IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING HIDES AND SKINS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Miller Ragland, of 15, Fish Street Hill,
in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TANNING HIDES AND SKINS." -A communication from abroad by
Cesare Osmani, residing at Tolentino, Province of Macerata, in
the Kingdom of Italy.
Sealed the 20th March 1868, and dated the 23rd January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Miller Ragland
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd January 1868.
I, HENRY MILLER RAGLAND, of 15, Fish Street Hill, in the City
of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING HIDES AND SKINS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tanning hides and
skins." After the hides or skins, as the case may be, have remained the
usual period in lime so as to enable the hair to be completely removed,
as well as any particles of flesh still adhering, and the hides are com-
pletely purged and cleansed by the action of the lime, the first step in

page_text: this new process is to fill a vat with sufficient water to cover the quantity
of skins which it is intended to place therein; these are to be thrown in
one by one and well spread out, each with the fleshy side upwards and
sprinkled with bran in the following proportions :-
Light hides for uppers, &c., each skin
Calf skins, each
Sheep skins, each
-
Heavy hides for sole leather, each
6 ounces.
-
3 ditto.
-
2 ditto.
14 ditto.
In this vat the skins must remain until fermentation has taken place,
which will be in about two days in warm weather, and a little longer in
cold weather, and after this the skins must be removed and carefully
scraped on both sides, so that they may be perfectly freed from any
adhering particles of lime or other substances. When this has been
done the skins are subjected to the action of mustard seed, which forms
the distinguishing feature in this new process. It is carried out as
follows: A vat of proportionate size is filled with a sufficiency of water
to cover the skins which are to be placed therein, and to this water there
must be added for every hundred pounds weight of the skins when dry
five pounds of ground Italian mustard seed and five pounds of barley
meal. When these ingredients have been thoroughly mixed with the
water the skins must be dipped therein, so that they may be perfectly
saturated with it, and they must be left in this dip for the following
length of time :-
Calf, sheep, or goat skins
Light hides and kips
Heavy hides for sole leather
24 hours.
36 ditto.
48 ditto.
When this time has expired the skins must be taken out of the vat and
hung up to dry, but only partially, as when subjected to the next process
they should still be in a damp condition. The dip which has just been
described has a very powerful action on the skins; the combined action
of the mustard seed, barley meal, and heat thereby generated is to open
the pores of the skins, and thus to render the remaining processes in
tanning them by means of bark much more speedy than under any
other methods hitherto known.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Miller Ragland in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 23rd July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MILLER RAGLAND, of 15, Fish Street Hill, in the City of London, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Miller Ragland, Her special
licence, that I, the said Henry Miller Ragland, my executors, adininis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Miller
Ragland, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING HIDES AND SKINS," a communication to me
from abroad by Cesare Osmani, a person resident at Tolentino, Province
of Macerata, in the Kingdom of Italy, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Miller Ragland, 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 calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Miller Ragland, 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 thercof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tanning hides and
skins. After the hides or skins, as the case may be, have remained the
usual period in lime so as to enable the hair to be completely removed,
as well as any particles of flesh still adhering, and the hides are com-
pletely purged and cleansed by the action of the lime, the first step in

page_text: this new process is to fill a vat with sufficient water to cover the quantity
of skins which it is intended to place therein; these are to be thrown in
one by one and well spread out, each with the fleshy side upwards, and
sprinkled with bran in the following proportions:
Light hides for uppers, each skin
Calf skins, each
Sheep skins, cach
Heavy hides for sole leather, cach
-
-
6 ounces.
-
3 ditto.
2 ditto..
-
14 ditto.
7
In this vat the skins must remain until fermentation has taken place,
which will be in about two days in warm weather, and a little longer in
cold weather, and after this the skins must be removed and carefully
scraped on both sides, so that they may be perfectly freed from any
adhering particles of lime or other substances. When this has been
done the skins are subjected to the action of mustard sced, which forms
the distinguishing feature in this new process. It is carried out as
follows: A vat of proportionate size is filled with a sufficiency of water
to cover the skins which are to be placed therein, and to this water there
must be added for every hundred pounds weight of the skins when dry
five pounds of ground Italian mustard seed and five pounds of barley
meal. When these ingredients have been thoroughly mixed with the
water the skins must be dipped therein, so that they may be perfectly
saturated with it, and they must be left in this dip for the following
length of time-
Calf, sheep, or goat skins
Light hides and kips
Heavy hides for sole leather
=
24 hours,
36 ditto.
48 ditto.
When this time has expired the skins must be taken out of the vat and
hung up to dry, but only partially, as when subjected to the next process
they should still be in a damp condition. The dip which has just been
described has a very powerful action on the skins; the combined action
of the mustard seed, barley meal, and heat thereby generated is to open
the pores of the skins, and thus render the remaining processes in
tanning them by means of bark, etc. much more speedy than under
any other methods hitherto known.
I would remark that although I have stated above the exact manner
in which it is preferred to prepare the skins for the mustard bath, and
also the exact composition of the mustard bath itself, and the time
during which it is preferred to subject the several varieties of skins to

page_text: its action, I do not confine myself thereto as these may be varied, other
mustard seed or oil of mustard seed might also be employed in place of
Italian mustard seed.
So far the process hitherto described is suited to all descriptions of
skins, I will now describe the manner in which it is preferred sub-
sequently to treat each separate kind; this subsequent treatment may
however be considerably varied.
1. Light hides and kips are tanned by undergoing three baths in. water
charged with powdered oak bark, in each of these three baths the skins
must remain eight days. As before mentioned the skins must be taken
while still damp from the effects of the mustard dip and placed in a
suitable vat with sufficient water to cover them charged with oak bark,
in the proportion of 200 pounds of bark to every hundred pounds. of
dry hides. The 2nd and 3rd baths are to be mixed in the same pro-
portions. It is necessary to observe that the hides must be moved
twice a day in order to change the points of contact between them, and
during the second and third baths the bark must also be taken out and
replaced by degrees when the skins are put into the vat again. When
mechanical appliances are used by which the hides are kept in motion
while in the tan water only two baths of 8 days each are required,
as the bark acts more speedily on the leather. By the method just
described light hides and kips are perfectly tanned in from 16 to 24
days after they have passed into the tan vats, and it only remains to
grease and finish them according to the methods employed by tanners
in general.
2. Calf skins are tanned in the foregoing manner, also with this
exception, that only two baths of eight days each in tan water are
required. The same quantity of oak bark must however be applied to
these two baths as would be required for three in the proportion pre-
viously described. Sixteen days are thus required for tanning calf
skins, after which they are to be finished in the usual manner.
3. Sheep skins are to be treated in the same manner, but only one
bath is requisite in water charged with oak bark in the proportion of
3 lbs. 12 oz. of bark to each skin. In eight days sheep skins are thus
completely tanned, and have to be finished as usual.
4. Heavy hides for sole leather owing to their thickness are the most
difficult of all kinds of skins to tan well. The following directions must
be followed out:-The hides must be subjected to three baths of 8 days

page_text: each, must then be placed in a tan pit for 18 days, and, finally, when
taken out of this placed in another tan pit for 40 days. The first bath
must be charged with 2 lbs. of oak bark to a corresponding weight of
hides when dry. The second bath must be charged with 2 lbs. of oak
bark, and 12 ozs. of pulverized pine bark to every 2 lbs. of hides, as
before. The third bath must be charged with 1 lb. 8 ozs, of oak bark
and 1 lb. 4 ozs. of pine park to every 2 lbs. of hides, as before. Each of
these three baths is to last 8 days, during which it is necessary to move
the hides frequently in order to change the points of contact between
them, and after this the hides are transferred to a tan pit and carefully
spread out. Tan water is applied to them charged with 12 ozs. of fine
and good vallonea to every 2 lbs. of hides, as before; this mixture is to
be rather thick and must be applied to every stratum of hides super-
ficially. After remaining 18 days in this tan pit the hides must be
taken out, washed in the tan water, and then spread out in the 2nd tan
pit between layers of powdered vallonea in the proportion of 12 ozs. of
vallonea to every 2 lbs. of hides, as before. After remaining 40 days in
this second tan pit the hides will be perfectly tanned and will turn out
compact and of a clear colour. The time employed is 82 days in tanning
heavy hides, after which they have only to be tanned according to
the methods common to all tanners.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Miller Ragland, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this this Eighteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
H. M. RAGLAND. (L.S.)