IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
Year: 1885

page_text: I ELLA MARY FREELEY of the Town of Plainfield County of Union and State of
New Jersey in the United States of America manufacturer of artificial leather do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL
LEATHER" and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Heretofore as is well known artificial leather has been usually made of textile
fabric coated with vulcanized rubber and has been known in the trade as "rubber
cloth." Sometimes it is made of textile fabric coated with varnish and bears the
name of enamel cloth. It has also been made of paper pulp coated with varnish
and is then known as leatherette. The appearance of leather in all these cases is
imparted to the artificial compound by giving it the grain of real leather. The
article however when partly composed of vulcanized rubber has an unpleasant
odour when subjected to a high temperature. When made of paper pulp and
varnish it does not long retain the color given to it by dyeing. In all these
artificial leathers the coating cracks and peels off during wear and none of them
are pliable like real leather. If a cut is made in the material it is liable to split
its entire length. The appearance or odour of Russian leather moreover has never
been given to artificial leather.
The object of my invention is to obviate these defects in ordinary artificial
leather by producing an improved article which will have the appearance and
peculiar odour of Russian leather which will be sufficiently pliable for all purposes,
which will retain the outside coating and dye in ordinary wear and which will not
be liable to tear unless much strength be exerted in the effort. To accomplish this
purpose I take the ordinary imitation leathers which are well known articles of
commerce and easily obtained and steep the same in a solution made of fifty
pounds of bark of oak fifty pounds of bark of hemlock fifty pounds of bark of
sumac one pound of bark of willow and nine hundred gallons of water. I prefer
the proportions as given above though they may be changed and still produce the
result. If one of the barks be omitted the proportions of the others must be
correspondingly increased. Instead of a solution of the barks the chemical
extractions of the barks may be used. While the material is yet damp I smear it
on the outer or leather side with a solution made of a large tablespoonful of
Russian jachten extract dissolved in a pint of alcohol and half a pint of ether,
A

page_text: This renders it pliable and gives it the odour of Russian leather. It is then rolled
up into bundles with the outer or leather side in and laid away to dry. When it
has thoroughly dried it is ready for use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
Artificial Russian leather made of the ordinary artificial leather or rubber cloth
of enamel cloth or of leatherette steeped in a solution of bark of oak or the
chemical extractions thereof, bark of hemlock or the chemical extractions thereof
bark of sumac or the chemical extractions thereof bark of willow or the chemical
extractions thereof and water in the proportions and in the manner specified and
smeared with a solution of Russian jachten extract alcohol and ether in the
proportions and in the manner specified substantially as and for the purpose
described.