In the Autumn of 1988, a truly remarkable event took place. A collection of hand-built pulp beaters, created by contemporary North American papermakers, for themselves or other kindred artisans, were assembled into an exhibition. It was a special feature of the annual conference of the Friends of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum (FDHPM), meeting that year on the campus of Indiana University, in Bloomington. I had suspected that something special was up when my invitation to attend said: "bring your beater." Tim Barrett and Howard Clark were the producers of this first-ever pulp opera and Peter Thomas and Doug Stone assisted by rounding up strays. In all, nineteen unique machines, from old and battered to shiny new, were featured in the show, each staged and spot-lighted in high museum style. Several examples of handsome and splendidly engineered and manufactured beaters being produced for the market were among those shown. Needless to say, the show played to an eager, standing-room only audience (no chairs) and there was no question that this den of uniquities was a crowd pleasing hit. Small wonder that the exhibition would inspire a book, if not a major motion picture, starring maybe P.H. Linter and Abaca Dabrah. Beater Builders of North America (the book) was issued in October, 1990, at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, of which Philadelphia is a well-known suburb. It was the final day of the FDHPM annual conference when the first, hot-off-the-press copies were delivered from the printer. The limited supply quickly sold out in a clamor suggestive of a feeding frenzy such as sharks are famous for after missing breakfast. The book, ably compiled and edited by Lee Scott McDonald of Charlestown, Massachusetts, is actually a catalog; no plot, but lots of photos and diagrams of beaters with written details of their origin and history. All of the machines exhibited at the Bloomington conference are pictured and described in the catalog, and several others unable to make the show have been included in the document. All in all, it is a creditable cross section of the beater population of North America, past and present. The beaters featured were all built within a time span of 43 years, the earliest example having made its debut in 1946 (Douglass Morse Howell's), the most recent in 1989 (Betty Kjelson's). All levels of engineering and styling sophistication are represented and, as with fingerprints, no two are alike, even though there are some pretty obvious signs of cross-breeding. Each machine was produced within the limitations of materials and mechanical resources available to its builder, which range all over the place. What the builders had in common was their need to have a particular pulp when they wanted it; and who sells pulps from yucca spikes, rose petals, and cornstalks? If a woodworker could buy cheap quarter-inch holes, he would not need to have a quarter-inch drill. A beater is essentially a pretty simple machine. It is first of all a pump, which uses a motor driven cylindrical drum (the roll), with transverse bars around its circumference, turning in close proximity to a conforming metal bedplate. Water-borne fibrous material is impelled by the ribbed or fluted roll around and around an oval mill-race. With each passage of the stuff between the roll and bedplate, fiber and water gradually become a slurry, or pulp. Beater builders need to find ways to construct the roll, the bedplate, and the tub, and to work out the details of power transmission and adjustment for their dream machines. A quick study of just the rolls of beaters featured in this catalog reveals a wide range of approaches to the making of this most vital organ, the heart, of any beater. Some are of wood with brass, bronze, or steel bars for impeller blades, some are of cast bronze or aluminum, and still others have been fabricated of welded metal components. The tubs, being stationary supporting structures, allowed the beater builders to use a wider range of available materials. The catalog shows tubs made of copper, stainless steel, moulded fiberglass, coopered wood staves, fiberglass over wood, transparent Plexiglass, and black ABS thermoplastic. One particularly handsome example is built of exotic woods---koa, ebony, and purpleheart---and lined with copper. Another was fabricated of exotic black sewer pipe; and one builder who had used particle board for the tub of his first beater lamented that within a short time it had pulped itself! Howard Clark's original sturdy wooden Hollander launched and sustained Twinrocker pulp production for five years, working ten hours a day. It is now retired, a celebrated icon of the modern paper culture. The story of how all the machines featured in the catalog came to be is explained in the testimony of the builders themselves, taken from interviews by the editor. How each of these intrepid souls created and tamed their growling, gurgling, splashing progeny adds a dimension of humor and "I think I can" spirit. Any practicing or aspiring paper craftsman should find Beater Builders of North America inspiring.   Jim Yarnell

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