AN IMPROVED METHOD BY MĚ INVENTED OF TANNING HIDES AND SKINS
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
BREWIN, of Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Tanner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of
June now last past, upon the Petition of me, the said Francis Brewin, did
give and grant unto me, the said Francis Brewin, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Francis Brewin, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself or themselves, or by my
or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
Francis Brewin, my exors, admors, or assigns, should agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, "AN IMPROVED METHOD BY MĚ
INVENTED OF TANNING HIDES AND SKINS," in such manner as to me; the said
Francis Brewin, my exors, admors, or assigns, or any of them, should in my
or their discrétion seem meet, and that I, the said Francis Brewin, should and
might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from
time to time coming, growing, accruing, or arising by. reason of the said
Invention, for and during the term of years therein mentioned; and it is by the
said recited Letters Patent (amongst other provisoes therein) declared and pro-
vided that if I, the said Francis Brewin, should not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of iny said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
said Letters Patent, relation being thereto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Brewin, in compliance with
the said provisoe, do hereby declare that the following is the nature of my
said Invention, and that the same is performed in manner following, that is
to say:-
Provide twenty-four tan vats, with an eye in each similar to a leak eye, but
two feet in heighth will be sufficient, and the bottom should be about four
inches lower than the bottom of the vat, in order that the whole of the wooze
may be pumped out of the vat; and twelve leaks that shall each contain half
as much more as each of the vats, also with the eye four inches deeper than
the bottom of the leak, planted and numbered according to the Plan in the
margin hereof. The quality or strength of the wooze is denoted in each of the

page_text: to renew.
drawn from the best leaks as often as the woozes in the course of making, the
leaks, which appear to be of a desirable strength, into which put the remainder
of your goods. A wooze of ten times the strength of the best woozes that are
general used will be better than a stronger. Supposing the whole of the vats
and leaks to be compleatly in work, as soon as any of the woozes in the vats
numbered above twenty-four shall appear to be in a small degree spent, and
that the bark in the leak next better than the greenest pack is so far spent as
that the wooze and water that will afterwards, in the course of working the
leaks, be sufficient to compleatly spend it, proceed to cast your bark and make
a new leak; work the leaks as far as about the second best, when, instead of
working them through, fill up the first and second best with the wooze from
one of the vats numbered above 24, which contains the wooze that you wish
After they have stood about half a day or a day, draw your wooze
into the empty vat, continue to work through the three best leaks as many of
the strong woozes; numbered above 24, as you think proper, after which work
through the whole 24 vats and leaks in the order in which they are numbered,
and it will be observed that the worst leak will become the best, and must be
the highest number, and that which before was the worst but one will become
your worst; but the vats should never be changed, as in the course of working
them as soon as one is empty it must be filled up again from that leak that it
was worked upon, by doing this the labour of shifting the goods from one vat
to another every time you make a leak is rendered unnecessary. Also observe
the quantity of wooze that will be required to make up your leaks after the
strong woozes are drawn will be abundantly sufficient to empty one of your
vas; but your vats must be sufficiently large to take the whole of the liqour
from one of your leaks, so that in the course of working the leaks and vats the
woozes in each leak and vat will never be mixed together. The hides and skins,
when put into the vats, may either be thrown in and handled in the usual
manner, or be suspended upon sticks, which sticks may again be suspended
upon a wooden frame adapted to the inside of the vat, so that it may readily
move up and down in the vat, and which frame should be suspended by a rope
fixed at each corner of it, which should be in length nearly equal to the depth
of the vat, in each of which ropes a noose should be made about two inches
from the top of the frame, so that a strong stick, by being put through the
noose at each end, and at each end by being laid upon the side of the vat, will
support the hides and skins; or small hooks tinned or made of brass or copper
may be used to suspend the hides or skins fixed into the sticks or frames, or
they may be tied or sewed with strings, one or more together, or seperately.
To shift them from one vat to another, a crane or machine for raising great.

page_text: weights may be used fixed in a square frame, and made moveable upon four
wheels placed at each corner at the bottom of the frame, so that each wheel
shall stand four or six inches from the point of the. four corners of the vats,
and the frame so made that it shall not in any part cover the vats it may stand
over, so as to prevent the highest part of the goods being drawn up as high
above the top of the vat as the vat is in depth. The ropes.upon the frame which
supports the hides are to be fixed upon the roller, and by means of a pulley
attached to the frame of the machine the ropes will work in a perpendicular
direction. The power of the machine should be such that two men may readily
work up the whole of the goods in the vats, and to such a heighth as that
nearly the whole of each hide will become higher than the top of the vat; the
machine and. goods may then be moved together, either by a capstane or other:
wise, and placed over that vat that you intend the goods to be put into, and
the goods may, by the means of the machine, be lowered down into the vat,
the machine may also be used for the drawing up the hides and letting them
down again in the same place, which will generally be found to answer the
purposes of handling in the usual way. A variety of machines may be used for
the purpose, but none I conceive so advantageous as this now described.
In general the greenest goods should be in the lowest numbered vats, and
the goods in the vats numbered under 24 should be shifted forward every
time a green pack is taken into the yard in the same manner as goods in the
floaters are in general, and the most forward pak put into such of the vats
above No. 24 as may appear most convenient; the goods when taken into the
yard to tan should be in the usual state. It is not necessary that the goods
should be taken out of the vats every time the wooze is pumped out; nor is it
absolutely necessary that every part of the goods should go through the whole
twelve vats under number 24, but it will in general be proper that they should
do so, excepting dressing leather, which will be a brighter colour if at first put
into one of the forwarder vats, and not suffered to be put into the three worst
woozes at all. The advantages gained by this method of tanning above any other
method hitherto practiced are principally these:-
First, that much labour will be saved.
Secondly, that the woozes used with the forward goods may be obtained of
any degree of strength that may be required, and at the same time the bark
will be perfectly spent before it is cast to the tan hill, by reason that all the
woozes before they become the best woozes are made to run through the
whole of the leaks, but more particularly by being made to run through the
vats that contain the green goods; for, as the liquor in the course of being
worked from one leak to another becomes stronger, so it proportionably

page_text: expends the bark in each leak, and again as the green goods in the course of
passing through the vats numbered under 24 become in a great degree tanned,
they serve materially to diminish the strength. of the woozes they are in,
which of course, when the leaks are again worked, serves greatly, to expend
the bark in the leaks.
Thirdly, the leather manufactured by this process does not require half. the
usual time to manfacture it that is in general required. It is in. weight
superior to the best tannage in this country, and in other the most essential
qualities superior to any other leather yet manufactured, as it is more elastic
and possesses more of the quality of extending during the process of carrying,
is stronger, tougher, more durable, and less penetrable by water, as by means
of the wooze passing thro' the leaks in the progressive and frequent manner it
does, the woose is deprived of an acid quality, which I find all woozes to
become possessed of, and in the proportion as they become spent
the goods,
and which I have also observed to increase in proportion to the original
strength of the wooze, being in weak liquors less than in strong, and which. I
have discovered to be the chief reason that all leather hitherto manufactured
by strong woozes is so greatly deficient in all the six last-mentioned most
valuable and most essential qualities. The observations so frequently made in
respect to the quality of the leather of the present day, that it is not equal
to what leather formerly was, may be accounted for in this way, that it is
generally tanned in less time, and in course in stronger woozes, which, from
their becoming possessed of the acid in a greater degree, causes the leather.
to be less elastic, less capable of extension during the process of currying,
not so strong, more brittle, less durable, and more readily to imbibe water.
In respect to the disposition of the yats, it is not altogether necessary that
they should be placed as in the above Plan, but in general I have found it to
be the most advantageous way of disposing them. More or less in number of
each description may be used, according to circumstances, but if less, the
advantage of the process will be in most cases only obtained in part, but the
chief thing required is to dispose the leaks and a certain number of yats
containing the green goods in such a manner that they may be worked as tho'
they were one set of leaks, and that the vats in which are the forward goods
may be so placed that they may be conveniently drawn through the best leaks
so often as may be required,. for the purposes before observed, the renewing
of the strength of the wooze, and keeping it so free from what I term the acid
quality as that it shall not materially injure the leather. Should a better
wooze be required than can be obtained by making one leak only, proceed to
make another before you draw any of the vats, after which, as many vats may

page_text: be drawn through the two as would have been drawn had one only been made
Before you drew the vats the first wooze will be particularly good, which
however will cause the last not to be so good as usual, provided as many are
drawn as would have been from the two. If wooze of less strength is required
for the forward goods, draw it from that leak that you conceive to be of the
strength required; or should the filling up of the whole of the leak at one
time make a better wooze than is wanted, and the last-made leak shall not
be good enough, make a new leak and put in so much bark only as will make
the wooze of the strength you wish it to be. It may afterwards be made up
at one or more times according to the quality of the wooze required. Much
of the labour of pumping the woose may be saved by connecting two or three
or more of the leaks together, with a pipe laid about twelve inches from the
top of the leak, in such a manner that the wooze may be made to pass thro
the whole body of the leak, by means of the eye being water-tight, and of the
pipe that forms the communication between the leaks being placed the one
end in the body of one leak and the other in the eye of the other leak. The
vats must also be connected in the same manner, and will require an extra
eye of about three inches square only, and the pipe that connects the vats
should be within two or three inches of the top of the vats. In this case the
woozes are in some degree mixed in the course of working the leaks and vats,
which should be avoided. The pumping may be saved by placing the vats
such an heighth one above another, as that they would run one into another by
means of a cock. In general it will be found most advantageous to work the
pumps and handling machine by a cheaper power that that of men, videlicet,
by horses, water, &c. It will often be found convenient, in adapting an old
yard to this process, to connect two or three or more vats together by means
of a pipe at the bottom of the vats, and work them as one vat, as it will save
the labour of shifting the pumps and the expence of the eyes, and also the
sinking the bottom of the vats, as one eye and one lower part for a pump will
serve for as many vats as may be connected together. By this process the
essence or extract of bark made very strong and at a great distance from the
tannery may be used to more advantage than by any other process, as the work-
ing it frequently thro' the leaks will considerably purify it from the great acidity
that it possesses, and which is one of the greatest objections to its being
generally used for the purposes of tanning. The woozes and the extract may
be freed from the acid by passing or filtrating them through various sub-
stances beside bark, but bark is at present found to be the most convenient
for the purpose. By this method of tanning many other kinds of bark may
be used to advantage besides oak bark, videlicet, elm, ash, &c., as the woose.

page_text: may be obtained of any degree of strength that may be required, tho' the bark
may not be so strong a tan as oak bark. From some experiments I have.
made, I have reason to think that as good leather in every respect may be
made by this process from elm bark, ash, &c., as ever was made from oak
bark.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Brewin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventeenth day. of July, in the thirty-ninth year
of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of
God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the
Faith, &c., and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred
and ninety-nine.
GILB JONES,
Salisbury Square.
R. WEBB,
Clerk to Mr. Jones.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1799, the aforesaid Francis Brewin came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One