
Taken on 05/22/07
Rollers used to crush grind the wood in the papermill
There are a number of ruins and pieces of the
papermills and pulp processing on this island and along the trail created and maintained by the
Brookfield Power Company. This roller and a few others are across the trail from the mill/picnic area (between location B and D on the map).

Jack S writes: "That is a grind stone the wood was ground not
crushed. There were pockets around the stone where wood was hydraulically pushed
against the turning stone."

Jack S writes "This is a carthage grinder. It was used to grind pulpwood into
wood pulp in a papermill. The 'rollers' that you see in the abandoned paper mill
pictures were inside this castiron machine. Wood was loaded in the pockets as
seen on the left, the door was closed and the lever pulled to actuate the
hydraulic cylinder which forced the wood against the grind stone. Water was
sprayed against the stone to keep the wood from burning. Wood and water mixed,
came out the bottom and was called slush, this went through a series of screens
to remove slivers, then to the beaters to make the fibers finer, then onto the
paper machine. If only wood fiber was used it was a solid wood sheet; an example
of that would be the old fashioned milk bottle caps. For other sheets it was
mixed with other fibers, chemicals, dies, and waste paper."