IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick John Bugg, of Ipswich, in the County
of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER."
Sealed the 15th November 1871, and dated the 19th September 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick John Bugg
+
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 19th September 1870.
I, FREDERICK JOHN BUGG, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACture of Artificial LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
artificial leather.
Artificial leather or compressed leather has heretofore been made from
curriers' shavings, tanned fleshing pieces, or soft thin pieces of leather,
each of them being treated with paste or solution of gelatine or other
adhesive matter, after which they have been laid out into sheets of the

page_text: required size and substance, and put under hydraulic or other pressure to
consolidate them.
Another kind of pressed leather is made out of thick sole or butt
pieces, such pieces being first divided or cut into thiner pieces by
rotary knives; they are then treated with a solution of gelatine and
made into sheets in the same way as other pressed leather.
There is also a pressed leather which is known commercially as American
leather board. This board or pressed leather being made of torn or
ground leather is necessarily brittle or weak from the fibre from which it
is made being short and the sheets having no covering of natural leather.
My first improvement in the manufacture of artificial leather consists
in combining thin sheets of real leather with sheets made from leather
pulp so as to give to such sheets a covering of real leather, and thus
produce a stronger and better artificial leather than heretofore. I take
the thiner sort of waste pieces, such as curriers' shavings or any of
the softer kinds, and put them into a powerful rag engine until the
fibre is sufficiently fine for my purpose; it is then run from the engine
into a tank and mixed with a solution of gelatine and made into sheets
in the same way as hand-made paper, and afterwards subjected to
hydraulic or other pressure; the stouter or harder substances I put into
any suitable disintegrating or crushing mill until it is crushed or broken,
not ground, so that the fibre is not destroyed, after which it is put
into a rag engine and treated in the same way as curriers' shaving, and
such like, it is then made up into sheets in the same manner as already
described. After being suitably pressed they are taken out and treated
with a waterproof solution, or solution of gelatine or flour paste, and
covered with a layer of any sort of leather or leather pieces, they are
then again put under hydraulic or other pressure.
Another method of making continuous sheets from leather pulp is as
follows: After the leather is torn up into a pulp in the rag engine, it.
is run off to the paper-making machine in the same way as any other
pulp, it passes over the machine in the usual way until it gets to the
dry press roller, and in place of passing over the drying cylinders it is
wound on to a reel until any required length is obtained; it is then
carried back to the machine and put on to the pulp that is passing over
the machine, and thus two thicknesses or sheets of the leather are made
into one. This may be repeated until the leather is made any substance
that may be required, the surface of each of the sheets being treated

page_text: with a solution of gelatine or other suitable adhesive matter by means.
of a pipe or tube across the machine having small jets. or holes which
supply the solution to the surface of the sheets.
Another method of making continuous sheets from leather pulp is as
follows: After the pulp has been formed into sheets and wound on to
reels, as above described, instead of passing them back to the machine,
I take any number of sheets I may require to form the necessary sub-
stace, and I pass them slowly through a tank of solution and under
couch or similar rollers, then under dry press rollers, then through
powerful pressing cylinders, after which it may be put into suitable
drying rooms or cut into sheets or pieces of any size that may be
required, and either covered with any description of leather or leather
pieces, as above described, or it may be used without such covering
applied to it. In some cases I put a small quantity of rope or netting
or other fibrous material with the waste leather into the rag engine to
increase the length and strength of fibre in the pulp.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick John Bugg in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th March 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
JOHN BUGG, of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frederick John Bugg, Her special license
that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick John Bugg, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Frederick John Bugg, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of artificial leather.
Artificial leather or compressed leather has heretofore been made from
curriers' shavings, tanned fleshing pieces, or soft thin pieces of leather,
each of them being treated with paste or solution of gelatine or other
adhesive matter, after which they are laid out into sheets of the required
size and substance, and put under hydraulic or other pressure to con-
solidate them.
Another kind of pressed leather is made out of thick sole or butt 2
pieces, such pieces being first divided or cut into thinner pieces by
rotary knives; they are then treated with a solution of gelatine and
made into sheets in the same way as other pressed leather.
There is also a pressed leather which is known commercially as
American leather boards. This board or pressed leather being made 2
of torn or ground leather is necessarily brittle or weak, the fibre being
short from which it is made and having no covering of natural
leather.
My first improvement in the manufacture of artificial or pressed leather
consists in combining thin sheets of real leather with sheets made from 3
leather pulp so as to give to such sheets a covering of real leather, and
thus produce a stronger and better artificial leather than heretofore,
and also allow of all sorts of waste pieces being used up and yet of
producing a most useful article from them. I take the thinner sorts
of waste pieces and put them into a powerful rag engine, and pulp them 3
with water or a thin solution of gelatine (say about eight pounds of.
gelatine to the engine); the stouter or harder pieces may, if thought.

page_text: best, be put into any suitable disintegrating or crushing mill until it is.
crushed or broken, so that the fibre is not destroyed, after which it is put
into a rag engine and treated as the thinner pieces. When the pulp is
sufficiently fine it is run from the engine into a tank and mixed with a
stronger solution of gelatine, of a strength say of about eighteen pounds
of gelatine to the engine, the quantity may, however, be varied according
to the nature of the leather required to be produced; whether soft or
hard, or whether light or stout the pulp should be brought to about the.
same consistency as pulp from which hand-made paper is produced, and
is then made in sheets of any required size in a similar manner to hand-
made paper, being put between felts, after which it is subjected to any
suitable pressure.
When sufficiently pressed they are treated with a
solution of gelatine, waterproof solution, or flour paste, and covered with
a layer of any sort of leather or leather pieces, after which they are
put under hydraulic pressure, say a pressure of from three to five hundred
pounds to the square inch, for from one to two hours, the sheets are then
put on racks to dry. The amount of pressure is regulated according as
the leather is required to be either firm or lithe.
Another method of making this leather is as follows:--After the.
leather is torn into a pulp in the rag engine it is run on to a paper-
making machine, the same as any other pulp, it passes over the machine
in the usual way until it gets under the press roller, and in place of
passing over the drying cylinders it is passed on to a reel or reels until
any suitable length is obtained, it is then carried back to the machine
and put on to the pulp that is passing over the machine, and thus two
thicknesses or sheets are made into one, this may be repeated until the
leather is made into any substance required. The surface of each of
the sheets may be treated with a solution of gelatine or other suitable
adhesive matter, by means of a pipe across the machine full of small jets
or holes, which throws a spray or stream across the surface of the sheet,
but so as not to affect the working of the machinery.
Another mode of making the leather is, after running the sheets on
to the reel or reels already described, instead of passing them back to the
machine, I take any suitable length and any number of sheets I may
require to form the necessary substance, and pass them slowly through
a tank containing a solution of gelatine or other suitable adhesive matter,
then under dry press rollers, after which it is passed between powerful
pressing cylinders, it is then put into suitable drying rooms or cut into

page_text: sheets or pieces of any size required, and covered with any description
of leather or leather pieces as herein-before described; or in some cases
it may be made without the leather covering as it will be adapted for
japanning, &c.
If it be desired to make a colored leather, coloring material may
be added to the leather pulp before making it into sheets; for example,
to make a blue leather add to the pulp in the engine a composition of
eight pounds of blue and six pounds of alum; for a canary colour, two
and a half pounds of bichrome and nine pounds of sugar of lead; for a
yellow, eight pounds of buff ochre and eight pounds of sugar of lead;
thus varying the ingredients for any color that may be required. In
some cases I put a small quantity of rope netting or other fibrous materiał
with the waste leather into the rag engine, to increase the strength of
the pulp.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
is,-
1. The manufacture of artificial leather from a combination of thin
sheets of leather with sheets made from leather pulp, substantially as
herein described.
2. The manufacture of sheets of artificial leather of any desired
thickness, by combining together two or more sheets made from leather
pulp, and subsequently subjecting such combined sheets to hydraulic
or other heavy pressure, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick John Bugg, have hereunto 2
set my hand, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
In T DITA 2