The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-01-20
NOTHING LIKE LEATHER
How Sheep Skins are Cured, Picked
and Tanned

The division of labor in what the public
understand IS the leather trade Is Of
the most varied description. There are
very many branches of the business, be
ginning aiih the men wool pullcrs, who
take the wool oif Of the skin, OF who re
move the hair frou the hides of other
animals. passing on to the prcosSs men
who bus the pelis from the pullers and put
them through 4 manufacture called pro
osssine. and finally picking Shem On the
tanner of iuuumerahle kinds Of leather,
Many tanners are specialists, and separately
they are often familiar cnly With tie ma
nipulatious Of their own particular branch,
hence wc say the trade from the beginning
10 its numerous ends Is widely divided.
Webs,ers international dictionary dc
ssrib,s leather a- follows The skin Of
an animal or some part of such skin,
tanned. taved. ~ otherwise dressed Cor
use. alsn. dressed hides. collectively in
the trade there i unfinished leather asd
undr,--cd leather
The worl taWed ! defined as follows.
To dress aud prepare, etc.
At the resent hearin. before United
States General Appraisers IN New York On
ahas va. called the pieklci shrePskiu
ear, exgST testimony was gwen on
leatt.er in general aud in particular ,ha,
provci of great valac even TO those who
have been in business over forty years ss
specialists. Al around the trade has beca
benefited One wiiness in particular. Geo.
". Adler. President u the Eureka Tan
mage Company. Philadelphia, 4 man well
ycr>,-i in many Il the branches. gave tes.
,imouy tha, has becn commented upon
through the entire country. In an inter
view with Mr. Adler IN the subjects Of
picked skins tawei skins aud leather, Mr.
Adler said in efect The merchandise
recognized in trade As picked splits Is
the ene- half Of a sheel-kin which ha- been
spli, by 4 splitting machine, one Of the
halves being known as a 'ilesher the other
half As split A picked sheoIskin :
one that has not been split e the
whole skin Neither picked sheePskin-
nor splits aud heshers aFc commercially
Known a. raw skins.
The raw sheep skins, after being soaked
in water, have their wo0l removed by pull
iuc, being treated to a sweating proesss, or
a painting on the he,h side with a suitable
lepilatory having the quality or power of
removing hair, an application 10 take of
hairl. such a. arsenic combined with hme
by shaking, slaked lime forming paste OF
paint with water, a solution Of sodium sui
phide, etc After the wool Is removed the
skins are immersed in a bath Of milk of
lime lime aud water ot suitable densitv)
for period 0f seven toten jays, according
to conditions. the skin being frequently
handled during the period Of time required
for lining in the above named bath a
recent system, involving the use Of a solu-
ton Of sodium sulphide, admits Of shorten
ing the time to twenty four hours, and dis
penses With handling after beam work
The Inning system requires working of
the skin on both grain and flesh side, and
an after batting or drenching of the skin BY
means Of, generally, bran fermentation.
The bran drench Is composed Of water and
bran Of suitable density and temperature
Skins treated by the Inning system as above
involve the employment of skilled labor or
machinery From the dreneh the skins
are usually again worked on the beam In
all eases the skins should be thoroughly
eleansed previous TO picking, which con
sists of treating the skin to a solution of
salt and sulphurie acid and water, in such
proportions as 10 strike or cure the skin
sufficiently to render it non putrescible and
in a merchantable and comparatively i'm
perishable condition.
From the picking bath the skins are
drained, sorted, rolled into bundles of
dozen each, packed in casks, when they
are ready for market or the endurance of
transportation. The picked state could
not be called tanned, but it is portion
of the tanning process, used in conjunction
with tan liquors (such as those made with
vegetable astringents, barks, sumac, etc }
and fully one half of the work required to
tan and finish sheep skin for various pur-
poses has actually been done on a picked
skin. There are, however, many tannages
employed in tanning sheep skins wherein
the picking only of the skin previous to
the tanning is dispensed with In the case
of such tannages, when picked skins are
used the pickle is eliminated from the skin
previous to tanning
The subject is not merely interesting
in itself; it is one of considerable CONNER
cial Importance, since the tariff on i'm
ported skins is regulated by the amount of
labor expended upon them towards making
them finished product, in SO far as this
can be expressed by such terms as 'piekled
and tanned Tariff duties may be evaded
or unjustly imposed according to the classi-
fication of skins under the act, although
even experts find some difficulty in reducing
the several processes to the descriptive