IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATING OF LEATHER FOR ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES.
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank Wirth at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd July 1883. A communication from
Lorenz Klöpfer, upholsterer, a person resident at Münshen in the Empire of
Germany
FRANK WIRTH of the firm of Wirth and Company, Patent Solicitors at
Frankfort on the Main, in the Empire of Germany "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TREATING OF LEATHER FOR ORNAMENTAL PURPOSES. [A communication from
Lorenz Klöpfer, upholsterer, a person resident at Münshen in the Empire of
Germany]
This Invention relates to the production of embossed leather and similar materials
and to the coating of the same with metal
The various methods or processes heretofore employed for embossing leather have
not yet given satisfactory results, whilst the leather embossed by the ordinary
method that is to say by means of steel rollers heated by steam, looses its original
flexibility and is consequently useless for upholstering purposes; further the
leather thus prepared whether coated with metal or not is not suitable for the
durable application of colours upon the same
The above defects are advantageously obviated by the present invention which
is described as follows, that is to say-The leather which is to be embossed is
wrapped up in a piece of cloth moistened with boiled water to which a small
quantity of milk is added and the leather is left in the said cloth for from six to
ten hours according to the quality and mode of preparation of the leather
(whether roan, morocco, calf or the like) and according to the color or metal
covering which it is intended to apply upon the same. The embossing which
follows this preliminary soaking is effected without heat by means of stones or
metal plates (but I prefer the former) upon which the desired pattern is engraved.
The pattern thus produced has two remarkable advantages, first when the plate is
rolled, the leather, whether natural or colored, receives a uniform ground color or
tone and secondly upon the leather, which is gilt or covered with a metallic coating,
can be pressed special colours such as ultramarine. The printing is performed in
the ordinary manner. When the leather or similar material has been treated as
above described it is thoroughly dried and after six or eight days is washed with a
sponge dipped in a mixture of five parts of white of egg two parts of glycerine

page_text: and one part of distilled water. By this treatment the leather acquires a
permanent flexibility and a greater durability than when prepared by other
processes, and is also more suitable for industrial purposes especially where soft
and elastic leather is required.
In order to cover the leather or similar material with a metal coating such as
silver or gold, in such a manner that it shall not be affected by the above described
treatment the said leather is according to its quality and mode of preparation
whether roan morocco or calf, covered with a solution of shellac and then dried,
the operation being repeated one or more times according to the number of fatty
cells existing in the leather; The said leather is more frequently however covered
with a mixture of 500 grammes of crude collodion with thirty drops of castor oil
this mixture being diluted with alcohol and sulphuric ether mixed in the proportion
of two of the former with one of the latter.
A very thin layer of size or other mixture is placed upon the leather and is
allowed to become almost dry whilst still remaining a little sticky, the gold leaves
or leaves of other metal are then laid upon the same.
The leather prepared according to the above described process remains thoroughly
flexible and soft and its gilding is exceedingly durable and is applicable for all
embossing purposes whatever the pattern may be