IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick John Bugg, of Tacket Street, Ipswich, in
the County of Suffolk, Shoe Factor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER."
Sealed the 28th February 1868, and dated the 23rd October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick John Bugg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd October 1867.
I, FREDERICK JOHN BUGG, of Tacket Street, Ipswich, in the County of
Suffolk, Shoe Factor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of pressed
leather.
Pressed leather is at present made from curriers' shavings, tanned fleshing
pieces, or other pieces of thin leather of small value. The pieces are caused
to adhere together by means of flour paste, or better by means of animal glue
or gelatine dissolved in water. The pieces are moistened with the cement,
and, being suitably arranged the one on the other, are submitted to a very
heavy pressure, which is continued for some time until the sheet is set.

page_text: Pressed leather as heretofore made is not however proof against long
continued exposure to wet, because the cementing material employed having
been dissolved in water is liable to be again softened by it. Where animal
glue is employed it becomes to some extent changed by the tanning principle
of the leather, but at best the pressed leather made with it is not absolutely
waterproof.
According to my present Invention I employ in the manufacture of pressed
leather a cementing material which is not soluble in water, and I dissolve it
for use in a suitable solvent. India-rubber and shellac may advantageously
be employed as cementing materials in this manufacture, and they may be
dissolved for use in naptha or turpentine, but other cementing substances
not soluble in water may also be used with appropriate solvents.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick John Bugg in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
JOHN BUGG, of Tacket Street, Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Shoe
Factor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick John Bugg, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
John Bugg, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Frederick John Bugg, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, 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 the manufacture of
pressed leather.
Pressed leather is at present made from curriers' shavings, . tanned
fleshing pieces, or other pieces of thin leather of small value. The pieces
are caused to adhere together by means of flour paste or better by means
of animal glue or gelatine dissolved in water. The pieces are moistened with
the cement and being suitably arranged the one on the other are submitted
to a very heavy pressure, which is continued for some time until the. sheet-is
set. Pressed leather as heretofore made is not however proof against long
continued exposure to wet because the cementing material employed having
been dissolved in water is liable to be again softened by it. Where animal
glue is employed it becomes to some extent changed by the tanning principle
of the leather, but at best the pressed leather made with it is not absolutely
waterproof.
According to my present Invention I employ in the manufacture of pressed
leather a cementing material which is not soluble in water, and I dissolve it
for use in a suitable solvent. India-rubber and shellac may advantageously be
employed as cementing materials in this manufacture, and they may be
dissolved for use in naptha or turpentine, but other cementing substances not
soluble in water may also be used with appropriate solvents.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect will proceed to describe the manner in which I
prefer to conduct the manufacture.
The pieces are put into a close tank from which the air is exhausted by
any suitable exhausting apparatus, after which there is admitted into the
tank by means of a tube provided with stop cocks and from a reservoir placed
above the tank a solution which is by preference prepared by dissolving
One pound of india-rubber,
Four ounces, gutta percha, and
Two ounces "
sbellac
in three gallons of coal-tar naptha. The leather pieces being porous are soon
impregnated with the solution, after which they are taken out and dried; when
dry the surface is again covered with a solution such as the above, only of

page_text: more consistency (say made with the quantity of solvent), for the purpose of
getting the adhesion more complete. When the solution is set heat is applied
to the pieces, for which purpose they are placed in a hot closet heated to
140° Fahrenheit; the pieces are then as speedily as possible laid out upon a
zinc sheet (slightly oiled to prevent adhesion) so as to make up a sheet of the
required size and layer upon layer to the required substance; they are then
covered with another sheet also oiled, when they are immediately put under
hydraulic pressure for a short time, after which they are laid upon racks for
one day and are then fit for market. The pressure employed should be at the
least 3000 lbs. per square inch of the sheet.
but which is inferior to that
solution such as that before
A second method which may be resorted to,
above described, is to dip the pieces into a thin
described, and then to lay them out on a sheet until the required size and
substance is obtained. This sheet is put under heavy pressure, say 10,000 lbs.
per square inch of the sheet, and the pressure drives the solution completely
through the leather, thus making it waterproof.
In witness whereof, I, Frederick John Bugg, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
FRED. J. BUGG.
L.S.)