A German/Italian rags-paper mill. The required cellulose fibers were won from worn linen textiles. Rag-and-bone men supplied the paper mills with the raw material. Rags were so desired at times and rare that for them an export ban existed which was also put through by force of arms. In the paper mills rags were cut in scrap, were sometimes washed, submitted to a process of disintigration and, finally fray out, in a stamping mill. The stamping mill was driven with water power.