These men are putting a dandy roll on the wet end of the paper machine to help smooth down the surface of the sheet and place watermarks in the sheet. The sheet has not yet been removed from the wire so it can still be molded.

A watermark is a change in the thickness of paper that can be seen when paper is help up to the light. Oftentimes watermarks take on the shapes of company logos.

The sheet in this painting is moving from right to left. A pressure stream of water, called a trim squirt cuts off the edges of the sheet as it passes, creating a nice straight edge.