IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CURRYING LEATHER
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Spence at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th June
1872. A communication from abroad by Toussaint Hilaire Pathier,
of Paris, France, Leather Merchant.
I, WILLIAM SPENCE, of 8, Quality Court, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature, of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CURRYING LEATHER,"
(being a communication to me from abroad by Toussaint Hilaire Pathier,
of Paris, France, Leather Merchant, to be as follows: -
This Invention consists in the first place in the mode herein-after
stated of suspending the frame which carries either a single tool or
a series of tools for operating on the leather. And, secondly, the
Invention consists in the combination of a series of tools arranged on
the same frame, so as to be capable of operating over the whole width
of a skin, and adapting themselves to the inequalities of thickness and
hardness of the skin.

page_text: The frame for carrying either a single tool or several is suspended
by two vertical arms with forks at their upper ends to admit of their
taking a swinging motion on an axle suspended from the ceiling. Each
arm is also provided with a roller by which the arms are supported, and
which have their motion on bars or rails suspended from the ceiling
or other support. The frame is worked as required by means of a
crank, and when empty rests with the said rollers on the bars or rails
in such a manner that the operating tools do not touch the table, but
leave a space proportioned to the thickness of the leather to be operated
upon.
When the leather is. inserted between the operating tool or tools and
the table, its thickness raises the frame, which is no longer borne on the
roller; the operating tool or tools then act with the weight of the
apparatus. This weight may be increased as required by means of a
weighted lever or levers, and the pressure may be counteracted by
raising the lever or levers from contact with the arms or frame.
-
The operating tools, the combination of which forms the second part
of the Invention, are arranged parallel to one another in the frame,
and are suspended from transverse bars by means of jointed pins which
allow of their adapting themselves to the irregularities of thickness of
the leather. The operating tools are also acted upon by springs, one at
each end, to give the requisite pressure and elasticity in their working.
The skin of leather is held by a rule or squeezer hinged at one end,
and retained at the other end by a spring catch, and when required the
hold on the skin may be increased by the addition of a' roller and
squeezer, the roller being turned by a handle. The skin is held by a
catch during the whole operation.
The pins by which the operating tools are suspended under the frame
are furnished with screws and nuts, by means of which the distance
between the operating tools and the fixed table is regulated.
When the machine is intended to be worked by hand the frame
is suspended in the same manner, but it carries only one operating tool,
which is moved transversely in order to work successively over the
whole width of the skin. For this purpose, the operating tool is
provided with four rollers which work in grooves formed in the two
opposite sides of the frame.

page_text: To facilitate the working of the tool the frame is furnished with a
lever and weight, the pressure of which is added to the effort of the
attendant in working the tool.
The skin is pinched and retained and pressure applied to the frame as
in the machine first.described.