mills around the country.

The great paper historian Dard Hunter explains how the introduction of the Fourdrinier paper machine in the early decades of the 19th century led to a steady increase in paper production – and how with the advent of wood-pulping processes in the 1840s, production simply exploded.

It was there that Messrs. Fourdrinier, a wealthy stationery firm, purchased the patents, expended �60,000 for improvements on the machine, and first gave to the world its practical benefits.

With one modern Fourdrinier machine, and a few beating engines, a small paper mill will now turn out daily as much paper as could be made by twelve mills a hundred years ago.

By 1872 two hundred and ninety-nine Fourdrinier machines were running in the United States alone.