IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING, DIVIDING, OR SHAVING LEATHER, OR SKINS OR SHEETS OF MANUFACTURED FABRICS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Follansbee Flanders, of Wardrobe Place,
Doctors' Commons, in the City of London, Machinist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING, DIVIDING, OR SHAVING
LEATHER, OR SKINS OR SHEETS OF MANUFACTURED FABRICS."
Sealed the 24th January 1862, and dated the 31st July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st July 1861.
I, JOSEPH FOLLANSBEE FLANDERS, of Wardrobe Place, Doctors' Commons,
in the City of London, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING, DIVIDING, OR
SHAVING LEATHER, OR SKINS OR SHEETS OF MANUFACTURED FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention of improvements in machinery for splitting, dividing, or
shaving leather, or skins, or sheets of manufactured fabrics, relates principally
to a novel or improved arrangement of the mechanism, whereby the leather, skin,
or sheet to be operated upon is fed up to the knife or cutting instrument, and
supported during the cutting operation.
My Invention may be employed advantageously not only for splitting.

page_text: dividing, or shaving leather, hides, or skins of animals, but also for dividing or
splitting sheets of india-rubber, gutta percha, or textile fabrics, or any flexible
substance that may require such an operation.
The knife or cutting instrument consists of an endless metal band, with a
sharp cutting edge, which is kept in motion as the skin is fed forward. It is
important that the skin or leather should be fed properly forward to the knife,
otherwise the cutting instrument will not act properly. To this end the skin,
leather, or sheet is supported upon an endless travelling cloth or table, to which
a progressive motion is given by means of suitable gearing actuated by the
driving shaft. By this means the skin, leather, or sheet will be carried forward
instead of being dragged by hand, or otherwise.
A modification of this plan consists in placing the leather or skin on a
rotating cylinder, which will carry it forward as the cutting operation proceeds,
or the skin may be placed upon a flat horizontal table, which may be moved
forward by rack gearing or otherwise.
Another modification consists in causing the skin to bear against a vertical
bar, over which it may be drawn by a roller or cylinder, the knife being made
to act vertically instead of horizontally as in the former instances.
Another important matter is to maintain or hold the skin or leather firmly
against the gauge roll during the cutting operation; this has sometimes been
attempted to be done by means of a long elastic roller; but as skins differ in
thickness in various places, and sometimes have lumps of fat or flesh in or
adhering to them, this contrivance has not been found to answer in all cases.
My improvement in this part of the machine consists in subdividing either the
supporting roller or the gauge roller into a number of contiguous small rollers,
all of which will be susceptible of independent action, without interfering with
the others. By this arrangement any single roller may be made to yield to any
sudden pressure, as when a lump of skin, flesh, or fat is required to pass.
These pressing rollers are kept up to their work springs, or by being made
to bear against an elastic bed roller. The subdivided pressing or gauge rollers
may be placed above the travelling endless supporting sheet, or the pressing or
gauge roller may be made in one length, and the supporting sheet and roller
may be subdivided into sections, with separate rollers and travelling endless belts
adopted thereto, on which the skin, leather, or sheet to be operated upon may
be placed, and carried forward to the knife or cutting instrument by the pro-
gressive motion of the travelling endless belts.
It will be found most convenient to make the travelling endless belt in one
width and the supporting roller in one length, and this latter should be sup-
ported from behind by wheels or rollers, which may be mounted in the same

page_text: framing; and this supporting roller, with the whole of the back arrangement
of rollers, being in the same framing, will be capable of adjustment on a centre,
according to the thickness of the skin; and this framing with the supporting
roller, which will act as a gauge roller, may be set at any point by means of an
adjusting screw and nut at each end, so that by raising or lowering the sup-
porting or gauge roller, the skin or sheet may be split or divided to any gauge
or thickness.
In this arrangement the upper or pressing roller is subdivided into any
convenient number of small rollers, each of which is surrounded by a belt, and
acts independent of the other, in the same manner as the supporting rollers in
the former instance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FOLLANSBEE FLANDERS of Wardrobe Place, Doctors' Commons, in the City of
London, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, did by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Follansbee Flanders, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Fol-
lansbee Flanders, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders, 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 law-
fully 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 MACHINERY FOR SPLITTING, DIVIDING,. OR
SHAVING LEATHER, OR SKINS OR SHEETS OF MANUFACTURED FABRICS,"
upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for Splitting, Dividing, or
Shaving Leather, or Skins or Sheets of Manufactured Fabrics," relates prin-
cipally to a novel or improved arrangement of the mechanism whereby the
leather, skin, or sheet to be operated upon is fed up to the knife or cutting
instrument, and is supported during the cutting operation.
My Invention may be employed advantageously not only for splitting,
dividing, or-shaving leather, hides, or skins of animals, but also for dividing
or splitting sheets of india-rubber, gutta percha, or textile fabrics, or any
flexible substance that may require such an operation.
The knife or cutting instrument consists of an endless metal band extended
over a pair of pullies, and provided with a sharp cutting edge, which by the
rotation of the pullies is kept in motion as the skin or fabric to be operated
upon is fed forward. It is important that the skin or leather should be fed
forward to the knife in a suitable and regular manner, otherwise the cutting
instrument will not act properly. To this end the skin, leather, or sheet is
supported upon an endless travelling cloth or table, to which a progressive
motion is given by means of suitable gearing actuated by the driving shaft.
By this means the skin, leather, or sheet will be carried forward by the action
of the machine, instead of being dragged forward by hand or otherwise.
A modification of this plan consists in placing the leather or skin on a
rotating cylinder, which will carry it forward as the cutting operation proceeds,
or the skin may be placed upon a flat horizontal table, which may be moved
forward by rack gearing or otherwise.
Another modification consists in causing the skin to bear against a vertical
bar, over which it may be drawn by means of a holding roller or cylinder,
the knife being made to act vertically instead of horizontally, as in the former
instances.
Another important matter is to maintain or hold the skin or leather firmly
against the gauge roll during the cutting operation; this has sometimes been
attempted to be done by means of a long elastic roller, but as skins differ in
thickness in various places, and sometimes have lumps of fat or flesh in or
adhering to them, this contrivance has not been found to answer satisfactorily
in all cases.
My improvement in this part of the machine consists in subdividing either

page_text: the supporting roller or the gauge roller into a number of contiguous small
rollers, all of which will be susceptible of independent action without interfering
with the others. By this arrangement any single roller may be made to yield
to any sudden pressure, as when a lump of skin, flesh, or fat is required to
pass. These pressing rollers are kept up to their work by springs, or by being
made to bear against an elastic bed roller. The subdivided pressing or gauge
rollers may be placed above the travelling endless supporting sheet; or the
pressing or gauge roller may be made in one length, and the supporting sheet
and roller may be subdivided into sections, with separate rollers and travelling
endless belts adapted thereto, on which the skin, leather, or sheet to be
operated upon may be placed and carried forward to the knife or cutting
instrument by the progressive motion of the travelling endless belts. It will,
however, be found most convenient to make the travelling endless belt in one
width, and the supporting roller in one length, and this latter should be
supported from behind by wheels or rollers, which may be mounted in the
same framing, and this supporting roller, with the whole of the back arrange-
ment of rollers being in the same framing, will be capable of adjustment on a
centre, according to the thickness of the skin; and this framing, with the
supporting roller, which will act as a gauge roller, may be set at any point by
means of an adjusting screw and nut at each end, so that by raising or
lowering the supporting or gauge roller the skin or sheet may be split or
divided to any gauge or thickness. In this arrangement the upper or pressing
roller is subdivided into any convenient number of small rollers, each of which
is surrounded by a belt, and acts independently of the other in the same
manner as the supporting rollers in the former instance.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a machine for
dividing or splitting either tanned or green skins, with my improvements
adapted thereto; Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken through the
principal working parts of such a machine as that shewn in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a
partial end elevation, shewing the gearing whereby some of the working parts
are actuated; Figs. 2 and are drawn upon an enlarged scale, so that
the construction and operation of the several parts may be more clearly
seen.
The framing of the machine is seen at a, a, a, a, and at each end thereof
there is a band wheel or pulley 6 (Fig. 1), round which passes an endless steel
band c, provided with a thin and sharp cutting edge, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3.
Motion is communicated to the band wheels b, b, and by them to the endless
band cutting knife c, by means of suitable gearing (seen in Fig. 1) actuated
by a driving band coming from any prime mover and passing round the

page_text: driving pulley a. The skin or sheet to be operated upon is placed upon a
travelling endless apron d, d (Fig. 2), which passes round the supporting
and tension rollers d', d, and d³, hereafter more particularly referred to. On
one end of the axle of the hinder roller dis mounted a toothed wheel e
(Fig. 2), which gears into and drives a pinion on the end of the driving
roller of the upper or pressing rollers g, g. On the opposite end of the
axle of the roller d' is another toothed wheel e¹ (Fig. 3), which is driven by
the toothed gearing, shewn by red lines in Fig. 3. The upper or pressing
rollers g, g, consist of a number of separate rollers, mounted on levers g', so
that they may act independently of one another. These levers turn on pins 2
(Fig. 2) in the bar h, and are kept down by springs i. Round each of the
gauge rollers g, g, is passed an endless band j, which also passes round the
driving roller f, situated behind and is actuated thereby. The skin or sheet
to be operated upon is placed with the face or grain downwards on the
travelling endless belt d, and is carried forward thereby to the knife or cutting
instrument c, which as the skin or sheet advances splits or divides the skin
or sheet or shaves off the back part, leaving the grain part of the skin to fall
down under the knife c and in front of the apron d. It will be evident that
the thickness of grain cut off from the skin or sheet will depend upon the
distance the supporting roller d² is from the cutting edge c (Fig. 2); and as
it is necessary to vary this distance to suit different thicknesses the roller d³,
which acts as a gauge roller, is made adjustable. For this purpose the
roller d² and the tension roller d³ below are mounted in a frame k, which is
supported on a centre 3 (Figs. 2 and 3).
Upon referring to the end view, Fig. 3, it will be seen that the forward end
of the framing k is supported by a horizontal lever 1, which works on a
centre 4, and is regulated or adjusted in position by means of an adjusting
screw and nut m at the other end. It will be evident, therefore, that by
means of the adjusting screw m the forward end of the framing or box k
may be lifted up and the position of the supporting or gauge roller d² thereby
adjusted to a nicety. In order to regulate the tension of the travelling
endless belt or apron d, the axle 5 of the large tension roller is made
adjustable in its bearings by means of the regulating screw n, so that by
screwing up the latter more or less the tension of the apron d may be regu-
lated at pleasure. It has been found in practice that the supporting or gauge
roller is liable to spring or give in the middle owing to its small diameter,
and in order to prevent this inconvenience this roller d' is supported behind
and beneath by the rollers o, o', shewn in Fig. 2, and by dots in Fig. 3.
The box or framing which carries the upper or pressing rollers 9, 9, is

page_text: adjustable vertically by means of the screw p (Fig. 3), so as to adapt the
machine for operating upon various thicknesses of skins or sheets.
It will be seen that in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the upper or pressing rollers g, 9,
consist of a number of separate rollers which are capable of moving in a
vertical direction independently of each other, and the lower travelling endless
apron d is formed of one piece, and passes round the supporting roller and
tension rollers d¹, d², and d³, as above described. This arrangement is,
however, reversed in Figs. 4 and 5, which are detached sectional views drawn
upon an enlarged scale of a different arrangement of these parts to that shewn
at Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The upper or gauge roller in Figs. 4 and 5 consists of
one single roller g extending from end to end of the machine; and the endless
apron j, which surrounds it, is formed of one piece. The lower or supporting
rollers consist of a number of separate and independent rollers d², which are
mounted in levers that turn upon studs 3, and by means of the springs i cause
the endless bands which pass round the rollers d² to bear against and support
the skin while being operated upon. The gauge roller g above is adjustable
to suit the varying thickness of skins, and when adjusted to its proper position
it will of course retain this position until altered by an adjusting screw which
will be provided for the purpose. With this arrangement of apparatus the
skins or sheets are operated upon with the face or grain uppermost and
pressed against the under side of the upper apron which passes round the
gauge roller g.
Fig. 6 is a detached sectional view of another arrangement in which the
skins are placed upon or secured to a large roller or cylinder g, with their
face or grain downwards. The knife c works in guides as in the other
instances. A series of small rollers d², d, are made to bear upon the top
side of the skin and keep it down firmly on the cylinder g while being operated
upon by the knife.
These rollers are mounted in levers independent of
each other, and are kept down by springs like the rollers g in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
Fig. 7 is a modification of the above in which the skin is placed upon a
travelling table g, which is actuated by a rack and pinion motion, as shewn
in the Drawing, or by means of other suitable gearing; c is the knife, and
d the pressing roller or rollers of which there may be any convenient number
arranged side by side, but acting independently of each other, like the rollers g,
in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
Fig. 8 is another modification in which the skin is kept up against a vertical
breast beam, the knife c being also placed vertically.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in machinery for
splitting, dividing, or shaving leather, or skins or sheets of manufactured

page_text: fabrics, and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I
claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the use
of a travelling surface for supporting and. carrying up to the cutter the skin,
leather, or sheet of manufactured fabric to be operated upon.
I also claim the mode or modes herein set forth of keeping the skin or sheet 5
up against the gauge roller, and of rendering the gauge and holding rollers
adjustable, and yielding or elastic to allow of the passage of skins or sheets of
unequal thickness throughout as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Follansbee Flanders, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of January, in the year of our 1
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
J. F. FLANDERS. (L.S.)