Fourdrinier
Also: Fourdrinier, flat wire former
The traditional single-wire paper machine design where stock drains through a moving mesh. Invented 1803, still dominant for many grades.
The Fourdrinier is the classical paper machine. A horizontal wire mesh travels past a headbox that deposits the stock evenly. Water drains through the wire by gravity and suction, leaving a wet fibrous mat that advances to the press and dryer sections.
Fourdrinier machines remain the dominant design for containerboard, sack kraft, and many printing grades. For grades that need better formation at high speed (newsprint, fine paper), gap formers and hybrid formers have largely replaced the Fourdrinier.
Related
- Gap former. A paper machine forming section that sandwiches the stock between two converging wires, giving two-sided drainage and uniform formation at high speed.
- Headbox. The component of a paper machine that deposits stock onto the forming wire at controlled consistency, flow, and width.
- Dryer section. The part of the paper machine where the sheet dries to final moisture by contact with steam-heated cylinders.