Also called a conical refiner, a jordan is a chamber used for beating and refining paper pulp in preparation for papermaking. The jordan contains metal bars mounted on the inside of a cone-shaped rotor and which contact stationary metal bars mounted on the shell of the device. The fiber slurry, following refining in a beater, is pumped into an inlet in the smaller end of the jordan and squeezed between the two sets of bars, the resulting abrasion working to brush and cut the fibers. The fibers are then pumped out through a discharge tube in the larger end of the jordan. (See refining.)
The jordan is named after the American inventor, Joseph Jordan, who developed it.