IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FLUFFING' AND 'WHITING' LEATHER SKINS."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sam Haley, of the Firm of Thomas Haley and Company,
of Bramley, near Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Makers, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FLUFFING' AND
'WHITING' LEATHER SKINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sam Haley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd October 1880.
SAM HALEY, of the Firm of Thomas Haley and Company, of Bramley, near
Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Makers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR 'FLUFFING' AND 'WHITING' LEATHER SKINS."
18
This Invention relates to machinery employed in "fluffing" and "whiting
leather skins. The machinery hitherto employed for this purpose has consisted of
roller covered with emery, and the leather skins to be operated upon have been
placed by hand in contact with this emery roller. My Invention consists in the
employment of a lever having at one end a brush or other flexible surface, which,
by means of a treadle or similar mechanism, is brought up against the underside
of the emery roller, and as the leather is passed between the point of contact of
roller and flexible surface the leather receives the necessary fluffing. Instead of
using a brush for the flexible surface, card teeth, teazles, india rubber springs, or an
air cushion, may be employed.
Instead of using the apparatus as above described I may employ bars or bearers,
upon which is placed a sheet of leather, or other suitable material, operated by
treadle, and caused to bear or press on the underside of the emery roller. The
skins to be operated upon are passed through or between the point of contact of
the said roller and leather sheet, and the necessary "fluffing" or "whiting" is given
to the skins. The leather sheet is connected rigidly at one end, and the other end
is attached to a number of small weights, so that when the treadle is operated the
leather sheet is brought underneath the emery roller, the weights keeping the sheet
extended.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Sam Haley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th March
1881.
SAM HALEY, of the Firm of Thomas Haley and Company, of Bramley, near
Leeds, in the County of York, Machine Makers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR 'FLUFFING' AND 'WHITING" LEATHER SKINS."
This Invention relates to machinery employed in "fluffing" and "whiting"
leather skins. The machinery hitherto employed for this purpose has consisted of a
roller covered with emery, and the leather skins to be operated upon have been
placed by hand in contact with this emery roller. My Invention consists in the
employment of a lever having at one end a brush or other flexible surface, which,
by means of a treadle or similar mechanism, is brought up against the underside of
the emery roller and flexible surface the leather receives the necessary fluffing.
Instead of using the apparatus as above described I may employ bars or bearers,
upon which is placed a sheet of leather, or other suitable material, operated by
treadle, and caused to bear or press on the underside of the emery roller. The
skins to be operated upon are passed through or between the point of contact of
the said roller and leather sheet, and the necessary "fluffing" or whiting is given
to the skins.
The leather sheet is connected rigidly at one end, and the other end is attached
to a number of small weights, so that when the treadle is operated the leather
sheet is brought underneath the emery roller, the weights keeping the sheet
extended
Fig. 1 is a front elevation shewing the outside of the machine; Fig. 2 is a back
elevation; Fig. 3, an end view; and Fig. 4 is cross section.
The leather to be operated upon is introduced through the opening A, and rests
upon the board B, which board also permits the leather to be guided to the proper
place; C is the emery roller, against which the leather is pressed by means of the
treadle D, as shewn in detail at Fig. 5; E is a spring for withdrawing the lever and
brush from contact with the roller. For the purpose of taking away the dust from
the inside of the machine two fans G are employed.
In order that the leather may not be damaged whilst under operation, and in
order also to allow for the inequalities in the thickness of the skins, it is necessary
that the part which holds the skin up against the emery roller should not be rigid,
but that it should yield and give way; for this purpose I employ a brush H, as
shewn on the Drawings, but india-rubber, springs, or a felt pad, or an air cushion
may be used.
A modification of the Invention is shewn at Fig. 6 (Sheet 2), where bars or
bearers I are used, over which is passed a sheet of leather J, or other suitable
material, connected at one end K, but hanging over the other end, and kept tight
or stretched by means of weights L. By this means the leather sheet J becomes a
flexible surface and readily yields to any inequalities of the leather.
Having thus shewn and described the nature and particulars of my Invention,
I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein
shewn and described, as some of them may be varied without departing from
the main features thereof, but what I believe to be new and claim as my
Invention is,
The use and employment of a brush, or other flexible or yielding surface, actuated
by a treadle or other suitable means, and working in combination with the emery

page_text: roller C, for the purpose of fluffing or whiting leather skins, substantially as herein
shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sam Haley, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Tenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
SAM HALEY. (L.S.)