A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
ISAAC WELCH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of November, in the seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Frederick Isaac Welch, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Frederick Isaac Welch, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick Isaac Welch, my exors,
adiiors, 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 "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR
CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Frederick Isaac
Welch, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Inven-
tion, 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
Frederick Isaac Welch, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say) :-
-
My Invention relates to that description of leather commonly called patent
or enamelled leather, and consists of an improved method of graining the said
patent or enamelled leather. The common method of graining patent or
enamelled leather is as follows:-After the leather is curried it is rubbed
or rolled by hand labor, and with an instrument called a graining board; it is
afterwards japanned or enamelled, and is again subjected to the action of the
graining board. By the first process of graining the minute wrinkles consti-
tuting the grain are produced, these wrinkles become wholly or partially
obliterated by the process of japanning or enamelling, and the subsequent
action of the graining board again developes them.
This method of graining has the following disadvantages:-It does not grain
uniformly; that is to say, the various parts of a skin grained by this method
are of different degrees of fineness, for the size of the wrinkles constituting the
grain is determined by the softness or firmness of the skin, and hence the irre-
gularities in different parts of a skin. Some kinds of skins, such, for example,
as sheepskin, will not throw up a suitable grain by the common process; that
is to say, after the said sheepskin has been japanned or enamelled the grain
cannot be properly brought out by the action of the graining board, and hence
such skins cannot be manufactured to advantage into grained patent or
enamelled leather by the common method of manufacture.
My Invention consists of a method of graining, by which the difficulties that
present themselves in the ordinary process of manufacture are overcome; that
is to say, by which the grain produced on patent or enamelled leather is of a
uniform size on all parts of the skin, whatever may be the thickness or soft-
ness of the skin, or the various parts of the same, and by which skins may
be well grained, which can only be imperfectly grained by the ordinary
process of manufacture.
My improved method of graining patent or enamelled leather consists of
submitting the skins, after enamelling, to pressure, the enamelled sides of the
said skins being in contact with a surface properly modelled or engraved to
give by such pressure the desired grain. The pressure may be given by a
screw press or a stamp, or by rollers; I prefer, however, the last-named
method.
The manner in which I carry out my Invention will be best explained by
reference to the accompanying Drawing, in which Figure 1 represents in side
elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, my machine for graining patent or enamelled

page_text: leather by means of pressure between rollers. a, b, are two cylindrical
rollers, situated in the same vertical plane; these rollers are supported by and
work in collars in the uprights c, d. e is a toothed wheel, to which motion is com-
municated by steam or other convenient power. f, g, are two bevilled toothed
wheels, working loosely on the axis h of the wheel e. i is a clutch box on the
axis h, by which either of the said toothed wheels f, g, may be geared into the
bevilled toothed wheel j, fixed on the axis 6' of the lower roller b. It is
evident that when the clutch box i is geared into the bevilled toothed wheel f
the motion communicated through the bevilled wheel j to the axis 6' of the
roller b, will be in a direction contrary to that communicated when the clutch
box is geared into the bevil toothed wheel g. The clutch box i is thrown into
and out of gear with the bevilled toothed wheels f, g, by means of a forked
lever k, shewn in Figure 1 in dotted lines, the arms of which forked lever
work in a groove on the middle of the said clutch box, as seen in Figure 2.
This forked lever is attached to an axis situated under and in the same vertical
plane as the axis 6' and roller b, and an arm or lever x is attached to the end
of the said axis. By the lever x the clutch box i may be geared into either of
the wheels f, g, and the direction of the rotation of the axis b' and roller b may
be changed at pleasure. Motion is communicated to the upper roller a by
means of a toothed wheel e on its axis gearing into a similar toothed wheel m
on the axis of the lower roller b. n is a plate of copper or other suitable
substance, the surface of which is engraved with fine parallel equidistant lines.
These lines are at a distance of about one thirtieth of an inch from each other.
o, o, are arms on which the plate n slides as it passes between the rollers a, b.
The action of this machine is as follows:-The skin to be grained is laid on
the engraved plate n, the surface to be grained being placed in contact with
the said plate; a sheet of flannel or cloth is placed over the skin, and by the
lever the rollers are connected with the driving machinery, as herein-before
described. The plate, with the skin laid on it, is introduced between the rollers
and is carried forward and between the said rollers by the rotation of the same.
The plate and skin are delivered on the arms o, on the side of the rollers oppo-
site to that at which they entered. The pressure to which the skin is subjected
during its passage between the rollers causes it to become impressed by the
engraved plate n, and it is found on examination to be covered with parallel
lines corresponding with those of the engraved plate n; the skin is again laid
on the said plate in such a manner that the direction of the lines impressed on
it does not correspond with the direction of the lines on the engraved plate,
the said impressed lines on the skin being inclined to the engraved lines on the
plate at such an angle as will give the desired grain. By the handle or lever a

page_text: the position of the clutch box i is altered, so as to reverse the motion of the
rollers a, b; on introducing the plate and skin between the rollers, the said
plate and skin are carried back again between the rollers and delivered on
the arms o, o, on the side of the rollers opposite to that at which they were
pro-
introduced. The lines produced by the latter impression intersect those
duced by the former, and give to the surface of leather an appearance closely
resembling that produced by the ordinary process of graining. The pressure
to which the leather is subjected during its passage between the rollers is
regulated by the screws p, p, which press on the collars in which the upper
roller a works.
In addition to the impression produced on the leather by the process herein-
before explained, the texture of the leather is improved by the pressure to
which it is subjected; and leather which has been thus pressed is not liable
to stretch or give way when manufactured into shoes, in which manufacture
patent enamelled leather is principally used.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the method herein-before described of carrying my said Invention
into effect, as the method of carrying my said Invention into effect may be
varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; (that is to say)
I do not limit myself to the use of rolling machinery for producing pressure
between an engraved plate and the skin to be impressed, as the same effect
may be produced by presses and stamps, or engraved rollers may be used
instead of plain rollers and an engraved plate. Neither do I limit myself to
the production of the grain after the process of enamelling, as the said grain
may be produced before the leather is enamelled, or when it is partially
enamelled. Neither do I limit myself to the precise character of the impres-
sion produced on the leather as herein-before described, as, instead of straight
intersecting lines, curved lines, and lines of various forms, may be made to
resemble to a greater or less degree the grain produced on leather by the
ordinary process of graining. But I claim exclusive right to produce on the
surface of patent or enamelled leather any impressed pattern or device resem-
bling or in imitation of the appearance commonly called "graining," whether
such impressed pattern or device be produced by the method herein-before
described, or by any other of the well-known methods of impressing surfaces.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Isaac Welch, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
FREDK. ISAAC (L.S.). WELCHI.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid Frederick Isaac Welch came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the First day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand