Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Aug., 1886.
Complete Left, 19th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 21st June, 1887
I, JOSEPH TOWNSEND, of Crawford Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention
to be as follows, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to treat hides or skins in an improved manner;
and in carrying it out I take a compound or mixture of aluminate of soda or aluminate
of potash, containing by preference 50 per centum of soda and 40 per centum of
alumina, and one gallon of water to cach pound of aluminato. I steep the hides or
skins in this.mixture or impregnate them with it in any suitable manner; and after a
few days of this treatment the hair can be removed. The hides or skins, having by
preference been washed with water, are next placed in a solution containing from 2 to 4
per centum of boracic acid, and are again by preference washed with water. The hides
or skins may afterwards be tanned in the ordinary way or they may be otherwise
treated. The treatment with boracic acid may also be used with hides or skins that
have been treated with lime. The soluble borate of lime contained in the washings
may be mixed with the tanning matter as it tends to preserve it from decomposition.
Instead of treating the hides and skins with boracic acid alone after they have been
treated with aluminate of soda or aluminate of potash or with lime they may be
treated with a solution containing boracic acid and sulphate of alumina or other soluble
salt of alumina. And instead of first treating the hides or skins with aluminate of
soda or aluminate of potash I may use silicate of soda or silicate of potash of a strength
of about 18 degrees Twaddell or a mixture of the aluminates and silicates. When
using an aluminate and a silicate, however, I prefer to steep the hides or skins for some
time in the silicate alone and after draining to steep them in the aluminate, then to
wash in water and after removing the hair to steep in the solution containing boracic
acid and a salt of alumina.
Dated this Theonte seventh day of Angust. 1886.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: V WAS
I, JOSEPH TOWNSEND, of Crawford Street, Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturing Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object the treatment of hides or skins in an improved
manner; and in carrying it out a compound or mixture is made of aluminate of soda
or aluminate of potash containing by preference 50 per centum of soda or an equiva-
lent quantity of potash. and 40 por centum of alumina and one gallon of water to each
pound of aluminate. The hides or skins are steeped in this mixture or are impreg-
nated with it in any suitable manner; and after a few days of this treatment the hair
can be removed.
The hides or skins having, by preference, been washed with water, are next placed
in a solution containing from 2 to 4 per centum of boracic acid, and are again, by
preference, washed with water. The hides or skins may afterwards be tanned in the
ordinary way, or they may be otherwise treated.
The treatment with boracic acid may also be used with hides or skins that have been
treated with lime. The boracic acid will remove the excess of lime and render the
hides or skins more suitable for the tanning process; whilst the boracic acid absorbed
by the hides or skins at this stage will tend to prevent the decomposition of the
tanning material when it is afterwards applied. The soluble borate of lime contained
in the washings may be mixed with the tanning material as it also will tend to preserve
that material from decomposition.
Instead of treating the hides or skins with boracic acid alone after they have been
treated with aluminate of soda, or aluminate of potash, or with lime, they may be
treated with a solution containing boracic acid and sulphate of alumina or other soluble
salt of alumina. And instead of first treating the hides or skins with aluminate of
soda or aluminate of potash, or after so treating them, silicate of soda or silicate of
potash may be used, of a strength of about 18 degrees, Twaddell. When using an
aluminate and a silicate, however, it is preferable to steep the hides or skins for some
time in the silicate alone, and after draining, to steep them in the aluminate, then to
wash in water and after removing the hair to steep in the solution containing boracic
acid and a salt of alumina.
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 :-
1-The combination of processes for treating hides or skins, wherein the hides or
skins are, first, steeped in a solution or mixture of aluminate of soda or aluminate of
potash, secondly, unhaired, thirdly, steeped in a solution of boracic acid, and after-
wards tanned or treated in an ordinary manner, substantially as hereinbefore
described,

page_text: 2-The treating of hides or skins with aluminate or silicate of soda or potash,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
3-The treating of hides or skins with boracic acid either alone or in combination
with a salt of alumina, after having treated them with an aluminate or silicate
substantially as herein before described:
4-The treating of hides or skins that have been treated with lime, with boracic
acid to remove the excess of lime, substantially as hereinbefore described.
5-In treating hides or skins, the utilisation of the washings containing borate
of lime in the tanning process substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore
described.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.