The continuously moving mesh wire belt on a papermaking machine on which cellulose fibers"] are bonded together into a paper mat. A solution of fibrous paper pulp is sent from the headbox (at the wet end of the papermaking machine) to the forming wire at a uniform speed, thickness, and consistency, to ensure that the paper that forms has uniform structural properties. As the fibrous solution travels along the forming wire, additional layers, or plys, are deposited on top of previous ones, and suction cup-shaped foils, rotating table rolls, or oscillations of the wire (called shake) supplement the force of gravity in draining water from the fibers. Traditional fourdrinier-type papermaking machines utilize a single forming wire; the side of the paper web that forms in contact with the wire (called the wire side) will have different structural and surface properties than the top side of the paper. Recent innovations such as twin-wire formers help reduce this two-sidedness of paper. (See Fourdrinier.)
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