IMPROVEMENTS IN CURRYING LEATHER."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andro Prosper Rochette, of Brighouse, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURRYING LEATHER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andre Prosper Rochette
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd April 1857.
I, ANDRE PROSPER ROCHETTE, of Brighouse, in the County of York, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURRYING
LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in currying leather, and the
Invention consists in the application of the greasy and oily matters obtained from
the wash waters resulting from washing wool preparatory to the wool being
manufactured; and the Invention also consists in the application of the oily
and greasy matters obtained from wash waters or soap suds resulting from the
fulling of woollen and other fabrics. These greasy and oily matters are applied
in like manner to that usually resorted to by curriers of leather when employ-
ing tallow or other oily matters heretofore used.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andre Prosper Rochette in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDRE
PROSPER ROCHETTE, of Brighouse, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, Her special licence that I, the said
Andre Prosper Rochette, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN CURRYING LEATHER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed
and 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 I, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in currying leather, and the
Invention consists in the application of the greasy and oily matters obtained
from the wash waters resulting from washing wool preparatory to the wool
being manufactured, and the Invention also consists in the application of the
oily and greasy matters obtained from wash waters or soap suds resulting from
the fulling of woollen and other fabrics. These greasy and oily matters are
applied in like manner to that usually resorted to by curriers of leather when
employing tallow or other oily matters heretofore used.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and

page_text: readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which the
process is conducted.
In order to extract the greasy and oily matters from the wash waters result-
ing from washing wool preparatory to the wool being manufactured, or from
wash waters or soap suds resulting from the fulling of woollen and other fabrics,
a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid is added to combine with the alkali of
the soap, and if the operation is conducted in the cold, as is the ordinary
practice, the greasy or oily matter combined with a large quantity of impurities
after a time subsides to the bottom of the vessel in which the operation is
conducted. This deposit is put into bags, and these are placed in a screw or
other press, the body of which is surrounded by a case, and when the press is
charged, steam is admitted to this case and the pressure is put on; the greasy
or oily matter then flows from the press, and the pressure is continued until it.
ceases so to do. In order to purify the greasy and oily matters, I add to
them about one and a half per cent. of commercial sulphuric acid and I raise
the mixture to its boiling temperature; afterwards I allow it to cool and settlo
and then draw off the clear matter, and again heat it with sulphuric acid and
allow it to cool and settle as before, the clear greasy or oily matter is then
ready for use. I would remark that in order that the greasy or oily matter
may not solidify before it becomes clear by settling, it is necessary that the
room in which the process is conducted should be heated. In using the greasy
matter obtained as above described, I prefer to mix it with tallow and with
cod oil, the three materials being employed in about equal proportions; but
these proportions should be to some extent varied according to the heat of tho
weather. In cold weather the proportion of oil should be increased. The
mixture above specified may be applied to the leather in the same way and in
the same proportions as the greases now in use are applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
24, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
A. P. ROCHETTE. (LS.)