CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE ART OF MAKING LEATHER
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUGH
RONALDS, of Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
January, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said Hugh Ronalds, my exors, admňors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Hugh Ronalds, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years
therein expressed, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE ART OF MAKING LEATHER;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said Hugh Ronalds, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine,

page_text: and become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto bad, may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Hugh Ronalds, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
Presuming that the common method of making leather is "known, I shall
describe the mode, first, of making my tanning liquor, and secondly of making
leather with the liquor so obtained.
C, D, represents a plant of taps or vats for making the liquor, numbered
1, 2, 3, &c. to 16, divided from each other by strong boards, each tap or vat
having a false bottom, and an eye or pipe so constructed that the bottom of every
tap or vat may, by means of a cross pipe leading from the eye or pipe, commu-
nicate with the next tap at ten inches or any more convenient distance from
the tap. a, a, a, are small pipes furnished with cocks leading froin the eye or
pipe of each tap into the main pipe K, L, which is fixed about ten inches or
any more convenient distance below the top of the taps; the eye of the tap
No. 9 is connected with the tap 8 by means of the pipe 6 running under the main
pipe K, L, and the eye of No. 1 connected with No. 16 in the same manner.
By means of the above-mentioned communications between the bottom of one
tap and the top of the next tap the liquor will find its level throughout the
whole range of taps, or may be stopped by a plug in the cross pipe. The tap
or vat 16 contains the weakest liquor and tan; 15 contains tan and liquor one
degree stronger, and so on, each tap growing progressively stronger to 1,
which contains the strongest liquor and fresh bark. E, F, represents a plant
of hide pits, numbered from 1 to 20, the tops of which are about two feet or
any more convenient distance below the tops of the taps, constructed in the
same manner as the taps are, except their not having false bottoms, the
main pipe m, n, resembling the main pipe K, L, and small pipes c, c, c,
resembling the small pipes a, a, a, and the same communications between the
adjoining pits as were before described between the taps. A is a copper or
reservoir to contain water, the bottom of which will command the top of the
taps B is a reservoir upon the same level as the copper A; G is a receiver
or large pit commanded by the pipe m, n; H is a pump to raise the liquor
into the reservoir B from G; I is a wast pit or drain for the exhausted
liquor; 0, 0, 0, represent moveable shoots, by which water or liquor may be
conveyed from one place to another.

page_text: Having described the construction of the taps and pits, I now proceed to
the method of working them. Oak bark, or any substance containing the
tanning principle, is put into the different taps, and into the first or weakest
of the taps 16 water is introduced by means of the pipe from the reservoir A.
A communication being open from the tap 16 to 15, and from 15 to 14, and
so on to 1, it is evident that 16 will contain the weakest liquor or infusion,
and that this will become progressively stronger, till at 1 it becomes of
sufficient strength for use in the pits. By means of a shoot o, o, the liquor
passes from tap 1 to the pit 1 in the plant of hide pits E, F, which pit 1,
contains hides that are in the most forward state from the bottom of the pit,
the liquor being partly exhausted by the hides in No. 1, runs through the cyc
and cross pipe mentioned above to the pit 2. In the same manner the liquor
runs through each adjoining pit, exhausted by the hides in each till it arrives
at 20, when, if quite exhausted, it runs to waste, and if not exhausted, runs
into the receiver G to be pumped into reservoir B, whence it is thrown upon
the tap, as before described. The liquor being the strongest when it first
arrives from the taps, it is evident the further it is conveyed through the pits
the weaker it becomes; the hides are therefore in a less forward state as the
liquor proceeds. When the tap 1 is full of bark the communication between
16 and 15 must be stopped, 16 may be emptied, and the communication
between 1 and 16 must be opened; fresh bark being thrown into 16 it
becomes the strongest tap, and 15 becomes the weakest; when 16 becomes
full of bark the same operation proceeds; 15 is made the strongest and 14
becomes the weakest by the same means, and so on all round, so that every
time a tap is filled with bark that which was before the weakest is made the
strongest, and that which was the weakest but one becomes the weakest, and
thus each tap in turn becomes the weakest and strongest. No other labour is
required in making the infusion than that of emptying the worst tap as the
best becomes full. The hide pits are changed in the same manner. Suppose
20 in the plant E, F, to contain the greenest hides, suspended on poles, and
the liquor proportionally weak, No. 19 is filled with hides and liquor one
degree forwarder, 18 still one forwarder, and so on, each pit increasing pro-
gressively in the strength of the liquor and in the forwardness of the hides to
No. 1, which contains the strongest liquor and forwardest hides. By
describing the work of one day the whole process may be explained, and [
shall suppose the yard to be in full work. In the plant of taps C, D, let all the
small pipes leading from the respective eyes into the common pipe K, L, be
stopped, except that at. No. 1, which is to be left open, the communication
between 1 and 16 being stopped by a plug or cock in the cross pipe, and let a

page_text: shoot be placed so as to convey liquor from the end of the pipe K, L, to the
top of the pit 1 in the plant E, F ; let all the small pipes c, c, c, leading from
the respective eyes into the pipes m, n, be stopped, except that at 20, which is
to be left open; the communication between 1 and 20 being stopped, let a
shoot be placed at the end of the pipe m, n, so as to convey liquor into the
waste pit I; now let water run gently from the copper or cistern upon the tap
16, the liquor in 16 will rise through the eye and cross pipe to its level in 15,
this again to its level in 14, and so on till the strong liquor in one will run
through the small pipe a into the pipe K, L, thence it will run by the shoot o, o,
upon the pit 1, plant E, F, containing the forwardest hides. The same opera-
tion will go on here as in the taps; the liquor in No. 1 will find its level in
No. 2, that to its level in 3, and so on, changing its liquor in every pit
till the liquor in No. 20, supposed to be quite exhausted, will run off the green
hides into the pipe m, n, and thence to waste; but in case the liquor is not
quite exhausted, it may be necessary to keep three or four pits at the end for
the purpose of spending the liquor by green hides. When the hides in pit 1
are sufficiently tanned they are taken out, and the communication between 1
and 2 being stopped, the liquor is pumped out of No. 1 upon No. 2; No. 1 is
cleaned out, the communication with No. 20 is opened, the weakest liquor
will therefore run from No. 20 upon No. 1, which will now be ready for
the reception of green hides; the same operations are performed when the
hides are tanned and taken out of No. 2; No. 3 then becomes the forwardest,
and No. 2 is prepared for the reception of green hides, and this takes place
throughout every pit.
The process of tanning described above will be accelerated by having the pits
and taps enclosed, and keeping up the temperature above 60 degrees of
Fahrenheit, by any of the well-known methods of applying heat. The
leather is well filled in the early stages of its process, and very equable in its
texture, and is firm and heavy.
By this process I have tanned leather in a much shorter time and of a
superior quality than in the common mode of tanning. I maintain that the
opening a communication between all my hide pits. in the manner above
described is perfectly new, and that my Invention chiefly consists in keeping
up a constant flow of the tanning liquor through the pits upon the hides.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hugh Ronalds, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
HUGH (L.s.) RONALDS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Hugh Ronalds came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Hugh Ronalds came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighteen.