Im- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS SUITABLE TO BE USED AS SUBSTITUTES FOR SOLID LEATHER."
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richard Jeune, of Flower Terrace, Camp-
bell Road, Bow, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS SUITABLE TO BE USED AS
SUBSTITUTES FOR SOLID LEATHER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Richard Jeune,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th June 1862.
I, WILLIAM RICHARD JEUNE, of Flower Terrace, Campbell Road, Bow,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS SUITABLE TO BE USED
AS SUBSTITUTES FOR SOLID LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of fabrics
suitable to be used as substitutes for solid leather. For this purpose, I take
a long sheet of fabric, felt, or paper, and spread thereon a coating of india-
rubber or gutta percha, or such like solution, and when the solvent of the
solution is evaporated, a thin film of rubber or gutta percha is evenly deposited
on the fabric, felt, or paper, I next apply a similar coating of india-rubber or
gutta percha upon a number of skins or pieces of leather, and when the
solvent is evaporated by the aid of iron rolls, I unite the skins or pieces of
leather and fabric, felt, or paper by passing them through the rolls with the
rubber surfaces in contact. The fabric, felt, or paper, and skins or pieces of

page_text: leather now united, are rolled upon a drum and placed upon a machine, in
which, whilst the sheet is kept at the required tension, a knife, running at a
quick speed, splits off as much of the skin or leather as may be required. The
fabric, felt, or paper is now covered with a perfect sheet of leather; the re-
maining portion of the skins can again be treated in the same manner as
before, so that the number of times I may split the skins depends upon the
thickness of them, and the purposes for which the fabric is required. The
precision of the splitting, which enables me to obtain several or many slices
from the same skin or piece of leather, is only attained by the aid of the fabric,
felt, or paper.
The fabric, felt, or paper, having a perfect surface of leather, may be dyed
and embossed in the usual way, and a fabric is thus produced at a great
reduction upon the price of solid. leather,.and which, as it contains a film of
india-rubber or gutta percha, is waterproof, and therefore fit for many pur-
poses for which leather would not be suitable.
When a waterproof fabric is not required, other cementing -materials may
be employed in place. of .india-rubber or gutta percha. I prefer, in producing
the fabric above described, to employ not whole skins, but square pieces of
leather, as these will fit together, so as to cover the whole surface of the fabric,
felt, or paper, without waste, or the pieces of leather employed may be of
other forms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Richard Jeune, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th December 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM.
RICHARD JEUNE, of Flower Terracc, Campbell Road, Bow, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her, Letters
Patent bearing date the Sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year.. of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give, and grant, unto me,
the said William Richard Jeune, Her. special licence, that. I, the said William
Richard Jeune, my executors, administrators,, and assigns, or such others as
the said William Richard, Jeune, 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,
"

page_text: 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 FABRICS SUITABLE TO BE USED AS SUB-
STITUTES FOR SOLID LEATHER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Richard Jeune, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Richard Jeune; -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 fabrics
suitable to be used as substitutes for solid leather. For this purpose I take a
long sheet of fabric, felt, or paper, a strong calico, or a 'linen fabric, or a
stout paper I find 'very suitable; I spread thereon a coating of india-rubber or
gutta percha, or such like solution; ordinary-india-rubber or gutta percha,
or such like solution; ordinary "india-rubber solution answers well. The
solution may be applied by a spreading machine, such as is commonly
used in spreading india-rubber solution on fabrics, to produce a waterproof
material. When the solvent of the solution is evaporated by means of rolls
heated by steam or otherwise, a thin film of rubber or gutta percha is
evenly deposited on the fabric, felt, or paper. I next apply a similar coating
of india-rubber or gutta percha solution upon a number of skins or pieces of
leather, and when the solvent is evaporated, by the aid of iron rolls I unite
the skins or pieces of leather, and fabric, felt, or paper, by passing them
through the rolls. with the prepared surfaces in contact, the rolls being so set
as to press the skin or pieces of leather and the fabric, felt, or paper, firmly
together. The fabric, felt, or paper, and skins or pieces of leather now united,
are rolled upon a drum and placed upon a machine, in which, whilst the sheet
is kept at the required tension, a knife, running at a quick speed, splits off as
much of the skin or leather as may be.required.
.
The Drawing hereunto annexed; 'shows the working parts of a machine
such as I prefer to employ for this purpose. a is a roller, about four feet
long, on which the compound 'sheet to be cut is wound; there is a pulley at
the end of this roller round which a cord is passed, the cord is secured at one
end and carries a weight at the other, so that it offers a regulated resistance to

page_text: the rotation of the roller a; b is a metal roller, turned quite true, and about
four inches in diameter, over this the sheet passes to the drum c, on which the
sheet is again wound; d is a knife blade, its length is about.50 inches, and it
is straight from end to end, it is attached by screws to the piece e, which is
jointed at its upper edge to the piece f; these joints are to allow of the blade
being turned up away from the roller b, so that it may be readily got at when
it requires sharpening; the pieces e and f, however, are fixed immoveably
together, whilst the machine is at work. The piece f at its ends is formed
with V's at its top and bottom edges, and the frame is formed with corre
sponding V-guides, in which the-piece f is mounted, and capable of sliding to
and fro. An excentric or crank, making about five hundred. revolutions per
minute, and connected by a rod with the piece f, gives to it and thé, knife it
carries a vibratory motion, with a stroke of about three-quarters of an inch in
length; this motion enables the knife to cut freely the sheet submitted to it.
The bearings of the roller b are capable of being adjusted by means of fine
threaded screws to and from the knife, so that the thickness of the slico
removed from the skin can be regulated with great accuracy. The fabric,
felt, or paper, is now covered with a perfect sheet of leather, the remaining
portion of the skins can again be treated in the same manner as before, so
so that the number of times I may split the skins depends upon the thickness
of them and the purposes for which the fabric is required. The precision of
the splitting, which enables me to obtain several or many slices from the same
skin or piece of leather, is only attained by the aid of the fabric, felt, or paper.
The fabric, felt, or paper, having a perfect surface of leather, may be dyed
and embossed in the usual way, and a fabric is thus produced at a great
reduction upon the price of solid leather, and which, as it contains a film of
india-rubber or gutta percha, is waterproof, and, therefore, fit for many pur-
poses for which leather would not be suitable. When a waterproof fabric is
not required, other cementing materials, such as ordinary size or paste, may
be employed in place of india-rubber or gutta percha.
In producing the fabric above described,, although whole skins may be
employed, I prefer to use pieces of leather of square or other regular form,
jointed together with bevil joints made with india-rubber or other cement,
thus a sheet is produced of sufficient size to cover the whole surface of the
fabric, felt, or paper, without waste. When a slice has been cut off a sheet
thus prepared, it will, when dyed and embossed, appear as if without a seam.
In some cases it may be desired to make a fabric according to my Invention
with the object afterwards of separating from it the thin slice or piece of the
skin. For this purpose I cement the skin or leather on to a sheet of fabric

page_text: or other material, with size or other cement capable of being softened by
moisture, and having cut off the slice as before, I moisten and soften the
cement and remove the slice of skin or leather from the fabric or material
which supported it whilst it was being cut. I also find the following a con-
venient manner in which to proceed :-Before tanning the skins they are
reduced to a rectangular form, and then tanned and finished in the ordinary
manner; this being done, the skins are attached by means of size or paste on
the grain side to a sheet of fabric or material, as already described, and the
grain of each skin is removed in a slice, which may be afterwards, if desired,
separated from the sheet which supports it whilst it is cut by moistening the
The slice of leather thus obtained is valuable for many purposes for
which thin leather is commonly employed. The skins of leather from which
the grain has been thus removed are afterwards employed to give a leather
surface to paper, fabric, or felt, but as the skins always vary in thickness in
different parts, being thickest down the centre of the back, they are prepared
for slicing by cementing two skins together, one on the top of the other, so as
to obtain a double thickness, and before doing this one of the two skins is
divided from end to end, down the centre of the back, and the two original
edges or sides of the squared skin are turned in to the centre, and are jointed
together with a bevilled joint made with cement, the skin thus treated being,
as before described, cemented on to another similar skin which has not been
so treated, a sheet of uniform thickness is produced which can be entirely cut
up into slices of regular thickness.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richard Jeune, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
W. R. JEUNE. (L.S.)