IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville,
:
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st April 1864.
I, HENRI ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, Patent Agent, of the British and Foreign
Patent Offices, 24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and
38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING
ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," communicated to me by Ernest Bouvyer, a person
residing at Rue du Lac, Paris, aforesaid, to be as follows:-
This invention consists in making artificial leather from leather, leather cut-
tings. shavings, parings, or leather fragments of any kind by the following
means: The cuttings or other fragments are in the first place, and while in a
[Price 8d.]

page_text: dry state, reduced to powder; this powder is next mixed with a solution of
india-rubber with or without the addition of gum lac, or of marine gluc, or
other similar composition to a suitable consistence. When partially dried,
which process is effected by straining on wire cloth or perforated metal, the
sheets or slabs of artificial leather thus obtained are pressed between rollers,
and if required are ornamented in any suitable way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henri Adrien Bonneville in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRI
ADRIEN BONNEVILLE, Patent Agent, of the British and Foreign Patent Offices,
24, Rue du Mont Thabor, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 38, Porchester
Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, Her special licence that I,
the said Henri. Adrien Bonneville, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MAKING ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," a communi-
cation from Ernest Bouvyer, à person then residing at Rue du Lac, but now
at Route Militaire No. 1, 13th Arrondissement, Paris, aforesaid, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, my execu-
tors, or administrators, 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 Henri Adrien Bonneville, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the. same iş

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
:
This Invention consists in making artificial or imitation leather from leather
cuttings, shavings, parings, or leather fragments of any kind by the following
means: The cuttings or other fragments are in the first place, and while in
a dry state, reduced to powder; this powder is next mixed with a solution of
india-rubber with or without the addition of gun lac, or of marine glue, or other
similar composition to a suitable consistence. When partially dried, which
process is effected by straining on wire cloth or perforated metal, the sheets or
slabs of artificial leather thus obtained are pressed between rollers, and if
required are ornamented in any suitable way.
The above process is particularly applicable to reconstituting leather from
waste and cuttings produced by curriers, and generally by all those using
leather in trade and the useful arts. This end is attained by the Inventor by
drying and then reducing the above cuttings" or "waste" leather to a flour
or meal while in a dry state, and afterwards mixing the powder or meal with
an equal volume of india-rubber dissolved in the ordinary way. A paste is
thus formed which is spread on metallic cloth in order to form sheets of the
required size and thickness. When the sheets are nearly dry at the surface
they are rolled or passed between cylinders in order to unite well the mixture
of flour and india-rubber. The desiccation is terminated either in the open air
or by artificial heat, at a temperature of from 15 to 20 degrees Centigrade
(33° to 40° Fahrenheit). An article is thus obtained which may be used for
the same purposes as real leather. Designs in relievo, incrustations, and
other ornamentations of which the above product is susceptible may be applied
by plates or rollers at a suitable stage of the process. The processes are in
short the same as those for making paper or sheets of india-rabber whether by
mould or machine. The sheets or other pieces of composition obtained as
above may if required be vulcanized in a bath composed of sulphuret of carbon
and chloride of sulphur in the proportion of 100 parts of the first to 1 of the
second. A simple immersion in this bath suffices. The drying may be
operated in the open air or by artificial heat. In the mixture of leather, flour,
and india-rubber, a suitable quantity of gums or resins may be comprised,
making a sort of marine glue taking as solvent the essential oil of tar. Any
suitable kind of gums or resins may be used, with a proper solvent. Gutta
percha or the india-rubber known in France as "gabon," or any suitable
substance may be used as a substitute for .india-rubber.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention communicated to
me, what I claim is, making artificial leather from waste cuttings, shavings,

page_text: or other fragments of leather by the process above described, or other
analogous means.
In witness whereof, 1, the said Henri Adrien Bonneville, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
H. BONNEVILLE. (L.S.)