IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING ON LEATHER AND SKINS
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
GUIGUES, of Peckham, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventeenth day of October, in the eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward Guigues, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Edward Guigues, my exors, admňors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Edward Guigues, my exors, adiñors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING ON LEATHER
AND SKINS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the
said Edward Guigues, 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
Her 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
Edward Guigues, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the 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) :-
I take goat, sheep, or any other skins, by preference tanned in Sicilian
shumac in the ordinary manner, put them in water to wash them well, to
remove all oily matter and any shumac that they may contain. For one
dozen skins take a pint of sulphuric acid of 66° of Beaumer hydrometer, and
twelve gallons of warm water (about ninety degrees Fahrenheit) in a tub, and
let the skins remain immersed for ten minutes, then take them out and immerse
them in the same quantity of cold water for about a quarter of an hour; they
are then placed upon a table and undergo the process of "striking out," by
which means nearly all the water is extracted; the skins are then hung out to
dry, and when about half dry put them upon a large table, one upon the top
of the other, and brush them out as smooth as possible that they may the more
easily be printed upon; let them remain on the table one entire day, and they
are then ready for the printer. The printing table and other accessaries are
the same as those used for printing on stuffs and other fabrics, the colors
only differ in their mode of preparation. There is but one preparation which
is used for all the colors to render them when printed upon the leather unalter-
able and proof against acids. The preparation consists in a solution, and is
made in the following manner:-Take half a gallon of muriatic acid of 18° by
Beaumer hydrometer, quarter of a gallon aquafortis, 36° of Beaumer; put them
in a flat bottle with a long neck known by the name of "matrass;" put the
bottle upon an oven heated to about one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit; then
augment the heat gradually to about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahren-
heit; then take one pound of sal ammoniac, and about every two minutes put
one-sixteenth part, or one ounce, cut very fine and small, into the bottle until
all is perfectly dissolved; then take one pound of pure tin, known by the name
of granulated tin, and divide it into twenty equal parts, one of which is put
into the bottle every ten minutes; as soon as the whole is perfectly dissolved,
and the solution begins to get fine, the bottle is to be taken off the oven, and
the solution is allowed to fine during two days, and then pour it off into a
bottle and keep it well corked.
I prepare colors such as red, yellow, voilet, &c. For red I take four pounds
of Brazil chips, which I put into four gallons of soft water, let it boil for six
hours, and then strain the liquor through a sieve, then let it remain about a
month before use; for every pint of color, I take a quarter of a pint of the
solution, which I mix well with the liquid color; it is then ready for the
printer.
For violet, I take the same proportion of Campeachy chips and water as for

page_text: red; it is made in exactly the same way as the red, with this only difference,
that it is ready for use immediately it is strained off, and the solution is added
in the same proportion.
For yellow, I use Persian berries in precisely the same manner as the chips"
for red and violet. To four quarts of any color prepared as above, the color
must then stand to cool before used; and in like manner I prepare other
colors.
When the skin is printed and perfectly dry dip it in cold water, and then in
water hot to about one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, (into twelve gallons of
which first put one pint of sulphuric acid); let the skin remain in this water
about three minutes, then soak it in cold water for about ten minutes; then
strike it out upon a table to extract the water, and with the band smooth the
surface of the skin with linseed oil, hang it up to dry; when perfectly dry the
skin is ready to be polished in the same manner as ordinary skins.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that I do not confine myself to the details herein described, provided the
peculiar character of the Invention be retained; but what I claim is, the
mode of printing leather and skins by the use of a preparation of the mate-
rials as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Guigues, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five