Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-06-04


preached in the matter. Mr. Ullman i'm
mediately volunteered to go at ms own
expense to Bowling Green and look into
the matter. He went and talked with the
people of the town. He saw the halterS
made from the Martin leather. He talked
with the bankers and business men of the
town, every one of whom assured him of
the perfect honesty and reliability of Mr.
Martin He looked over the little plant.
saw samples of the leather. tested Its
strength, heard of its durability and came
away. Reaching Kansas City, Mr.. I'LL
man conferred with Mr.. Helm
THERE'S 10 plant there worth moving he
said Il do not believe the plan OF organiz-
ing a little company and moving that plant
here IS desirable 1t is useless TO wait for
anything like that. The thing to do is 10
bring Mr.. Martin here, build him some
some of his leather right here; Then we
can Judge whether it is worth while to
proceed"
An Experimental Tannery.
Mr.. Helm agreed with Mr.. Ullman and
the two said they would stand all the eX-
pense of an experimental tannery. They
sent for Mr.. Martin. rented u big room
down a tthe disiccating works on Adams
street in Armourdale, and there establish
ed Mr.. Martin and Mr.. Hulit with inStruc-
tions To draw for all the money necessary
to make the first leather ever hhdue Al
Messrs. Martin and Hulit have been at
work in this building for nearly Il month.
4 few watts were made. The necessar!
benches for dchairing and neShlhS tle
skins were constructed. big mono"
wheel for washing the leather IN the nm
ishing process was put up and Deited TO
the power plant in the works. necessary
hand tools were purchased and then the
work of tanning the first thlrtY-siN hiues
was begun.
The hides were first put into lime watts
and salt watts preparatory to the dehairlnS
and feShng processes as practlced IN an
tanneries This work takes week or ten
days and as the dehatrinS and neShlhS IN
this particular instance have been done by
hand the work has been somewhat tedious.
Friday morning the first twentN-tour sizes
We're placed in the vats containlhs MT MT
Martins tanning solution. Friday after
noon, when seen by reporter Tor Inc
Journal, these sides had very much the ap-
pearance of leather Yesterday When again
seen they appeared even more so ana Mr..
Martin SAYS that by tomorrow morning
the tanning process will be finished II VIII
only remain to finish the leather, mat
ter of four or five days. when the hnishea
leather can be exhibited to the people of
Kansas City.
MANY people have noticed the work CO.
ing on in the desiccating plant ana are
number of members of the board of dl-
rectors of the Manufacturers ASSOCIATION
have visited the place and. indeed, the Eals
and work of the carpenters have been NlS-
ible from the streetiand no effort at con-
cealment has been made, so that man. peo-
pie about town are aware that the eAperl-
ment is going on
The promoters of the experiment are so
confident of its success that. while calling
it an experiment, they are going right on on
having watts made sufficient to tan from ZVJ
to 800 hides at time, and intend ordering
within a few days. the machinery suffl-
cient to care for that many without ditt-
Guilty. This will include especially ma
chimes for the finishing work such as
closing machines, presses, rolls. cutting
machines. creasing machines, splitting ma
chimes. etc. These will be installed tenn
porariIy in the desiccatinG works, though
when it is decided to go ahead on larger
scale two or three locations are alreauy
in view where the plant may be placed.
Company Will Be Organized.
Should the preliminary experimental
work prove satisfactory the plan. as far as
perfected by Messrs. Helm and Ullman. is
to put all the money into the business
which the sale of the product will warrant,
probably starting with about 100000. The
leather made by Mr.. Martins process Is
not known to the general trade. Its fea,
lures are its great strength. pllablilty ana
durability being especially adapted to strap
work harness work. heavy betting and SIM
liar uses. 1t may be necessary Tor tlfne
TO cut the leather into straps and other
finished products and the company Will
probably, on the outset at least, do manu-
featuring of this kind, making straps, peit-
ing and even horse collars. e.,.,,,.
These details, however, are 1or the iutui
to determine
Mr. Martin says that he is using only one
tanning process in the experiment now; q
process which Will produce leather Sultaplt
for harness, betting, laces and other place:
where strength is desired: By using slight
" different ingredients he makes solu
ton, he says, Suitable for tanning leather
for shoe uppers. Still another process ht
will use in making sole leather. This take:
a little longer than for the harness or Shot
leather. but is much more speedy than the
Old-fa ShiOned tanbark methods.
.'I can produce the harness or shoe leath
er from the green hide in fifteen or sixteer
days" said MIR. Martin, yesterday. But
don't believe ii best to hurry too much
If it takes twenty-five days or even thirty
days it is much superior to the old methods
If the capital put into the hides can b'
turned every thirty dayS-twelve times {
year-it is "A good enough thing. | can tar
the hides with my process for about S eaci
less than it can be done where the tanbarl
method is used. That in itself would make
a good safe profit"
Mr.. Martin alone possesses the secret o
the tanning solution Beyond the fact tina
it is made from minerals, he will not sa!
what it is. There is not particle of tan
bark about IT. nor of extract from bark. ol
from canaigre root The ingredients prac
tically all are produced in Kansas City, o.
can be secured here. Their cost is scarcely
more than common salt.
The solution. whatever IT is, is of suci
a nature that it can be drank with i'm
punity. 1t has healing properties. wa!
quickly learned by the unskilled workmel
who had holes eaten in the skin on thei
hands by the lime used in the dehairin;
process. As soon as they began workin:
the hides in the tanning Yates proper th
sores were healed.
The drawback to tanning in Kansas Cit,
has been tanbark which is extensive an
even to ship the extract from the East
where II is produced, makes the cost yer.
great The canaigre root also grows
considerable distance from here, and il;
value in tanning is declared by many tan
ners to have not yet been thorough.
proven. If Mr. Martin has solved thi
problem. as he is confident he has done
there would seem to be nothing in the wa!
of his tannery being a great success.
What n Tannery Means.
OF interest on this point is an addres
made but a few weeks ago by one of th
noted chemists of England. He was al
dressing a national meeting of tanners il
London upon the question of tannic acid
He said: Every year the forests from
which tanbark can be secured are grow
ing smaller. Every year the cost of tan
bark is increasing. Population and the us
of leather are constantly increasing and th,
almost preclude its use, while. even at higl
prices. the supply will be inadequate
believe the only solution of the problem
| is the invention of some tanning fluid mad
from minerals, and | predict such an in
Vontion VIII be forthcoming and will d.
away with the use of tanbark altogether.
Mr. Martin would already seem to haV
solved the English chemists problem, no
only theoretically. but practically He ha
with him in tn eimprovised tannery in tn
desiccating works samples of leather mad
by his process at the tannery at Bowling
! Green.
You can see" said Mr.. Martin. .tha
! there is nothing in my process which burn
| the leather These samples were tanned
! about ydar ago and if the chemicals wer
i going to effect the leather in any way
would show by this time"
gfN.a LII,
| on the floor in lime water from the vat
! or used as leather aprons by the wnrkmen