Paper is one of the four great inventions in ancient China. As early as 105 ad, Cai Lun summed up the experience of papermaking with hemp fiber since the Western Han Dynasty, improved papermaking technology, and used bark, hemp head, rags, old fishing nets and other raw materials for papermaking.

       Papermaking was later introduced to Europe. At the beginning of the 18th century, Dutch beating machine appeared, which changed the beating process, which was an important step in the mechanization of papermaking process. In 1798, French Robert obtained the patent of hand-held endless web paper machine, which was later funded by the Neal brothers in renfordshire, England. In 1803, British technician Tang Jin improved it to make a long web paper machine which could continuously form paper, and successfully made paper in 1805 In 1809, Dickinson, an Englishman, successfully trial produced a circular mesh paper machine.

        In terms of material preparation and pulping, Pitt of Germany began to use the cooking pot to cook the worn-out cotton cloth for pulping in 1839; Keller of Germany invented the grinding wood pulping of stripping wood fiber in 1843, which was successfully improved by felter for ten years; Burgers of England and watt of the United States invented the caustic soda pulping in 1851; Tillman of the United States invented the sulfite wood pulping technology in 1857 In 1884, German chemist Dahl invented Kraft wood pulping technology. These inventions opened up the way to use wood as the main raw material for paper making. By the early 20th century, paper making machinery had become a large-scale and high-yield industrial machinery.

          After the 1950s, there have been many developments and innovations in papermaking machinery. For example, vertical continuous digester, displacement scrubber, thermal mill, new pressure screen and slag remover appeared in the aspect of material preparation and pulping equipment; new headbox, pinch net, composite press and polyester forming net appeared in the aspect of paper machine.

           Since the 1960s, the silicon controlled speed regulating system of DC motor has been widely used in paper machines. Electronic technology is used to detect, control and record the parameters of paper making process, such as machine speed, material concentration, temperature, flow rate, dryness, ration, thickness, tightness and strength of paper. By the 1980s, large vertical continuous digesters could produce 1350 tons of pulp per day; the door width of the paper machine could reach 10 meters, the speed was more than 1000 meters per minute, and the daily output was more than 500 tons.

          According to the technological process of pulping and papermaking, papermaking machinery can be divided into three categories: preparation pulping equipment, papermaking machine and finishing machinery.