IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Somervell, of Kendal, in the County of
Westmorland, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER.”
Sealed the 19th May 1871, and dated the 8th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Somervell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th March 1871.
I, JOHN SOMERVELL, of Kendal, in the County of Westmoreland,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," to be as follows:—
I propose to take hair or any other fibrous material (by preference
cow or calf hair on account of their low price), to spread this material
by scribbling or otherwise into layers of the thickness required, and then
to saturate it with boiled linseed oil, or a compound of india-rubber,
naptha, and sulphur, or rosin and gutta percha, or any gum in solution,
the proximate proportions of the gums in solution or oils used will
be about one part to 3 parts of hair. The layer being saturated I
purpose putting it between two hollow steam plates and placing it

page_text: between these plates under a hydraulic or other press, subjecting the
layer to pressure therein during, say, from one to twelve hours at such a
temperature (obtained by forcing steam through the hollow plates) as
may be required to form a pliable and waterproof substitute for leather.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Palcut,
filed by the said John Somervell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SOMERVELL, of Kendal, in the County of Westmoreland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Somervell, Her special licence
that I, the said John Somervell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Jolu Somervell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Somervell, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 immediately after thio date of the said Letters
Patent.
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"
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said John Somervell, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to he
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :—
My Invention relates to the manufacture of artificial leather, using
hair or any suitable fibrous material as a basis.

page_text: I take the hair or fibre, say, cow or calf hair, and having teased it in
a teaser or willow I moisten it with boiled linseed or other oil in the
proportion of, say, one part of oil to three of hair. I then card or
scribble the oiled hair or fibre, winding it on a roller as it leaves the
doffer until it forms a sheet of a thickness regulated by the thickness of
artificial leather it is desired to obtain. I set this sheet aside until
the oil therein has oxidised, which will be in, say, a week. I then place
the sheet between two plates of sheet zinc or other suitable metal or
material, and the whole between two hollow steam plates heated to
about 220 degrees "Fahrenheit," and apply pressure by means of a
hydraulic press for from 6 to 12 hours. This pressure completes the
manufacture, and the sheet withdrawn from the press is a pliable and
waterproof material which will be found an excellent substitute for sole
leather.
I have particularly mentioned cow or calf hair on account of their
low price, but any kind of hair may be used in this manufacture, as
also any kind of fibre of sufficient tenacity, such for example as hemp,
flax, or refuse wool.
I do not limit myself to the use of boiled linsced or other oil as
softening, binding, and waterproofing ingredient, but use any glutinous
material which I may find suitable for my purpose, such, for example,
as solutions of india-rubber, naptha, and sulphur, of rosin and gutta
percha, of gelatine, or of any suitable gum. Neither do I propose to
limit myself to the particular method above described of heating the
sheet while in the press by means of hollow steam plates, although I
prefer such method, or to the use of any particular kind of press, but
to use such methods and apparatus as I may by experience find most
suitable. The proportions and degrees of heat and of pressure herein
given are only approximative and will necessarily vary with the nature
of the hair or fibre and other ingredients, the thickness of the sheet to
be produced, and other circumstances.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed I would have it understood that
what I claim as secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the process of manufacturing an artificial leather by
moistening hair or other fibre with boiled oil, with gums or gelatine in
solution, or with any suitable glutinous material, then scribbling or

page_text: otherwise spreading it into a sheet and finally subjecting it to hot
pressure, the whole substantially as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Somervell, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.