AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TAWING AND DRESSING SKINS
Year: 1875

page_text: c
LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TAWING
AND DRESSING SKINS."-A communication from abroad by Charles
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Gedge at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th March 1875.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR TAWING And
DRESSING SKINS," a communication to me from abroad by Charles Molinier,
of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a modification of the machine for tawing
and dressing skins, for which I obtained Letters Patent dated the 4th
April 1874, No. 1190.

page_text: The object of this machine, which is based upon the principle of the
action of a cylinder armed with metal blades describing helicoidal
curves, is to effect the stretching and tawing and dressing of skins when
this cylinder receives a rotary motion, the skin being then held between
the blades and the table upon which it is laid.
It has been found that in certain cases and for certain operations the
work could not be done upon the table without some difficulty, for not-
withstanding the elasticity given to this table by the interposition of a
band of india-rubber, it [nevertheless possessed a rigidity which might
result in the cutting of the skin.
The object of this Invention is to remedy the said defect by modifying
this part of the machine as herein-after described without in any way
altering its original action.
The said modification consists in substituting in lieu of the cast-iron
plate of the original machine a cylinder covered with india-rubber or
other elastic material. This cylinder is set in a moveable table, which
supports it in suchwise that it follows the same movement as this table,
which, as specified, No. 1190, A.D. 1874, is made to approach or to
recede from the metal blades by the working of a treadle; this cylinder
turns as fast as the skin is drawn over it.
This arrangement is illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawing,
upon which A indicates the table actuated by the treadle P. This table
receives the skins which are to be dressed. These latter are scized by
apparatus carried by the cross piece B. This cross piece may slide upon
the two bars C, C', in approaching or receding from the cylinders. The
cylinder D is furnished with metal blades set helically, and is worked
by the pulley E, which gives it a rotary motion; H is a cylinder covered
with india-rubber, leather, or other elastic material, and held by two
spindles or pivots on the table A. This cylinder follows the movements of
this table, that is to say, that it rises or lowers with it. The skin
passes between the two cylinders D and H in such a manner that the
pressure of the latter cylinder compels the cylinder D to operate suitably
upon the skin.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Edward Gedge,
Her special licence that I, the said William Edward Gedge, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Edward Gedge, 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 Ircland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE OR APPARATUS FOR
TAWING AND DRESSING SKINS," a comm ication to me from abroad by
Charles Molinier, of No. 64, Faubourg St. Martin, Paris, France, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Gedge,
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 William Edward Gedge, 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 :-
This Invention relates to a modification of the machine for tawing
and dressing skins for which I obtained Letters Patent dated the 141,

page_text: The object of the said machine, which is based upon the principle of
the action of a cylinder armed with metal blades describing helicoidal
curves, is to effect the stretching and tawing and dressing of skins when
this cylinder receives a rotary motion, the skin being held between the
blades and the table upon which it is laid.
It has been found that in certain cases, and for certain operations,
the work could not be done upon the table without some difficulty, for
notwithstanding the elasticity given to this table by the interposition of
a band of india-rubber it nevertheless possessed a rigidity which might
result in the cutting of the skin.
The object of this Invention is to remedy the said defect by modifying
this part of the machine, as herein-after described, without altering its
original action.
The said modification consists in substituting in lieu of the cast-iron
plate of the original machine a cylinder covered with india-rubber or
other elastic material. The cylinder is set on the moveable table, which
supports it in suchwise that it follows the same movements as this table,
which, as set forth in the Specification to Letters Patent, No. 1190, A.D.
1874, is made to approach or to recede from the metal blades by the
working of a treadle; this cylinder turns faster or slower, accordingly as
the skin is drawn more or less rapidly over it.
This arrangement affords advantages in certain operations upon the
skins, such for example as breaking, unhairing, skiving, and setting.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing Figure 1 is an elevation of
a machine embodying this Invention; and Figure 2 is a cross section
through cylinders and table.
A indicates the table actuated by the treadle P. This table receives
the skins which are to be dressed, the skins being seized in an apparatus
carried by the cross piece B, which apparatus is described in the Speci-
fication to Letters Patent, No. 1190, A.D. 1874. The cross piece B
slides upon the two bars C, C¹, in approaching or in receding from the
cylinders. The cylinder D is furnished with metal blades set helically,
and is worked by the pulley E, which gives it a rotary motion;
H indicates a cylinder covered with india-rubber, leather, or other
elastic material, and held by two spindles in bearings on the table A.
This cylinder follows the movements of the table A, that is to say,
rises or lowers with it. The skin passes between the two cylinders D
it.

page_text: and H in such a manner that the pressure of the latter cylinder compels
the cylinder D to operate suitably upon the skin.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of the Invention
communicated to me as aforesaid, and in what manner the same is or
may be performed, I desire it to be understood that I do not claim the
exclusive use of a cylinder covered with elastic material for supporting
the skins while being operated upon by the knives, but that what I
claim as secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the use of the cylinder H in combination with the table A
and cylinder D, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-