AN IMPROVEMENT IN TANNING HIDES AND SKINS OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHAPLIN, of Bishop Horford, in the County of Herts, Tanner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of February, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Chaplin, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Frederick Chaplin, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederick Chaplin, my exors, admors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TANNING HIDES
AND SKINS OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said Frederick Chaplin, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Chaplin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
According to the ordinary process now in general use for tanning the hides
and skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffalos, horses, what are called East India kips,
and market calf skins, to which my Invention is confined. The hides having
been first deprived of the hair and otherwise prepared, as is well understood,
are submitted to a process of continued steeping in tanning liquor in pits till
the operation of tanning is complete, but such process is exceedingly tedious,
taking many months to complete the same. There have, however, been many
attempts made to facilitate the process of tanning those description of hides
and skins by affixing them in rings or frames, and thereby forming a sort of
bag into which tanning liquor was filled, and by means of pipes or pumps
considerable artificial or hydrostic pressure was induced on the confined fluid
to cause it to pass or percolate through the hides or skins, such operation being
performed with a view to arrest the tanning matter of the liquor and to cause
it to penetrate and be received more quickly by the pores, and hence intending
materially to shorten the process of tanning such description of hides and
skins as aforesaid. There has also been means proposed for suspending 8
number of such hides and skins in a closed chamber or vessel filled with
tanning liquor, and by means of pneumatic or hydraulic pressure to cause such
hides more quickly to take up the tanning matter.
And and another method
proposed to facilitate and quicken the process of tanning hides and skins
consists of filling tanning liquor into two hides or skins, which had been
previously sewed into a sort of bag, and placing such bag in a rack, cage, or
frame constructed of bars of wood, to prevent the bag being distended, and
submitting such bag so contained in an open rack or cage to a heated
atmosphere in order to evaporate the water of the tanning liquor as it
passes through the pores of the hides or skins, with a view to cause the
tanning matter contained in the tanning liquor to be deposited in or retained
by the pores of the hides and skins so operated on; to all which processes
there are objections, both as to the expence of apparatus and otherwise. And
a method of tanning sheep and such thin and small skins has been in some
instances resorted to, whereby one or more skins, having been sewed up into a
sort of bag, and filled, or partly filled, with tanning liquor, the same has been
permitted to penetrate through such small and thin skins till they have become
sufficiently tanned. Now the object of my Invention is to apply a similar
principle to that last mentioned, with certain modifications and means, to the
tanning of bull, ox, cow, buffalo, horse, East India kips, and market calf hides
and skins, whereby the same may be tanned in a period varying from forty-

page_text: eight hours to ten days, depending on the quality of the hides or skins, and
without the aid of additional artificial hydrostatic or pneumatic pressure, and
without the aid of any open wood framing or cage or artificial heat, as has
been spoken of above. Having thus generally pointed out the nature of my
improvements in tanning certain descriptions of hides or skins, I will proceed
to explain the process pursued by me in order to perform the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS.
After the hides or skins have been deprived of the hair, and otherwise
prepared for tanning in the usual way, according to the kind of leather to be
made, each hide or skin is to be made into a bag by carefully sewing the edges
together with small but strong packthread, leaving only one aperture at which
liquor may be introduced; or more skins than one may be similarly formed
into a bag. They are then to be washed by dipping once or twice in a weak
ooze or tanning liquor to free them from any dirty matter which may adhere
to the surface, and immediately afterwards filled with strong tanning liquor,
one man holding up with both hands the end or part of the hide or skin left
unsewn as above stated, while another man pours in the liquor by means of a
common jet, the hide or skin lying on the alley or path between the vats of an
ordinary tan yard, or on a board or boards placed over a vat or vats, or on the
ground adjoining the vats, or in any other convenient floor or place, so that
liquor may readily be obtained to fill the hides or skins, and the liquor which
drains therefrom may run into some vat or vats, and so that the hides or skins
may be kept clean. When a hide or skin is full of liquor, the opening through
which the liquor has been introduced is not to be closed by tying the sides of
the orifice together with a piece of string, so that the bag thus formed, and
full of liquor or ooze, may be turned in all directions, which is important to
the good and equal tanning of the hides and skins, and which I am enabled to
do with greater facility by dispensing with the frames or apparatus heretofore
used, and which have been before mentioned. The liquor will very soon be
seen to have penetrated the hides or skins in almost every part, and will drain
from them in considerable quantities. In addition to this some liquor will
probably escape through the apertures in the seams, particularly when it
has been only recently filled. The liquor thus escaping may be suffered
to remain in the vats into which it runs with other liquor, and to be after-
wards made into fresh ooze, as herein-after described, or otherwise. And
it should be replaced in the hide or skin by frequently untying the mouth
of the orifice and introducing fresh liquor, so as to keep the hide or skin
as nearly as possible always full of liquor, carefully tying up the opening

page_text: after each filling, in order that that part, as well as all other parts, may
occasionally be turned downwards. After lying for two or three hours
in the position in which it was left after being first filled, the hide or skin
should be turned over, so that the part before lying downwards may be
brought upwards; and the oftener it is turned over or moved in order to vary
the position of the bag, the better and more equally it will be tanned. This
process is to be continued a longer or shorter time according to the strength of
the liquor used and the thickness of the hide or skin, which will quickly be
judged by a workman accustomed to tanning. By the aid of the liquor made,
as herein-after described, and which I prefer to use, the thickest hide may be
perfectly tanned in seven or eight days, and a market calf skin or horse hide in
forty-eight hours, supposing them to be filled with fresh liquor and tanned
over four or five times during the day, and remain without any attention during
the night. Either the flesh or grain side may be outwards, but I prefer the
flesh to be outwards. Some advantage will be obtained by raising to the
height of twelve or eighteen inches that end of the boards or other flooring on
which the heads of the hides or skins are laid, so that the tail ends may be the
lowest, as this will cause the liquor to act more continuously and strongly on
that part which is the thickest and most difficult to tan. It will also facilitate
the separation of the liquor which flows from the hides or skins from that with
which they are to be replenished. In the process of tanning here described I
use liquor made from the terra japonicâ or catechu, but I do not confine myself
thereto. Such liquor or ooze may be prepared in the following manner :-
Put about three hundredweight of the terra japonicâ into an empty vat
(suitable for 25 to 30 hides) and pour about one hundred gallons of boiling
water upon it; let it stand about half an hour without moving, then stir
and plunge it up thoroughly so as to bruise the squares that may remain
undissolved as much as possible; then add enough common tanning ooze
(the strength of it is not material) to fill three fourths of the vat, plunge
this up well and use it immediately. This is the method to be adopted in
making an ooze with the terra japonica for the first time in a yard in which
that article has not before been in use. To renew an old ooze it is only
necessary to remove the liquor from the vat, leaving whatever sediment may
remain at the bottom, and adding to this about one basket or one and a half
hundredweight of the terra japonica, then pouring about sixty gallons, or one
hundred gallons if there is a great variety of sediment remaining, and plunging
it up after standing a short time, as mentioned above, then bring back the same
liquor which was taken out. In this manner every ooze may easily be
renewed as often as may be required. There should always be a considerable

page_text: quantity of thick matter or sediment in every vat, and this should be well
stirred or plunged up whenever liquor is taken to fill the hides or skins, so
that some of the thick matter may go into them along with the liquor, not
only because it keeps up the strength of the liquor, but also by filling up the
interstices of the seams it prevents them from leaking so much as they would
otherwise. If there are any large holes in the hides or skins they should be
sewed up; small holes may easily be stopped by wooden pegs or plugs thrust
into the holes at the time of filling. When the tanning is completed the seams
are to be ripped open with a knife, and if the appearance of the sewing is
objected to, it may be removed by cutting off a very narrow strip all round
the edges of the hides or skins. After washing them so as to free them
from the thick matter adhering to them, if they are intended for sole
leather throw them into a common bark ooze for an hour, and hang them up
to dry. If they are for dressing leather, let half a hundredweight of sumach
be steeped for half an hour in fifty gallons of boiling water, and then added
both sumach and water to a common bark ooze sufficient to cover twenty-five
heavy hides or a proportionate number of skins. Let the hides or skins
remain in this ooze for forty-eight hours, and be frequently handled, then hang
them up to dry. In either case a very small quantity of cod oil should be
rubbed over both sides of them as soon as they have ceased to drip, and the
drying may then be managed in the usual way, according to the kind of
leather intended to be made. If the matter or appearance called bloom be
wished for, it may be obtained by means of oozes made from bark or valonia,
and applied in the usual way after the tanning, as above described, has been
completed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I have to declare my improvements to consist,-
First, in tanning the hides or skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffaloes, horses,
East India kips, and market calf skins, by simply sewing them into bags, and
filling such bags with the tanning liquor, and permitting it to gradually
percolate through, and frequently replenishing them with fresh liquor, and by
frequently moving or turning over of such bags on suitable surfaces for
admitting of the liquor to run into a vat or receptacle, again to be used when
such
is conducted without the aid of additional artificial, or hydrostatic,
process
or pneumatic pressure, and without the aid of any wooden cage or frame or
artificial heat, which have heretofore been considered necessary when endea-
vouring to tan the hides or skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffaloes, horses, East
India kips, and market calf skins, by a quicker process than that of steeping
in pits, as is the general means now in use.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the application of an ooze (or tanning liquor) obtained
from terra japonica, when employed with the particular process of tanning
above described, as applied to the certain descriptions of hides and skins
herein mentioned, though I do not claim the tanning of such hides or skins
generally by that liquor or ooze, the same having been before used when
tanning such descriptions of hides and skins in pits.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Chaplin, have hereunto set

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHAPLIN, of Bishop Horford, in the County of Herts, Tanner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighteenth day of February, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Chaplin, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Frederick Chaplin, my exors, adors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Frederick Chaplin, my exors, adñors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at..all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN TANNING HIDES
AND SKINS OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said Frederick Chaplin, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Chaplin, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
According to the ordinary process now in general use for tanning the hides
and skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffalos, horses, what are called East India kips,
and market calf skins, to which my Invention is confined. The hides having
been first deprived of the hair and otherwise prepared, as is well understood,
are submitted to a process of continued steeping in tanning liquor in pits till
the operation of tanning is complete, but such process is exceedingly tedious,
taking many months to complete the same. There have, however, been many
attempts made to facilitate the process of tanning those description of hides
and skins by affixing them in rings or frames, and thereby forming a sort of
bag into which tanning liquor was filled, and by means of pipes or pumps
considerable artificial or hydrostic pressure was induced on the confined fluid
to cause it to pass or percolate through the hides or skins, such operation being
performed with a view to arrest the tanning matter of the liquor and to cause
it to penetrate and be received more quickly by the pores, and hence intending
materially to shorten the process of tanning such description of hides and
skins as aforesaid. There has also been means proposed for suspending a
number of such hides and skins in a closed chamber or vessel filled with
tanning liquor, and by means of pneumatic or hydraulic pressure to cause such
hides more quickly to take up the tanning matter. And and another method
proposed to facilitate and quicken the process of tanning hides and skins
consists of filling tanning liquor into two hides or skins, which had been
previously sewed into a sort of bag, and placing such bag in a rack, cage, or
frame constructed of bars of wood, to prevent the bag being distended, and
submitting such bag so contained in an open rack or cage to a heated
atmosphere in order to evaporate the water of the tanning liquor as it
passes through the pores of the hides or skins, with a view to cause the
tanning matter contained in the tanning liquor to be deposited in or retained
by the pores of the hides and skins so operated on; to all which processes
there are objections, both as to the expence of apparatus and otherwise. And
a method of tanning sheep and such thin and small skins has been in some
instances resorted to, whereby one or more skins, having been sewed up into a
sort of bag, and filled, or partly filled, with tanning liquor, the same has been
permitted to penetrate through such small and thin skins till they have become
sufficiently tanned. Now the object of my Invention is to apply a similar
principle to that last mentioned, with certain modifications and means, to the
tanning of bull, ox, cow, buffalo, horse, East India kips, and market calf hides
and skins, whereby the same may be tanned in a period varying from forty-

page_text: without the aid of any open wood framing or cage or artificial heat, as has
been spoken of above. Having thus generally pointed out the nature of my
improvements in tanning certain descriptions of hides or skins, I will proceed
to explain the process pursued by me in order to perform the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS.
After the hides or skins have been deprived of the hair, and otherwise
prepared for tanning in the usual way, according to the kind of leather to be
made, each hide or skin is to be made into a bag by carefully sewing the edges
together with small but strong packthread, leaving only one aperture at which
liquor may be introduced; or more skins than one may be similarly formed
into a bag. They are then to be washed by dipping once or twice in a weak
ooze or tanning liquor to free them from any dirty matter which may adhere
to the surface, and immediately afterwards filled with strong tanning liquor,
one man holding up with both hands the end or part of the hide or skin left
unsewn as above stated, while another man pours in the liquor by means of a
common jet, the hide or skin lying on the alley or path between the vats of an
ordinary tan yard, or on a board or boards placed over a vat or vats, or on tho
ground adjoining the vats, or in any other convenient floor or place, so that
liquor may readily be obtained to fill the hides or skins, and the liquor which
drains therefrom may run into some vat or vats, and so that the hides or skins
may be kept clean. When a hide or skin is full of liquor, the opening through
which the liquor has been introduced is not to be closed by tying the sides of
the orifice together with a piece of string, so that the bag thus formed, and
full of liquor or ooze, may be turned in all directions, which is important to
the good and equal tanning of the hides and skins, and which I am enabled to
do with greater facility by dispensing with the frames or apparatus heretofore
used, and which have been before mentioned. The liquor will very soon be
seen to have penetrated the hides or skins in almost every part, and will drain
from them in considerable quantities. In addition to this some liquor will
probably escape through the apertures in the seams, particularly when it
has been only recently filled. The liquor thus escaping may be suffered
to remain in the vats into which it runs with other liquor, and to be after-
wards made into fresh ooze, as herein-after described, or otherwise. And
it should be replaced in the hide or skin by frequently untying the mouth
of the orifice and introducing fresh liquor, so as to keep the hide or skin
as nearly as possible always full of liquor, carefully tying up the opening

page_text: after each filling, in order that that part, as well as all other parts, may
occasionally be turned downwards. After lying for two or three hours
in the position in which it was left after being first filled, the hide or skin
should be turned over, so that the part beforo lying downwards may be
brought upwards; and the oftener it is turned over or moved in order to vary
the position of the bag, the better and more equally it will be tanned. This
process is to be continued a longer or shorter time according to the strength of
the liquor used and the thickness of the hide or skin, which will quickly be
judged by a workman accustomed to tanning. By the aid of the liquor made,
as herein-after described, and which I prefer to use, the thickest hide may be
perfectly tanned in seven or eight days, and a market calf skin or horse hide in
forty-eight hours, supposing them to be filled with fresh liquor and tanned.
over four or five times during the day, and remain without any attention during
the night. Either the flesh or grain side may be outwards, but I prefer the
flesh to be outwards. Some advantage will be obtained by raising to the
height of twelve or eighteen inches that end of the boards or other flooring on
which the heads of the hides or skins are laid, so that the tail ends may be the
lowest, as this will cause the liquor to act more continuously and strongly on
that part which is the thickest and most difficult to tan. It will also facilitate
the separation of the liquor which flows from the hides or skins from that with
which they are to be replenished. In the process of tanning here described I
use liquor made from the terra japonicâ or catechu, but I do not confine myself.
thereto. Such liquor or ooze may be prepared in the following manner:
Put about three hundredweight of the terra japonica into an empty vat
(suitable for 25 to 30 hides) and pour about one hundred gallons of boiling
water upon it; let it stand about half an hour without moving, then stir
and plunge it up thoroughly so as to bruise the squares that may remain
undissolved as much as possible; then add enough common tanning ooze
(the strength of it is not material) to fill three fourths of the vat, plunge
this up well and use it immediately. This is the method to be adopted in
making an ooze with the terra japonica-for the first time in a yard in which
that article has not before been in use. To renew an old ooze it is only
necessary to remove the liquor from the vat, leaving whatever sediment may
remain at the bottom, and adding to this about one basket or one and a half
hundredweight of the terra japonicâ, then pouring about sixty gallons, or one
hundred gallons if there is a great variety of sediment remaining, and plunging
it up after standing a short time, as mentioned above, then bring back the same
liquor which was taken out. In this manner every ooze may easily be
renewed as often as may be required. There should always be a considerable

page_text: quantity of thick matter or sediment in every vat, and this should be well
stirred or plunged up whenever liquor is taken to fill the hides or skins, so
that some of the thick matter may go into them along with the liquor, not
only because it keeps up the strength of the liquor; but also by filling up the
interstices of the seams it prevents them from leaking so much as they would
otherwise. If there are any large holes in the hides or skins they should bo
sewed up; small holes may easily be stopped by wooden pegs or plugs thrust
into the holes at the time of filling. When the tanning is completed the seams
are to be ripped open with a knife, and if the appearance of the sewing is
objected to, it may be removed by cutting off a very narrow strip all round
the edges of the hides or skins. After washing them so as to free them
from the thick matter adhering, to them, if they are intended for sole
leather throw them into a common bark ooze for an hour, and hang them up
to dry. If they are for dressing leather, let half a hundredweight of sumach
be steeped for half an hour in fifty gallons of boiling water, and then added
both sumach and water to a common bark ooze sufficient to cover twenty-five
Let the hides or skins
heavy hides or a proportionate number of skins.
remain in this ooze for forty-eight hours, and be frequently handled, then hang
them up to dry. In either case a very small quantity of cod oil should be
rubbed over both sides of them as soon as they have ceased to drip, and the
drying may then be managed in the usual way, according to the kind of
leather intended to be made. If the matter or appearance called bloom be
wished for, it may be obtained by means of oozes made from bark or valonia,
and applied in the usual way after the tanning, as above described, has been
completed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I have to declare my improvements to consist,-
First, in tanning the hides or skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffaloes, horses,
East India kips, and market calf skins, by simply sewing them into bags, and
filling such bags with the tanning liquor, and permitting it to gradually
percolate through, and frequently replenishing them with fresh liquor, and by
frequently moving or turning over of such bags on suitable surfaces for
admitting of the liquor to run into a vat or receptacle, again to be used when
such process is conducted without the aid of additional artificial, or hydrostatic,
or pneumatic pressure, and without the aid of any wooden cage or frame or
artificial heat, which have heretofore been considered necessary when endea-
vouring to tan the hides or skins of bulls, oxen, cows, buffaloes, horses, East
India kips, and market calf skins, by a quicker process than that of steeping
in pits, as is the general means now in use.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the application of an ooze (or tanning liquor) obtained
from terra japonica, when employed with the particular process of tanning
above described, as applied to the certain descriptions of hides and skins
herein mentioned, though I do not claim the tanning of such hides or skins
generally by that liquor or ooze, the same having been before used when
tanning such descriptions of hides and skins in pits.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Chaplin, have hereunto set
my hand and seals, this
day of , in the year of our
Inrolled the Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.