Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-10-29
|101l|5Qi3
LEATHER FROM SCRAPS.
Jefferson Chase Of This City Has Made 4
Valuable Discovery.
portland Argus.)

Mr.. Jefferson Chase of this city. has ac
complished as a result of some 81 years O
experiments, some interesting results. II,
has at last succeeded by a process know
only to himself and those associated wifi
him, and by the use of machinery invent
ed by himself, in producing from tht
leather dust, and leather waste seer
around shoe shops, and now only used a.
fuel, in producing firm leather. In othe,
words he produces fibrezed leather ar.
| tually stronger and better than it was be.
fore it was cut out for use. and the bits OF
waste and the leather dust used in the
reproduction of leather stock again
made.
State, had his attention directed to this
matter by a man who had spent much
money and time in making unsuccessful
attempts to attain the results Mr.. Chase
has now reached. He only managed to
make leather mud" as he said to Mr..
| Chase. and that was far as Mr. Chase
| himself progressed for many years
| Saturday he exhibited specimens of the
various forms of leather produced by him
| up to date. 1t included sole leather. and
| here it may be said that some of the
leather was worn through last winter
without even showing the effect of
| months of wear. A very firm sort of
leather is made expressly for heels, and
one of the machines invented by Mr.
Chase is capable of turning out four tons
he had specimens of raw hide, of a very
remarkable degree of toughness, and a
very soft leather for the tops of shoes. In
short the exhibition made in the pres
| ence of representative of the Argus ex-
tended from the leather mud" as Mr.
Chase calls it, up to the highly finished
product, all made from the mud
One of the most interesting of the many
articles shown by Mr. Chase was leath-
er pulley. The advantages he claims Of a
a lnnf hnr half
ii due regard is to be paid to its life and
capacity for service. should run over a
leather pulley. The popular form of a
pulley is made in two pieces. so as to be
removable at will from the shaft. In the
case of the leather pulley. made by the
process invented by Mr.. Chase, the pull
ley would simply be cast on u the shaft
This material is not only in some of its
forms very hard. but is capable of taking
on a high degree of polish This is true
of the leather pulley. The ordinary man
would hardly be able to say off hand of
what sort of material this is made.
Then the material Is constructed of
leather lost under present circumstances.
Except to a limited degree for fuel there
is no use made of II at this time Mr.
Chase claims to be able to take the leath-
er dust made by machines of one class
and the waste by all machines and cut
tiers. and to return the complete product
back to the manufacturer actually better
than before touched by knife or machine
The leather exhibited Saturday seemed
sufficient proof of the remarkable result
attained by him.
OF course this leather mud becomes
the finished product through being SUBJ
ject to a pressure. and Mr.. Chase said
that it would be possible to cast a pair of
shoes. the soes of very hard sole leather
and the uppers of different and very
soft and elastic sort OF leather. This
statement was only an Illustration of
what may be done with this fibreized
leather. VT
Mr.. Chase showed some pieces made
from bits of raw hides. This leather was
very hard and strong, exactly so Mr..
Chase said, suitable for different branches
of electric work. This one result the
ability to use raw hide directly swould
make the discovery of Mr.. Chase of high
Importance.
leather both for soles and uppers is SIM
ply enormous. while the loss in other
branches of manufacturing is of course
very large. All this loss Mr.. Chase
claims he shall be able to practically
save to the manufacturer. his own pro-
cess being very simple and inexpensive.
Heels would be cast in a single piece.
Take the single matter of pulleys for
example. The popular wooden pulley is
made of two pieces. and is of course SUBJ
ject to atmospheric changes, avoided by
the application of the process of Mr..
Chase. These atmospheric changes must
Of course help to make the surface of the
pulley uneven. and means a shortening of
the term of service of the belt Then Mr..
Chase Gains that leather belt to obtain
the best possible results should always
run over leather pulley, and that his
pulleys, doubling as they would the life
of every belt, would be most important
matter to every manufacturer who uses
belts.
Mr.. Chase was interested as an inven-
tor in the weed fibre business of Maine
He took the original and in many re-
spects crude German machines, and
adapted them to the Maine trade His
machines were in the opinion of good
judges long advance over the German
model. A company was recently organ
lied in Portland. to manufacture leather
products under the patents granted to
Mr.. Chase, and by his system.