AN IMPROVEMENT IN CURRYING LEATHER
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andre Prosper Rochette, of Brighouse, in the County
of York, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CURRYING LEATHER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andro Prosper Rochette
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd April 1857.
I, ANDRE PROSPER ROCHETTE, of Brighouse, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
CURRYING LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in currying leather, and.
the Invention consists in applying the greasy and oily matters obtained or
separated from shoddy, in place of the tallow or oily matters usually employed
by leather curriers. For this purpose the greasy or oily matters having been
obtained from the shoddy in the usual manner by pressure, they are purified by
washing in clean water or otherwise, and applied in like manner to that in
which tallow or other oily matters have heretofore been used in currying
leather....

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Andre Prosper Rochette in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDRE
PROSPER ROCHETTE, of Brighouse, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Andre Prosper Rochette, Her special licence that I, the said Andre Prosper
Rochette, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Andre Prosper Rochette, 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 "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN CURRYING LEATHER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Andre Prosper Rochette, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Audre Prosper Rochette, 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:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in currying leather, and
the Invention consists in applying the greasy and oily matters obtained or
separated from shoddy, in place of the tallow or oily matters usually employed
by leather curriers. For this purpose the greasy or oily matters having been
obtained from the shoddy in the usual manner by pressure, they are purified
by washing in clean water or otherwise, and applied in like manner to that in
which tallow or other oily matters have heretofore been used in currying
leather.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the method in which the
process is conducted

page_text: In order to extract the greasy or oily matters from shoddy, the shoddy is
put in bags, and these are placed in a screw or other press, the body of which
is surrounded by a case, and when the press is charged, steam is admitted to
this case and the pressure is put on; the greasy or oily matter then flows from
the press and the pressure is to be continued until it ceases so to do. In order
to purify the greasy or oily matter, I add to it about one and a half per cent.
of commercial sulphuric acid, and raise the mixture to its boiling temperature;
afterwards I allow it to cool and settle, and then draw off the clear matter and
again heat it with sulphuric acid, and allow it to cool and settle as before; the
clear oil is then ready for use. In using this greasy or oily matter for currying
leather, I prefer to mix it with tallow, in the proportion of one part of the
greasy or oily matter with two parts of tallow; but these proportions should
be to some extent varied according to the heat of the weather; in cold
weather a larger proportion of the greasy or oily matter may be used. The
mixture of tallow and greasy or oily matter may be applied to the leather in
the same way and in the same proportions as the greases now in use are
applied.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andre Prosper Rochette, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
B. GOBEY,
24, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
A. P. ROCHETTE. (L.S.)