James Maclaren Industries, Masson, Que., has ordered an upgrade of its No. 3 winder from Beloit. This upgrade includes modifications to the unwind reel spool clamping device for enhanced operational safety.

Inland Paperboard, Orange, Texas, has ordered a Combisorter tailing screen from Voith Sulzer. The Combisorter will improve fiber recovery by replacing older vibrating screens.

For the No. 24 paper machine at its Biron, Wis., mill, Consolidated Papers has contracted with the Lawton Co. for the supply of new paper machine dryer gearing.

Jackson Paper, Sylva, N.C., is planning to install additional high-pressure Linear-Brush showers from James Ross Ltd. to facilitate the use of re-circulated whitewater.

Willamette Industries has installed ABB’s product tracking system (PTS) at its Port Hueneme linerboard mill in Oxnard, Calif.

Rexam DSI, West Springfield, Mass., has contracted with the Lawton Co. for the supply of new paper machine dryer gearing.

At its Port Angeles high-quality directory papers mill, Daishowa America has installed a Honeywell-Measurex MXOpen quality control system on the No. 3 paper machine. The system has two scanners measuring weight, moisture, and caliper at the reel and moisture at the breaker stack.

Georgia-Pacific’s Monticello, Miss., mill has ordered a ragger from Voith Sulzer. The new ragger will replace an older one in the mill’s double-lined kraft plant.

For the No. 11 paper machine at Mohawk Valley Paper in Little Falls, N.Y., Burrows Paper has contracted with the Lawton Co. for the supply of new paper machine dryer gearing.

Mead Corp. has begun installation of Quantum Technologies’ HiYield polysulfide pulping process at its Escanaba, Mich., mill.

Interstate Paper Corp., Riceboro, Ga., has authorized Beloit to rebuild its No. 1 board winder. Besides extensive replacement and upgrade of winder hardware, the winder will be subject to complete realignment.

For its kraft mill in Hopewell, Va., Stone Container Corp. has ordered a Centrifilter screen from Voith Sulzer. The screen will process brownstock washer filtrate.

To upgrade the speed potential of the No. 2 paper machine at its Filer City, Mich., mill, Tenneco Packaging has contracted with the Lawton Co. for the design and manufacture of new taper cone pulleys.

Fraser Papers has attained a three-year safety record at its West Carrollton, Ohio, mill. No lost time accidents have occurred at the mill since 1995.

Aracruz Celulose SA, Aracruz, Brazil, has signed a full cycle-life, onsite repair and maintenance contract with Neles Controls. Neles Controls will service all the mill’s control valves and will work to improve process at the mill.

At its Benettsville, S.C., mill, Willamette Industries is scheduled to install a DynaMetrix Refiner Brain system in July. This system allows online measurement of refiner gap and wear to within 0.001 in. and allows papermakers to see what is happening within refiners. A similar system was installed at the Herty Foundation, Savannah, Ga., earlier this year.

The Refiner Brain system was developed as part of a partnership between government, educational institutions, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), a software developer, and pulp and paper manufacturers. The project began in March of 1995 when the U. S. Department of Energy awarded DynaMetrix a $1.78 million grant to develop a patented gap-wear sensor product in conjunction with private sector partners.

DynaMetrix, which is headquartered in Hillsboro, Ore., developed the gap-wear sensor technology with research assistance from the following educational institutions: Oregon Graduate Institute for Science and Technology (OGI), Hillsboro, Ore.; the Herty Foundation, Savannah, Ga.; the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), Atlanta, Ga.; and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga. Demonstration sites include Willamette’s Bennettsville mill, the IPST and Herty Foundation laboratories, and the DynaMetrix laboratory. J & L Fiber Services, Waukesha, Wis., supplied the refining plates for field testing. Step Technology, Tigard, Ore., developed the software.

The patented gap measurement process uses inductive proximity sensors and ultra-high speed signal processing to provide direct and dynamic plate gap, wear, tram, deflection, and runout measurements. It can be installed on most refiners, either as a retrofit or as an OEM enhancement.

Benefits of dynamic and direct gap measurement include energy conservation, increased use of recycled paper, increased paper quality, and optimized refiner operation. Other benefits include reductions in refiner maintenance, downtime from cascading metallic breakup, off-specification paper, and web breaks. The measurements also help increase sheet strength uniformity and refiner plate life.

The Refiner Brain system will be installed on a refiner using both hardwood and softwood at the Bennettsville mill. Although the initial installation will use an analog interface, the mill plans to upgrade to digital controls this fall.