IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING SKINS AND HIDES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, of Herdecke,
Westphalia, Tanner and Currier, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TANNING SKINS AND HIDES."
Sealed the 5th August 1856, and dated the 6th February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Frederick Philipp
Funcke at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
.on the 6th February 1856.
I, CHARLES FREDERICK PHILIPP FUNCKE, of Herdecke, Westphalia, Tanner
and Currier, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
¡MENTS IN TANNING SKINS AND HIDES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in treating skins and bides, as hereafter explained, in
order to tan them. I take the skins or hides after they have been cleansed
from blood, and other matters in the usual manner for tanning, but with the
hair or fur remaining on, and submit them to orpiment and lime, held or
dissolved, in soft water for about two hours for skins, and from two to six
hours, more or less, for hides, after which the skins or hides, are removed, and
the hair or fur comes away easily.
After the skins or hides have been thus prepared and cleaned from hair or
fur, I draw them through a solution of soda and water, composed by adding
about one, pound and three quarters of soda of commerce to about 300 lbs. of
cold soft water, and then I hang the skins or hides up to dry until they are
nearly dry. I next-transfer them to a vat containing (for about twenty small

page_text: skins) about 116 quarts of cold soft water; 16 lbs. of oak bark, 14 lbs. divi-
divi, and 3 ounces of tartaric acid, and at first remove the skins or hides from
and replace them in the solution about every ten minutes, three or four times
successively, then remove and replace them every half-hour, until they have
been in the solution in all about four hours. The skins or hides are then
removed, "sleeked out," and bung up to dry for a few hours in a temperature
of about 70° Fahrenheit. I again place them in a vat containing a similar
solution of that last described, with the addition thereto of 1 lbs. of loaf
sugar, and 3 ounces of acetic acid, and remove them from and replace them in
the solution every balf-hour until they have remained in about four hours in
all, and hang them up in a temperature of about 70° Fahrenheit, until they
are nearly dry, and I then finally place them in a drum together with a
solution containing about 12 quarts of water, 3 lbs. divi-divi, 5 lbs. of oak
bark, pound of northanser or other fuming sulphuric acid, and one pound of
common salt, and cause the drum, and its contents, to rotate for about from
three to five hours. On being removed, the skins are rinsed or washed in clean
water, "slecked" out and hung up to dry.
For tanning a greater or less number of skins, of course the foregoing doses
must be increased or diminished, but about the proportions above named must
be preserved, whatever the quantity of skins or hides in course of tanning.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 6th August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
FREDERICK PHILIPP FUNCKE, of Herdecke, Westphalia, Tanner and Currier,
'send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, Her special licence that I, the
said Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, 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.

page_text: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING SKINS AND HIDES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Frederick Philipp
Funcke, 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 Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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:-
My Invention consists in expediting the introduction of tannic acid into the
interior of skins and hides, by counteracting a too rapid action of such tannic
acid upon the surface only of the skins and hides, which thereby would be
hardened, and in consequence require to be steeped for a long time in tanning
liquid before it could penetrate to the interior.
The mode of operation which I have adopted for this purpose is as
follows:-
First, I pass the unhaired skins or hides through water in which soda of
commerce has been dissolved, and I then hang them up, and allow them to
become nearly dry, before I proceed to the actual tanning process.
Secondly, I add diluted vegetable acids to extracts of bark or other vege-
table substances containing tannic acid, and subject the skins or hides to the
action of the combined liquid by steeping them therein, by which the pores of
the skins or hides are opened and extended, at the same time as they are
exposed to the action of the tannic acid.
Thirdly, I again subject the skins and hides to the action of a liquid, similar
to the last, by steeping them therein, but in this case I take vegetable acid,
somewhat stronger than the former, and soften its action by the addition of a
solution of sugar.
And, finally, while the skins or hides are subjected to a well-known
mechanical, lifting and falling action, I subject them to the action of a liquid
containing tannic acid, until the leather is finished; but as the tanning liquor
in my process, in order to act with expedition, is of such strength as to give
the leather, a color too, deep for most purposes, I reduce this color, when
required, by adding. in this last stage of the process some sulphuric acid and
salt to the tanning liquid in which the skins or hides are worked.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I proceed to describe
in what manner it may be performed. When, for example, forty small calf skins
are to be tanned, I shall state the proportions of ingredients required for
that number, but these will of course have to be diminished or increased for
a smaller or larger number of skins or hides. Skins or hides of more or less
substance will also require proportionately longer or shorter times of working
than those herein-after mentioned. These circumstances every practical man
will be able to regulate. I take the skins after they have been unhaired;
fleshed, and cleaned in the usual manner, and draw them through cold soft
water in about 600 lbs., of which 3 lbs. 8 oz. of common soda have been
dissolved; I then hang the skins up, and when they are nearly dry I immerse
them in a vat containing tanning liquor, composed of 232 quarts of cold soft
water, 32 lbs. of oak bark, 28 lbs. of divi-divi, and 6 oz. of tartaric acid in
powder, and leave them in this liquor for ten minutes; I then take them out
and replace them after a short exposure to the air; I repeat this three times,
and then immerse them for half an hour, and air them, as before, and repeat
this every half-hour until the skins have been subjected to the action of this
liquor in all about four hours. The skins are then sleaked out and hung up
to dry for a few hours in an atmosphere of a temperature of about 70° of
Fahrenheit; I then steep them again in tanning liquor, similar to the last
described, but to which I add 6 oz. of acetic acid and 2 lbs. 8 oz. of loaf sugar,
and remove them from and replace them into this liquor every half-hour, until
they have been in about four hours in all; I then hang them up in an
atmosphere of a temperature of about 70° Fahrenheit until they are nearly dry,
and place them in a drum, together with tanning liquor, composed of twenty-
four quarts cold soft water, 10 lbs of oak bark, 7 lbs. 8 oz. of divi-divi, 1 lb. of
fuming sulphuric acid, and 2 lbs. of common salt, and cause the drum and its
contents to rotate for about four hours. When the skins are found to be
sufficiently done, I take them out of the drum, wash them with clean water
and sleak them; they may then be hung up to be dried or be finished off at
once by the currier, dyer, or enameller.
I do not confine myself to the ingredients herein-before named, for it is
evident that tannic acid extracted from other barks and vegetable substances
might be substituted, and that instead of using sugar in the refined; and acetic
acid in the rectified state, the impurer articles from which they are produced;
namely, molasses and raw sugar, and pyroligneous acid might be taken in
proportionate quantities, also that different mechanical means of agitating the
skins, and pits for holding the tannic liquor, might be employed; nor do I
confine myself to the temperature of 70° Fahrenheit, as from 45° to 100°

page_text: might be used for drying. I do not claim the use of the several ingredients
separately, nor of the drums and vats, as I am well aware that these have been
employed before in the manufacture of leather; but what I claim is,―
Firstly, the use of certain vegetable acids, with or without sugar, in com-
bination with and at the same time as the tanning liquor extracted from barks
and other vegetable substances containing tannic acid.
Secondly, the progressive or successive use of these compound liquors in
certain periods, and after previous partial drying of the skins, as described.
Thirdly, the passing of the skins or hides through water containing a small
proportion of soda previous to the first drying period.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Frederick Philipp Funcke, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
CHARLES FR. PHILIPP FUNCKE. (L.s.).