Kalander - Turnhout, Belgium
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T-Team!
N 51° 19.411 E 004° 56.761
31U E 635593 N 5687599
Turnhout is famous for its playing cards production. This machine symbolizes the entire Turnhout graphic industry with its various printing and paper processing companies. It was offered by Lions (and the Kiwanis) to the city of Turnhout in 2013.
Waymark Code: WM15ND6
Location: Antwerpen, Belgium
Date Posted: 01/27/2022
Views: 1
"Although we sometimes speak of 'paper factories' in Turnhout, paper has never been made. This was supplied and processed into playing cards, but also into glossy and fantasy paper. No printing press was used in the manufacture of fantasy paper, but a calender was used. Decks of cards went through the calender to make them shine.
A calender is a machine consisting of a number of cylinders that are placed horizontally one above the other and can rotate at different speeds. In this context, calendering serves to improve or 'refine' paper. The glossy calender in turn creates a glossy effect thanks to heat, pressure and friction.
Gloss calendar “D 230” was built by the Maschinenfabrik zum Bruderhaus/Eisengießerei und Maschinenfabrik in Reutlingen (Stuttgart). Originally he was at Biermans, a Turnhout company that produced the typical range of printed matter, playing cards, fantasy paper and cardboard. It is not known whether it was built for this company in 1895 or whether it was purchased later. But the machine remained in use until 1995!
The machine was then disposed of as scrap. Iron dealer Marcel Bally took over the colossus, disassembled and stocked it. Thanks to his good care and his friendship with Karel van Mierlo, a machine enthusiast, the glossy calender was given a second life on the Jacobsmarkt. Under the impulse of notary André Nijs and with the help of two Turnhout service clubs, Lions and Kiwanis, the calender was officially handed over to the City of Turnhout as a monument on Sunday 3 February 2013. It symbolizes the entire Turnhout graphic industry with its various printing and paper processing companies."
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