CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN RENDERING LEATHER SKINS OR HIDES IMPERVIOUS TO WET, MORE FLEXIBLE AND MORE DURABLE
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WRIGHT, of Duke Street, Saint James's, in the County of Middlesex, Surgeon
Aurist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster the Eleventh day of January, in the seventh year of Her reign.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, ler especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said William Wright, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend the said Invention within that part of Her said
Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Islands of
Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
RENDERING LEATHER SKINS OR HIDES IMPERVIOUS TO WET, MORE FLEXIBLE AND
MORE DURABLE;" in which said Letters Patent there is a contained a proviso,
obliging me, the said William Wright, to particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand, and to cause the same to
be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: 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 the said
William Wright, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, is fully shewn and ascertained in
and by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
For convenience of description I divide my Invention into two parts:-first,
the compositions which I use; and, second, the manner in which I combine
those compositions with leather skins or leather hides. The compositions are
thus made:
Composition No. 1.-First, I take of linseed oil, rape oil, or neats-foot
oil twenty-five gallons, which I reduce by boiling to twenty gallons. Secondly,
I take fat, such as bullocks', sheeps', or deers', drawn by gentle heat out
of the cellular membrane, and strain it, and then I boil it in soft water
for an hour, I again strain, and suffer it to stand until cold. All moisture
must carefully be abstracted from the mass of fat, and by placing the
cakes upon cotton cloths the moisture (if any) is absorbed. Thirdly, I
add forty pounds weight of fat so prepared, together with forty pounds
of fresh bees-wax, to the oil above mentioned, and mix and melt them
together, keeping them at a temperature of about one hundred and fifty
degrees of heat of Fahrenheit until they are thoroughly incorporated.
Fourthly, I take of gum caoutchouc two pounds and a half, sliced in small
picces, and dissolve it in fifteen pints of rectified oil of turpentine, by exposure
to a heat of two hundred and fifty degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, by means of
a sand bath; and, fifthly, I take twelve pounds and a half of Burgundy pitch,
and dissolve it in twenty pints of rectified oil of turpentine by exposure to the
temperature of two hundred degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, by means of a sand
bath. I allow these mixtures of caoutchouc and pitch respectively to cool to
a temperature of one hundred and fifty degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, and
then I add both of them to the oil, fat, and bees'-wax as previously prepared,
and stir up the whole composition until it is cold.
Composition No. 2.-I take, first, oil, fat, and bees'-wax melted and com-
bined together, as before described, at a temperature of one hundred and fifty
degrees of heat of Fahrenheit; secondly, I take ten quarts of oil of turpentine
and dissolve in it fifteen pounds of yellow rosin, by means of a sand bath at a
temperature of two hundred degrees of heat of Fahrenheit; and, thirdly,
when the mixture thus prepared of rosin and oil of turpentine is cooled to the
temperature of one hundred and fifty degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, I add

page_text: the resinous combination to the oil, fat, and bees'-wax, and then stir up the
whole together until it is cold.
Composition No. 3.-I take of purified cod oil, or highly purified spermaceti
whale oil, twenty gallons; of gum caoutchouc in its natural state, sliced in small
pieces, from fifteen to twenty pounds; I subject these when put together to a
temperature of from two hundred to two hundred and fifty degrees of heat of
Fahrenheit, or to a sufficient heat completely to effect the solution of the gum
caoutchouc in the oil.
Composition No. 4.-I take a sufficient quantity of rectified oil of tur-
pentine to submerge fifteen to twenty pounds (according to its quality) of
gum caoutchouc sliced in small pieces, I cause it to simmer by means of a
sand bath or heat of two hundred and fifty degrees of heat of Fabrenheit until
the gum caoutchouc be thoroughly dissolved; I then add to this composition
twenty gallons of purified cod oil, or highly purified spermaceti whale oil,
oither of the latter being at the temperature of two hundred degrees of heat
of Fahrenheit, which temperature I continue until the whole of the mixture
formis a fluid smooth mass; I then allow the temperature to subside to one
hundred and fifty degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, and I then add to the mass
ten pounds of fresh bees'-wax, and stir up the wholo until it is cold.
Having described my compositions, I now proceed to shew the manner of
their application.
I divide leather into two kinds, according to the thickness and weight of
the material, as leather hides and leather skins, and I use the compositions
No. 1 and No. 2 with leather hides, and No. 3 and No. 4 with leather skins;
for leather, whether from skins or hides, after the process of tanning, is still
porous, and in a very short time admits water; by the following combination
of my compositions, herein-before described, with leather skins or leather
hides, I render the leather impervious to wet, more flexible, and more
durable.
First, as to the process for leather hides.-I effect their saturation with the
compositions No. 1 or No. 2 by placing them in layers, or upright, side by side,
in a tank or suitable vessel, which vessel communicates with a boiler or melter
in which the composition No. 1 or No. 2 is prepared; the composition, being
heated to a temperature of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty
degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, is then let in upon them or suffered to flow in
upon and amongst them until they are wholly submerged, and in this sub-
merged state they remain from two to three hours, when they will be found
fully saturated with the composition. They are afterwards taken out and
exposed to a current of the atmospheric air at a medium temperature until

page_text: thoroughly dried. I apply hydraulic pressure in this process in vessels and
apparatus properly suited to such bydraulic pressure in the ordinary way, or
by placing the leather hides in an air-tight vessel, which is then exhausted or
partially exhausted, of its contained atmospheric air, and in that state of
vacuum or partial vacuum, and in this state of the leather hide I admit the
composition which it may be determined to apply to such leather hide upon
the principle above stated, such composition being previously heated to a
temperature of one hundred to one hundred and twenty degrees of heat of
Fahrenheit, the composition in this state being, by the pressure of the external
atmosphere, driven into the vessel containing the leather hide or hides, and
saturating them completely whenever the intractability or peculiar nature of
the hides to be operated upon is found to require more pressure or more
effective treatment than is afforded by simple submersion. I use the com-
position No. 1 when the leather hide has been tanned with oak bark, and
No. 2 when it has been otherwise imperfectly tanned.
Secondly, as to leather skins.-I effect my improvements by making a
complete saturation of the entire substance of the leather skin with the com-
positions No. 3 and No. 4, herein-before described, and I use the composition
No. 3 when the leather skin is very thin, and the composition No. 4 when it
is rather thick, and this I perform in practice by placing the leather skins
upon metallic plates heated to one hundred degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, and
imore or less saturating them, according to the purposes to which such leather
skins are to be applied, with one of the compositions No. 3 and No. 4, heated
to the same degree of heat, viz, one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit, for which
purpose I use large stiff brushes dipped in the composition and rubbed over
such leather skins. I also perform the process of saturation, as described, by
rarefaction of the atmospheric air contained in a room constructed for the
purpose, in which manufactured articles formed of leather hides or leather
skins may also be subjected to this action of heated or rarified atmospheric
air, and although this process does not afford the same degree of saturation as
can be obtained under the before-mentioned processes for the saturation of
unmanufactured articles, they will yet acquire thereby an improved degree of
flexibility, become impervious to moisture, and possess a character of greater
durability than when in their unprepared state. I conduct and perform the
process with or on manufactured goods, as above mentioned, by exposing such
goods in a temperated apartment at a temperature of from one hundred to one
hundred and twenty degrees of heat of Fahrenheit, and the articles thus
exposed during from one to two hours, and having so become thoroughly
warmed, they are then to be passed over with one of the compositions herein-

page_text: before described, until they are saturated therewith; they are then returned to
the temperated room and subjected to the same temperature until they are
dried, which will in general be effected in the space of from half an hour to
an hour.
I now declare that I claim, as a part of my Invention of certain improve-
ments in rendering leather skins or leather hides impervious to wet, more.
flexible, and more durable, the four compositions prepared and compounded as
I have herein-before described them; and I also claim, as other part of my
said Invention, the combination and applications of those compositions to
leather skins and leather hides, as above described, and these two parts taken
together form the combination of my materials and leather, which is my
Invention, and by which I make leather bides or skins impervious to wet,
more flexible, and more durable when used.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wright, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and in the eighth year of the
reign of our Sovereign Queen Victoria.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of July, in the
eighth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said William
Wright came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.