Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-06-20
TANNERY A SUCCESS.
Claims Fer It-His Backers
PJeased.

1.-THE tanning process which we have been
investigating is an unqualified success"
said Charles s. Ullman to reporter for
The Journal yesterday. 1--WE are thorough
ly pleased, more than pleased with the re-
suit. It's good thing. It's all right And
Mr.. Ullman's manner and countendnce
spoke even more loudly than his words
as to his belief in the value of the tanning
invention of the Danish tanner, Peter Mar
tin, the invention which has been under
going test in the rudely constructed,
primitive tannery in the old deSiccat1ng
works in Armourdale for the past six
weeks.
the process" continued Mr.. Ullman. The
leather has been tested by number OF
leather experts and they all say they have
never seen Its equal Tor strength, never
have seen leather with such perfect ana
strong fiber. They say, too, that 1t Is
tanned perfectly and thoroughly The FRO
cess which MIR. Martin used Tor his nrst
demonstration was intended only to pro-
duce good strap and light betting 9eath-
er, not heavy. stiff leather for fancy
finish harness. The leather is perfect for
the purpose intended, and Mr.. Martin says
that by varying the process Slightly with
with some of the hides already in the tanks
he will within ten days produce heavy
filled plump leather, capable of taking on
any fine finish desired
Mr.. Ullman said the details of what will
be done now that the success of the tan
nlnS process without DARK OF CalldlSTe leS
been demonstrated is not yet determined.
But both he and Joseph ]. Helm are well
pleased with the results and expect to push
right on in the tanning business. Some
time will yet be devoted to further eXper-
iments for different forms of leather, and
there will be plenty of money Forthcoming
to tan all the hides for which a market can
be found. OF course, as the leather is
new product It's Introduction will be neces-
sarily slow at first, but those interested
| feel that they have leather which eXcels
anything now on the market for many
purposes, and that its general use for those
purposes is only a question of time.
A. B. Hulit, the man who first became
! interested in the little Missouri tannery at
Bowling Green and who was the man to
bring the project to Kansas City and In,
| terest the Manufacturers Association ard
Messrs. Helm and Ullman, is also greatly
| pleased with the verifcation of his judg-
ment. He says the tannery viii start in a
small way, probably. at first and the leath-
er will be taken to the East, and all leather
! markets, where it can be compared with
| other feathers, and its superior streng th
| demonstrated, thereby opening up mar
| ket which will soon cause a large plant
| to be necessary in Kansas City.
Peter Martin, the inventor of the process,
! smiled in an unassuming way when he
| said: Il knew what the process would do
| before / brought 1t to Kansas City. / have
used it many years and have had no doubt
| at any time how it would turn out. There
| is no stronger leather made than by my
| process. Even If We only tan the kind I
| nave turned out in this first lot, 1t is the
| best light betting leather in the world, and
we could tan Loco hides a day to supply
| the demand for that one purpose alone.
| There is a great amount of light betting
used in the. country in cotton mills for
looms and in similar manufacturing en-
| terprises, and this leather is the best made
| for that purpose. There is no stretch to it,
water does not affect it and it is sure to be
| in great demand as soon as its value be-
| comes known"
The experiments have been necessarily
| slow because of lack of labor-saving ma
| chinery. All the work has been done by
| hand, the damp weather has greatly de-
layed the drying process and many things
have operated against quick work. But
| with all the drawbacks it has been but a
| little over two weeks since The Journal ex-
| clusively announced that the hides had
| been placed in the tanning watts and now
| this leather is completed. Additional hides
are being put into the process nearly every
| day now and soon there will be plenty of
| finished leather suitable for various pur-
poses with which leather men everywhere
can be convinced of the value of Kansas
City's rev tanning process.
| Mr.. Martin has not only proven his
claims regards the strength and plia-
bility of the leather which he can make
| by his process. but also his further claim
that it will cost per hide at least 50 less
than the tan bark process, an item which
is also very encouraging to the promoters
| of the ENTERPRISE.