IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FLESHING OR SCRAPING HIDES OR SKINS, AND IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES EMPLOYED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FLESHING OR
SCRAPING HIDES OR SKINS, AND IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES EMPLOYED IN
CONNECTION THEREWITH."-A communication from abroad by Laurent
Breval, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th September 1874.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FLASHING
OR SCRAPING HIDES OR SKINS, AND IN MEANS OR APPLIANCES EMPLOYED IN CON-
NECTION THEREWITH," a communication to me from abroad by Laurent
Breval, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Engineer, to be as
follows:-

page_text: whether tanned or otherwise, for the purpose of reducing the same to an
equal or uniform thickness in all parts, and consists of a peculiar con-
struction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus for performing
the above operation automatically, and of means or appliances combined
therewith for sharpening or setting the blades or knives used for that
purpose.
In carrying out this Invention it is proposed to employ a table having
an angular or inclined projection, the edge of which is formed to an
acute or nearly acute angle, and a rotatory shaft or cylinder situate
above same and provided with any suitable number of helical or spiral
diverging blades or knives attached tangentially to its periphery.
The operation of fleshing or scraping is effected by causing the hide
or skin to pass over the sharp angular edge of the table, tangentially to
and in contact with the blades or knives, which by their revolution
describe a cylinder, having for its generating line the angle of the
table.
According to one modification the table is made stationary, and the
shaft or cylinder carrying the blades or knives is arranged so as to be
moveable or adjustable. In this case the shaft or cylinder is carried by
brackets formed on or attached to a moveable frame, which is capable
of being raised or lowered under the action of a lever, the vertical
standards of the machine forming guides along which the frame may
slide during its rising or falling motion. This lever is attached to a
shaft to which when moved by the hand of the workman it imparts
motion, on which shaft there are also secured two other levers, which
by one of their extremities support and act upon the moveable frame,
whilst at their opposite extremity they are provided with counter-
weights for balancing the-weight of the frame and its attachments.
When the frame has been adjusted so as to bring the blades or
knives into contact with the hide or skin to be treated, the degree or
position of the cut may be regulates by the act of turning a hand wheel
which imparts motion to another wheel, the boss of which forms a nut
for working a traversing screw. This screw is attached to a segmental
piece which is provided with notches and stops for limiting the range
of motion of the lever employed for raising or lowering the frame, the
stroke of the segmental piece itself being also regulated by an adjusting

page_text: screw so as to prevent the possibility of the blades or knives being
injured by contact with the angular projection of the table. The hide
or skin is drawn onwards under the action of rollers, three of which
may be employed covered with some suitable elastic material, and
situate one above and two below the hide or skin under treatment.
Continuous rotatory motion is imparted to the lower rollers by means of
gearing from the shaft or cylinder carrying the blades or knives, and
which is itself driven at a high velocity by a belt and pullies from any
suitable prime mover. The upper. roller is mounted in adjustable
bearings, which are capable of sliding in brackets formed on or attached
to the moveable frame, and are maintained in contact with the hide or
skin by means of springs. A blade is provided for preventing the
leather shavings from adhering to the blades or knives and directing
them into a receptacle placed beneath, and which is also utilized for the
purpose of maintaining by its weight the hide or skin in contact with
the inclined projection of the table.
According to another modification the table itself is made adjustable,
in lieu of the shaft or cylinder carrying the blades or knives, such table
being connected with the moveable frame which is raised and lowered
by an arrangement of counterweighted levers, and the regulating of the
out being effected by means of a segmental piece and adjusting screws
in a similar manner to that herein-before described. The table is in
this case made in two parts, one or both of which may be hinged and
is supported by links or rods attached to the moveable frame, so that
the two parts form inclined planes when the machine is in operation,
but constitute a single horizontal table during the time that the hides
or skins are being arranged thereon for treatment. This arrangement
is especially suitable when large hides are required to be operated
upon.
It is proposed to combine with these machines an emery or other
grindstone, for the purpose of effecting on the spot the sharpening or

page_text: The grindstone may be caused to advance horizontally by means of a
screw having an external thread working in a traversing internal screw
or nut.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 8th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, "Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I,
the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, admi-
nistrators, or 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 MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR FLESHING OR SCRAPING HIDES OR SKINS, AND IN MEANS OR
APPLIANCES EMPLOYED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," a communication to me
from abroad by Laurent Breval, of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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

page_text: by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
The said Invention relates to the fleshing or scraping of hides or
skins, either previously or subsequently to the process of tanning, in
order to reduce such hides or skins to an equal or uniform thickness in
all parts, and consists of a peculiar construction and arrangement of
machinery or apparatus for performing the above operation auto-
matically, and of means or appliances combined therewith for
sharpening or setting the blades or knives used for that purpose.
According to the ordinary process the thick parts are shaved or
removed from the flesh side of the hide or skin by means of a peculiar
knife. This delicate operation requires long experience and great
skill on the part of the operator, and it is therefore proportionately
expensive.
The machinery or apparatus which forms the subject of this Invention
is designed to perform this operation mechanically, whereby the amount
of work done may be considerably increased without the necessity for
employing skilled operators to execute it.
These machines may be constructed either with a moveable knife
holder and a fixed angular table, or with a fixed knife holder and a
moveable table, according to the size of the hides or skins to be
operated upon.
The principle of these machines consists in performing the operation
of fleshing or scraping upon the nearly acute or sharp angle or corner
of a triangular table, over which the hide or skin is drawn by bringing
it into contact with helical knives projecting from a rotating cylinder
placed directly over the angular portion of the table. This cylinder may
carry four, six, or eight, or any other suitable number of knives,
according to the nature of the work or the diameter of the cylinder.
In order to obtain a perfect result, it is essential that the edges of the
knives should be maintained in a good condition, and that by their
rotation they should describe a uniform cylindrical profile exactly
parallel with the angle or corner of the table.
In these machines the sharpening of the knives is effected instan-

page_text: the purpose of moving the frame C. The stroke of the quadrant M is
itself limited by the stop screw N, which the operator regulates in such
a manner as to allow of the knives being brought down as near as
possible to the angle of the table A without ever coming into contact
with it. Unless this precaution were adopted, there would be a liability
of the hide being cut and spoilt, and of the cutting blades being broken,
and the angular edge of the table A being impaired. The hide is drawn
by a set of cylinders o, o', and o³, having an elastic covering. The two
lower cylinders o, o³, receive a continuous rotary motion from the shaft
of the knife cylinder B by means of suitable "gearing. The upper
cylinder o¹ is mounted on two bushes pressed by springs, and sliding in
the guides P, P³, attached to the frame O, so as to cause the cylinder to
partake in the motions of the frame. This arrangement does not allow
the cylinders to draw the hide, except when the upper cylinder o³ is
brought down into its place between the lower cylinders o, o¹, that is
to say, at the time when the knives are lowered by the frame O and
commence to act upon the hide or skin. The frame O carries at its rear
a cross piece Q fitted with a steel blade q acting as a back iron to
prevent the chips or shavings of leather becoming attached to the
knives, and consequently tearing the hide or skin to be operated upon.
Under this back iron there is placed a guide B, which holds the hide
or skin against the sloping face of the angular table. A; the ends of
this guide are attached to the frame O in such a manner as to allow a
certain amount of play to the former, which should not exercise
more pressure upon the hide or skin than that due to its own
weight.
The knives may be sharpened at will, and as often as desired, by

page_text: Referring to Sheet 2 of the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a
front elevation, and Figure 2 is a transverse section taken along the
line 1, 2, Figure 1, of a modified arrangement of machine for fleshing
or scraping hides or skins.
It will be seen on reference to the Drawing, that the principle on
which the operation is performed remains unchanged, and that all the
component parts of the machine and the mechanism are the same, it is
therefore needless to recapitulate them. The only difference consists in
making the part on which the rotating cylinder B is carried immov-
able, and in moving the angular table A. This table is attached to the
frame C, which is put in motion by a system of levers and counter-
weights, and a quadrant for regulating the cut. The frame C carries on
one side a table U, which is attached by a hinge at the point u, and is
supported by two jointed arms; on the other side it carries the two
cylinders o and o¹; the latter cylinder receives the edge of the
table X, which is supported in a similar manner to the table U by
two jointed arms v¹ and v³. The Drawing represents the machine in
operation.
The angular table A is raised and the hide or skin brought into
contact with the knives a of the cylinder B. The two tables U and X :
form two inclined planes, which do not in anywise obstruct the passage
of the hide or skin. On lowering the frame C by means of the lever D
these two tables assume a horizontal position, and form, in fact, one
table on. which is spread the hide or skin to be operated upon.
The adjustment of the depth of the cut is limited in this modification a
by a stop screw y placed at the centre of and upon the lower cross
piece of the frame C.
•
The apparatus for sharpening is similar to that shewn in the arrange-
ment, Sheet 1. The fixed position of the cylinder B however admits of
the grindstone being advanced horizontally by means of an adjusting 8
screw situated in front of the operator; and this arrangement possesses
some advantages in respect of convenience. By this mode of sharpening
a clean cut is obtained, and a fine and long bevelled edge, by reason of
the obliquity of the cutting parts which forms a diverging helical curve,
and the respective positions of the blades which are placed at a tangent 3
with the circumference of a cylinder.
The chief advantages resulting from this Invention are.—

page_text: tially as herein-before described and illustrated by the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Specification set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of
March One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.