IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR LEATHER SHAVING AND DRESSING
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bradshaw Leachman and John Holroyd,
both of Leeds, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
Sealed the 29th May 1868, and dated the 2nd December 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bradshaw Leach-
man and John Holroyd at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd December 1867.
We, WILLIAM BRADSHAW LEACHMAN and JOHN HOLROYD, both of Leeds, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR LEATHER SHAVING AND DRESSING," to be as follows:-
Our object is to cause the knife by which the hide is dressed to accommodate
itself to various thicknesses. For this purpose we use a cylinder hollow or
otherwise mounted on a convenient frame, and of the width of one skin or
more if desired. On this cylinder we make a notch having a spring catch, to

page_text: which we attach one end of the hide or skin, the other end of the hide passing
round our cylinder is kept in near contact to the same by friction rollers. On
one side of this cylinder at an angle, say, for instance, of about twenty-eight
degrees we apply our knife. It may here be remarked that when the skins
are tolerably even in thickness we use a fixed knife, that is to say, one fastened
to one that may be termed the equivalent of a "rest" in a slide lathe, such
knife being actuated when needful to cover the breadth of the skin by an
ordinary screw and slide rest motion. When we have skins of various thick-
nesses to deal with we employ a roller against the periphery of the cylinder
before named, and above that we place our knife with a spring underneath
fastened to the fixed rest before named.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Bradshaw Leachman and John Holroyd in the
'Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BRADSHAW LEACHMAN and JOHN HOLROYD, both of Leeds, in the County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said William Bradshaw Leachman and John Holroyd, Her special licence
that we, the said William Bradshaw Leachman and John Holroyd, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Bradshaw Leachman and John Holroyd, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR LEATHER SHAVING AND DRESSING," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Bradshaw Leach-
man and John Holroyd, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,

page_text: ánd cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office, within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Bradshaw Leachman and
John Holroyd, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
Our object is to cause the knife by which the hide is dressed to accomodate
itself to various thicknesses. For this purpose we use a cylinder hollow or
otherwise mounted on a convenient frame, and of the width of one skin or
more if desired. On this cylinder we make a notch having a spring catch, to
which we attach one end of the hide or skin, the other end of the hide passing
round our cylinder is kept in near contact to the same by friction rollers. On
one side of this cylinder at an angle, say, for instance, of about twenty-eight
degrees, for example, we apply our knife. It may here be remarked that
when the skins are tolerably even in thickness we use a fixed knife, that is to say,
one fastened to what may be termed the equivalent of a "rest" in a slide
lathe, such knife being actuated when needful to cover the breadth of the skin
by an ordinary screw and slide rest motion. When we have skins of various
thicknesses to deal with we employ a roller against the perphery of the
cylinder before named, and above that we place our knife with a spring
underneath fastened to the fixed rest before named.
In order however that our Invention may be the better understood reference
is made to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front elevation and Figure 2 an end elevation of our
apparatus. A indicates the cylinder mounted upon the frame B, in which
will be seen a small notch a with clip a¹ by means of which as before explained
we secure one end of the hide; letters 6 shew the friction rollers; C indicates
the "slide" rest motion referred to, by means of which the knife d is traversed
the whole breadth of the cylinder.
Figure 3 shows the alternative plan referred to to allow the knife to rise or
fall to the varying thicknesses of the hide. It will be seen that the knife d
5 swings upon the fulcra e and is free to move vertically in the two slots f, f,
Figure 4.
The knife is shown by itself in Figure 5, as also the shank d', by means of

page_text: which it may slide vertically. The details of the apparatus may of course be
varied according to circumstances.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Bradshaw Leachman & John
Holroyd, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirtieth day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-5
eight.
WILLIAM BRADSHAW LEACHMAN. (L.S.)
JOHN HOLROYD.
(L.S.)
Witness,
PHILIP H. SHARP,
Patent Agent,
Leeds.