In our business, it is a necessity to know basic paper and printing terms. Use the glossary for a quick reference or browse it to refresh your knowledge.
Select from the general listing below:
fabric
See wire.
feather
1) Tendency of an ink image to spread, with a fuzzy, "feather-like" edge. 2) Can refer to the untrimmed deckle edge of a web of paper, tapering in thickness, as on the wire.
feed(er)
The printing press mechanism that supplies and controls the paper as it goes into the first printing unit. Printing presses are either sheet "fed" or roll/web "fed", and either designation is adequate.
felt
A fabric used to carry the wet web of paper from the wire on the paper machine, through the wet presses and usually thru at least a portion or part of the dryer section.
felt mark (or lick)
An imperfection in the web of paper, caused by a worn, filled or damaged felt, so as to disturb the uniform removal of water from the wet web.
felt side
The top side of the web of paper, as it is produced on the paper machine; the side of a web of paper produced on a paper machine opposite to the wire side; historically, has been the smoother of the two sides.
festoon
1) A series of moveable rollers, that allows an accumulation of enough length of paper so that a zero speed splice can be made without slowing or stopping the printing press or coater. 2) An older means of slow air drying (most often with heated air) a web or coating, by conveying a web thru the drying chamber, hung over closely spaced horizontal bars/poles, with the web sagging to near the floor or bottom of the drying chamber, between each bar. Also called loft, pole, or loop drying.
fiber clumps
Small pieces of fiber bundles loosely adhered to the surface of the sheet.
fiber puffing
The tendency of groundwood fibers to "puff up" in the dryer when printing by heat-set web offset printing, and to give a "grainy", unwanted appearance to the printed piece.
fibrillation
Act of loosening fine threads (fibrils or fibrillae) or roughening the surface of a cellulose fiber by the action of refining. This aids in bonding of the fibers in making a web of paper.
filled roll
See supercalendering.
filler
The pigments and minerals used in the furnish to fill the spaces between fibers to improve the opacity and printability of paper, and to impart other properties to the sheet of paper.
fine papers
Types of paper, normally white, used for printing and writing; also called white paper. This term is usually used in contrast to coarse/industrial and/or packaging papers.
finish
1) To finish paper is a term used to describe the converting operations in a paper making or printing plant, to prepare the product in a form suitable for the next customer. 2) The finish of a sheet of paper refers to the condition of its surface; a highly finished surface is one that is hard and smooth, while a low finish is one that is relatively rough and "toothy." For various finish descriptions, see <a href="http://www.newpagecorp.com/wps/wcm/connect/f34e58804b5376cf96cc97de0e28409f/Performance_Finish+DescriptionsUpdate.htm?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=f34e58804b5376cf96cc97de0e28409f">Performance & Finish Descriptions</a>.
flats
1) The flat sheets of a printed piece prior to folding. 2) Sheets of positioned film negatives or positives which have been prepared to expose lithographic plates during the plate making process.
flexographic printing
A form of relief printing; formerly called aniline printing. A special kind of letterpress printing, using synthetic or rubber relief plates, special inks, presses, and procedures. Finds wide use and application in the printing of packaging materials, and in decorating sanitary tissue products.
flow
See <i>body, leveling, tack</i>, and <i>viscosity</i>.
fluorescent dyes
Can be added to the paper furnish, size press applications, or to coatings to increase brightness; they function by converting invisible ultra violet light to reflected visible light, making the paper surface appear brighter. Also called optical brightness.
flush
Ink pigment (colorant) in a solvent or vehicle.
fluting
Also called heat-set corrugations or heatset waffling; a web distortion that runs parallel to the grain, caused by a combination of many factors including draw and tension stresses, ink coverage, high temperatures, etc. during heatset drying.
flying paster/splice
A mechanism which allows the lead end of a new roll of paper to be connected (pasted) to the end of a web of an expiring roll of paper on a paper coater, converter, or printing press, without stopping the equipment; both the new incoming roll and the expiring roll surfaces are running at line speed.
foam spots
Holes or weak spots in the finished paper caused by foam in the wet end of the paper machine, or surface defects such as spots occurring in a coated paper surface as a result of foam in the coating.
fold(er)
See <i>buckle fold(er), chopper fold(er), former fold(er)</i>, and <i>jaw fold(er)</I>.
folder endurance (strength)
A paper test which measures the number of double (back and forth) folds that can be made on a sheet of paper under tension, before it breaks.
folding quality
Also called character of fold, refers to the quality of the fold itself, and the breaking of the paper surface or the printed ink film across the fold line; this is a visual, comparative, and/or subjective test.
folio
Refers to a sheet of paper, sized 17" X 22" and larger; can also mean the page number of a book.
font
Complete assortment of all the different characters of a particular size and style of type.
form
Any document for the recording of variable information, whether in a variable or standardized format. The form itself can be of a single sheet of paper, or multi-ply (for copies) construction. See also <i>continuous forms</i> and <i>unit set forms</i>.
form rollers
The rollers, either inking or fountain/dampening, that directly contact the printing press plate.
formation
Refers to the uniformity of distribution of the cellulose fibers and other ingredients when manufacturing paper on a machine; can be observed by looking through the sheet; a good formation is very uniform or "close", while a poor formation is not (it is "wild" or "cloudy").
former fold(er)
A fold made by a triangular device (former), slanted at a steep angle from the horizontal, over which a web travels to be folded in half longitudinally. Air jets, rollers, and rounded edges are used on the device to minimize friction as the paper passes over the former. The final crease of the former fold is usually made by running the fold thru a pair of nipping rollers.
forms bond
Generally a light weight, dense bond paper used for single or multi-ply output of variable information, in a standardized format; a business paper, measured on the bond basis of a 17" X 22"-500 ream.
fountain
The part of a printing press which contains the ink to be fed to the distributing system, and in offset lithography, the part that feeds the fountain solution to the dampening device/system; the latter also called the water fountain.
fountain solution
Also called the dampening solution or fountain or dampening "etch", or just "the water". Water, buffered acid, gum, and probably wetting agents (alcohol or alcohol substitutes like high molecular weight glycol ethers) used to keep the non-image areas of the plate moist, and prevent them from accepting ink, in the lithographic printing process.
four-color process
The printing of a full color picture or drawing by the use of four separate process printing inks: yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. See also <i>three-color process</i>.
Fourdrinier
French financiers of the inventor (Louis Robert) of the equipment to produce a continuous web of paper; the term used to describe the most common type of modern paper making machine; also, the term used to describe the section of the paper making machine which is a continuous "wire" or belt screen, thru which the first removal of water occurs, as the result of gravity, suction, and hydraulic forces; the Fourdrinier section or wire is the point of formation of the web of paper.
free
1) A sheet of paper that is "free" of groundwood, though a small percentage of groundwood from mill broke contamination is tolerated; contains no groundwood. 2) A term used by paper makers which indicates how readily a pulp content furnish parts with its water; freeness is a measurement of the degree of refining and is inversely related to the ability of a pulp to loose water.
freeness
See free.
furnish
The mixture of paper making ingredients, including cellulose fibers, ready for use on the paper machine, to produce a designated grade of paper; usually about 1% (+ or -) solid material, with 99% or the balance being water.
fuzz
Fibrous projections from the surface of a sheet of paper; lint appears in the same manner, but is not attached to the surface.
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