IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING HIDES OR SKINS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd November 1883. Communicated
to him from abroad by Madame Philibert Garnier, of Paris, France
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TREATING
HIDES OR SKINS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER [a communication to him
from abroad by Madame Philibert Garnier, of Paris, France]
"
This invention relates to apparatus designed for the successive performance of
the various operations attending the mechanical treatment of bides skips or skins
in the manufacture of leather from the steeping of the said hides, skips or skins to
the finishing of the same.
This improved apparatus is constructed as follows that is to say, a horizontal
shaft is fitted in a long bush which is mounted upon a frame. At one of the
extremities of the said shaft is fitted a slightly conical rod upon which are placed
the various tool holders required according to the operations to be effected and
upon the other extremity of the said shaft are mounted two or more pulleys which
transmit rotary motion to the same and which may be of different diameters to
permit the speed of the said shaft to be altered according to the work which has
to be performed.
To allow a free and constant access of air to the points whereat the hides, skips,
or skins are operated upon by the various tools, and in order to avoid any heating
at the said points, during such operations, I provide suitable tool holders which are
centrally perforated and fit upon the above mentioned rod.
.
These tool-holders are of various shapes according to the class of operations
which have to be carried out, some being spherical and others ovoid or cylindrical,
the ovoid shape being preferable for operations performed in water, whereas the
spherical shape is more suitable for the work usually performed by the stretching
or softening iron and the dressing knife, the cylindrical shape being more
particularly used for fleshing, scraping, dressing, ironing, glazing, clipping and
similar operations.
In the different tool-holders which are centrally perforated as above stated, are
fitted the various tools employed to operate upon the said hides, skips, or skins such
as knives, blades, scrapers, teeth, brushes and the like thus forming the operating
mechanism or head of the apparatus.

page_text: This operating mechanism is enclosed in a metallic sheath of analogous shape to
that of the tool-holders, forming a sort of hood or guard with an open top and
supported by a cylindrical frame integral with that of the apparatus and the lower
part of which is provided with apertures in order to allow free access for the air
required to cool the said hides, skips or skins; the said guard serves as a rest for
the hand of the operative and prevents the same from coming in contact with any
of the various tools employed.
The said apparatus may be placed horizontally, inclined in any suitable manner,
or may be placed vertically according to the exigencies of the locality and the
requirements of the installation; in the latter case the operating mechanism will
be placed at the same height as that of the bust of the operative.
The various operations performed in water upon hides, skips, or skins, which are
generally executed by hand and which are of a very laborious nature, may be easily
effected by means of this apparatus, an oviform tool holder being preferably
employed in this case, as the contact surface of the tool with the said hides, skips,
or skins is then larger than if the shape selected for the tool holder is spherical.
In this application of my apparatus the oviform tool holder employed is provided
upon its periphery with blades designed to act upon the steeped hide, skip, or skin
and its edges may be sharp or rounded according to the nature of the work to be
accomplished and may be made of iron or other suitable material. In order to
effect the cleaning of hides, skips, or skins I provide a brush having metallic wires
or bristles made of any suitable material, this brush being also oviform in order to
increase the working speed thereof.
Conjointly with the above arrangement of tools I use a guard or shield of ovoid
or cylindrical shape having a circular shoulder resting upon the shoulder of the
frame above mentioned and having a sheath of the shape of an inverted gutter or
trough covering a part of the rotating shaft of the apparatus in order to avoid
accidents and allow the operative to move without danger around the tools with
which he is working.
The operations upon hides, skips, and skins performed with the stretching iron
.and dressing knife which have not been heretofore carried out successfully by
machinery may be effected by means of the improved apparatus. In this case I
provide a spherical tool-holder carrying circular or helicoidal blades upon which
the operative, in order to open a skin, need only exert a moderate pressure with
his arms thus enabling him to effect more work with less fatigue, a result preferable
to that obtained by a skilled workman when working a stretching iron by hand.
.The space of belicoidal shape between the arms of the tool holder and consequently
between the blades fitted therein, leaves free access for air to the contact points of
the said blades with the hides skips or skins the heating of which during the
operations is thereby prevented. When it is required to merely pounce the said
hides, skips, or skins I provide a tool holder the arms of which are arranged in the
shape of spherical segments coated with emery and isolated from one another in
. order to leave free access for air and avoid heating which would be injurious to the
quality of the work produced. In all such cases I provide a shield of spherical
shape, this shield or protecting envelope being arranged in the same manner as the
ovoid or cylindrical shield above mentioned and provided with a semi-spherical
head, a circular shoulder and a semi-cylindrical sheath.
The operations of fleshing and scraping, the first of which applies to the
treatment of leather generally the second being more particularly applied to
skins required for the manufacture of gloves, may also be effected with the
improved apparatus in which case I provide tool holders of cylindrical shape. I
am able to perform satisfactorily the above named difficult operations by means of
knives inclined in the direction of rotation of the shaft that is to say arranged like
a helix and fitted in such a manner as not to nip the hides skips or skins which
must always be drawn in a contrary direction to that of the rotary motion of the
mechanism.. With reference to dressing operations I provide tool holders of either
cylindrical or spherical shape which are covered with cloth moistened by means of

page_text: a sponge impregnated with a suitable liquid and which dries gradually by reason
of the friction exerted upon the hides skips or skins which are being dressed.
The ironing of the said hides skips or skins is effected by means of a hollow
polished sphere heated internally by steam; in this operation the shaft of the
apparatus must be hollow in order to conduct the steam required to heat the said
hollow sphere; the operative applies the hides skips or skins which are required to
be ironed upon this heated sphere and draws the same towards him in a contrary
direction to that of the movement of the said sphere. For glazing operations I use
preferably spherical or ovoid tools made of polished glass upon which the said
operation is carried out with or without heat in the same manner as the ironing
operation above described.
For other operations, I sometimes use cylindrical or spherical brushes.
When using cylindrical tools I employ a shield the top of which has a more or
less wide aperture to adapt it to the class of work for which it is required and
designed to regulate the tension of the hides skips or skins upon the sharp edges of
the knives fitted in the tool holders.
The clipping of hides, skips or skins is effected with the knives used for scraping
operations, in this case however I arrange a comb upon one side of the shield in
such a manner that its teeth are placed in an opposite direction to that of the
movement of the knives, so that the hairs of the said hides skips and skins enter
the teeth of the said comb being stopped therein during their passage whilst they
are cut by the said knives.
In order to easily effect the operations required for the edges of the said hides,
skips and skins I use the same tools as above described, the successive operations
being in this case similar to those performed as above described upon the central
portions of the said hides skips and skins, and I form in the upper part of the
shield employed an aperture having a small sectional area above which aperture I
arrange a caoutchouc or leather handle or simply a roller, this handle or roller
being supported by an articulated lever which presses upon the hide skip or skin
under the action of a rod set in motion by means of a pedal or in any other
suitable manner. I also provide, for this operation, a movable table placed to the
right of the above described apparatus and designed to serve as a fulcrum to
facilitate the operation just above described.
I may älter the form and arrangement of the tool holders and tools herein before
described according to the various operations to be performed in the mechanical
treatment of hides skips or skins, without departing from the nature of the said
invention.