AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND SOLUTION FOR PREPARING LEATHER AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS TO RENDER THEM WATERPROOF, AND FOR STIFFENING AND STRENGTHENING THE SAME
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wallace Seymour, of Devonshire Terrace, Hydo
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND SOLUTION FOR PREPARING LEATHER AND OTHER LIKE
MATERIALS TO RENDER THEM WATERPROOF, AND FOR STIFFENING AND
STRENGTHENING THE SAME." A communication from abroad by Charles
Edward Seymour, of Montreal, Canada.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wallace Seymour
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd May 1878.
WILLIAM WALLACE SEYMOUR, of Devonshire Terrace, Hyde Park, in the County
of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND SOLUTION FOR PREPARING
LEATHER AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS TO RENDER THEM WATERPROOF, AND FOR
STIFFENING AND STRENGTHENING THE SAME." [A communication from abroad by
Charles Edward Seymour, of Montreal, Canada].
My Invention relates to the preparation of leather, leather board, and the like,
by saturating them with resin and liquid distillate of petroleum, and to a solution
of these materials to be used in such preparation.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I saturate the leather or leather
board with a solution of resin and benzine, or other suitable petroleum distillation,
the said solution having the consistency of ordinary varnish and made so as to
soon dry or harden in and on the leather.
The leather or leather board is to be dipped in the solution, or it may have the
said solution spread over it. This resinous solution readily penetrates the leather
or leather board, fills up its interstices or pores, and when dry not only stiffens it
and toughens it but renders it waterproof, and better adaptable for use in making
heel counters or stiffeners or other parts of shoes than it would be without such
saturation.

page_text: Furthermore, inferior qualities of leather or leather board unfit for use in various
parts of a shoe without being prepared, fas above described, may be utilized or
rendered useful by being so saturated with the resin dissolved in the benzine or
coal oil distillate.
Counters and heel stiffeners when made of leather or leather board so combined
with resin will by being waterproof maintain their stiffness when the shoes are
wet, and consequently are not so liable to be broken down.
The proportions of the constituents of this solution may be as follows, namely:-
One pound of resin to one gallon of the benzine or distillate; but these proportions
may be varied according to the kind and quality of the leather or leather board,
or the use to which it is to be applied. The resinated article or composition of
leather or leather board and resin, wherein the resin is carried by the benzine into
and through and fixed to the leather or other material differs in character and
quality from the same in its normal condition.
I employ resin and benzine or a petroleum distillate of like character without
making use of any oil, wax, mineral, or other matter, such as will operate to soften
the leather or leather board, the object of this Invention being to harden or stiffen
it and to saturate it with the composition or solution.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent and of
an Order of the Lord Chancellor filed by the said Williain Wallace Seymour
in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 5th December 1878.
WILLIAM WALLACE SEYMOUR, of Devonshire Terrace, Hyde Park, in the County
of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND SOLUTION FOR PREPARING
LEATHER AND OTHER LIKE MATERIALS TO RENDER THEM WATERPROOF, AND FOR
STIFFENING AND STRENGTHENING THE SAME." A communication from abroad by
Charles Edward Seymour, of Montreal, Canada.
My Invention relates to the preparation of leather, leather board, and the like,
by saturating the same with resin and liquid distillate of petroleum, and to a
solution of these materials to be used in such preparation.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I saturate the leather or leather
board with a solution of resin and benzine, or other suitable petroleum distillation,
the said solution having the consistency of ordinary varnish, and made so as to
soon dry or harden in and on the leather.
The leather or leather board is to be dipped in the solution, or it may have the
said resinous solution spread over it. This resinous solution readily penetrates the
leather or leather board, or similar material, fills up its interstices or pores, and
when dry not only stiffens and toughens the same, but ronders it waterproof and
better adaptable for use in making heel counters or stiffeners, or other parts of
boots and shoes, than it would be without such saturation.
Furthermore, inferior qualities of leather or leather board unfit for use in various
parts of a shoe without being prepared as above described, may be utilized or
rendered useful by being so saturated with the resin dissolved in the benzine or coal
oil distillate.

page_text: Counters and heel stiffeners when made of leather or leather board so combined
with resin will by being waterproof maintain their stiffness when the boots or
shoes are wet, and consequently are not so liable to be broken down.
The proportions of the constituents of this solution will be in some instances as
follows, namely:-One pound of resin to one gallon of the benzine or other petroleum
distillate; but these proportions may be varied according to the kind and quality
of the leather or leather board, or the use to which the same is to be applied. The
resinated article, or composition of leather, or leather board and resin, wherein the
resin is carried by the benzine into, and through, and fixed to the leather or other
material, differs in character and quality from the same in its normal condition.
The leather, leather board, or other material may be treated with the composition
before or after being worked up into its ultimate form. In most cases I prefer to
so treat it after it has been worked up, for the reason that the quality of stiffness
imparted by it is then not weakened by the manipulation required to give the
desired form to the leather or other material.
Where the form required is not irregular it is immaterial whether the material
treated with the composition before or after working the same in its finished
form.
In the manufacture of articles for boots and shoes, such as counters, tocs, and
shanks, I employ suitable machinery for producing the forms required.
Having thus fully described the said "Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I wish it understood that I am aware that resin has been combined with
fish oil, india-rubber (dissolved in petroleum, turpentine, or liquid naphtha), pitch,
bees wax, tallow, soap, and lard, for the production of a composition for the surface
of leather; also that resin has been combined with coal oil, tar, paraffine oil, chlorido
of sodium, soap, and ivory black, in order to form a composition to be applied to
leather; but I simply employ resin and benzine or a petroleum distillate of like
character without making use of any oil, wax, mineral, or other matter such as
will operate to soften the leather or leather board, the object of this Invention
being to harden or stiffen the same and to saturate it with the composition or
solution, whereas many if not all the matters above named when used with the
resin and the distillate or reducing liquid, not only prevent or hinder the passage
of the resin into or through the leather, but produce results which my Invention is
expressly designed to avoid; therefore I do not claim either a composition con-
taining or consisting of such materials, but I claim the improved method of pre-
paring leather, leather board, or the like, and the solution of resin and a liquid
distillate of petroleum to be employed in the preparation of the same, as above set
forth and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wallace Seymour, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.