IMPROVE- MENTS IN TANNING
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TANNING."-A communication from abroad by Barthelemy
D:
C
Sealed the 28th October 1864, and dated the 30th April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th April 1864.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in the employment of essence of turpentine or
of resin mixed with vegetable or mineral tanning essence, combined with the
movement of the skins in a fulling tun or under a fulling hammer. I am enabled
to tan all sorts of hides and skins at one and the same working. I proceed
as follows:-
The hides for stout leather instead of being placed in pits are put into
a fulling tun which contains a weak decoction of alum if the leather is to
remain white, or of catechu, sumac, or other coloring matter, according to the
color desired to be given to the leather. The tun is hermetically closed, and
rotary motion is imparted to it for some hours to cause the alum or coloring
matter to penetrate the pores, and prepare them to receive the essence.
The

page_text: rotation of the tun is stopped, the cover removed, and the essence of turpentine
is poured in; the tun is closed, and again subjected to rotary motion. Under
the agitation the essence penetrates into the pores already impregnated with
the astringent substance, and acts so powerfully as a tanning agent, with the
effect of fermentation, that in less than twenty-four hours the hides or skins
become completely tanned. They are removed from the tun and washed, and
are afterwards beaten and treated in the ordinary manner. For thin skins,
such as cow, calf, goat, kid, and the like, the same process is followed, but salt
is added to the decoction of alum, catechu, or other coloring matter. The
respective proportions of alum, catechu, or coloring matter, of essence of turpen-
tine, or of resin, mixed with vegetable or mineral tanning essence, vary according
to the nature of the skins and the degree of tanning and coloring desired.
Excellent results are obtained from the employment to two hundred pounds of
skins, of twelve pounds of, alum, and seven-pounds of essence of turpentine.
For coloring skins I substitute for the alum 40 to 50 pounds of catechu, sumac,
or other coloring matter.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, file]
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, Her. -special licence
that I, the said Richard Archibald Broomam, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
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 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 TANNING,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Barthelemy Picard, of Puteaux, France,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that the said Richard Archibald

page_text: Brooman, my executors 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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:-
These improvements consist in the employment of essence of turpentine or
of resin mixed with vegetable or mineral tanning essence, combined with the
movement of the skins in a fulling tun or under a fulling hammer, or otherwise.
I am enabled to tan all sorts of bides and skins at one and the same working.
I proceed as follows:-
The hides for stout leather instead of being placed in pits are put into a
fulling tun which contains a weak decoction of alum if the leather is to remain
white, or of catechu, sumac, or other coloring matter, according to the color
desired to be given to the leather. The tun is hermetically closed, and rotary
motion is imparted to it for some hours to cause the alum or coloring matter
to penetrate the pores and prepare them to receive the essence. The rotation
of the tun is stopped, the cover removed, and the essence of turpentine is
poured in; the tun is closed, and again subjected to rotary motion. Under
the agitation the essence penetrates into the pores already impregnated with
the astringent substance, and acts so powerfully as a tanning agent with the
effect of fermentation that in less than twenty-four hours the hides or skins
become completely tanned. They are removed from the tun and washed, and
are afterwards beaten and treated in the ordinary manner. For thin skins,
such as cow, calf, goat, kid, and the like, the same process is followed, but
salt is added to the decoction of alum, catechu, or other coloring matter. The
respective proportions of alum, catechu, or coloring matter, of essence of tur-
pentine, or of resin, mixed with vegetable or mineral tanning essence, vary
according to the nature of the skins and the degree of tanning and coloring
desired. Excellent results are obtained from the employment to 200 lbs.
of skins, of twelve pounds of alum, and seven pounds of essence of turpentine.
For coloring skins I substitute for the alum forty to fifty pounds of catechu,
sumac, or other coloring matter.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, tanning bides

page_text: and skins by the employment of essence of turpentine or of resin mixed with
vegetable or mineral tanning essence, combined with the movement of the
hides or skins in a fulling tun or under a fulling hammer, or otherwise,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)