IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick John Bugg, of No. 3, Tacket Street,
Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Shoe Factor, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER."
Sealed the 28th October 1864, and dated the 6th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick John Bugg
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th July 1864.
I, FREDERICK JOHN BUGG, of No. 3, Tacket Street, Ipswich, in the County
of Suffolk, Shoe Factor, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PRESSED LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of pressed
leather. Pressed leather (which is a material employed in the interior of the
soles of shoes and boots and for other uses) is at present made from curriers'
shavings, which are saturated with flour paste, and laid one on the other, so
as to form a sheet, and this is consolidated by heavy pressure and dried. The
material made in this manner is, however, very inferior in quality; it easily
breaks and separates, first, because curriers' shavings (being shavings removed
from hides by a hand knife) are of small size, and, second, because the cement
employed, viz., flour paste, softens readily with water, and so, if the pressed
leather gets moist, allows the shavings to separate.
Now according to my Invention, in place of using curriers' shavings in

page_text: making pressed leather, I use tanned fleshing pieces, which are waste pieces
made by machines employed to split hides; they are made in the first cut
taken by the machine in levelling the hide before commencing to cut a sheet
of uniform thickness from it. These pieces being of large size, make a
pressed leather, which is very superior to any heretofore manufactured. Also
in the process of manufacture I employ in combination with the tanned fleshing
pieces, and as a cement, gelatine or animal glue, which is much less affected
by moisture than is flour paste; when combined with the leather it becomes
acted on more or less by the tanning principles contained therein, and is thus
rendered more or less insoluble.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick John Bugg in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
JOHN BUGG, of No. 3, Tackett Street, Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Shoe
Factor, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick John Bugg, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
John Bugg, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick John Bugg, 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 PRESSED LEATHER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick John Bugg, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: 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 improvements in the manufacture of pressed
leather. Pressed leather (which is a material employed in the interior of the
soles of shoes and boots and for other uses) is at present made from curriers'
shavings, which are saturated with flour paste, and laid one on the other, so
as to form a sheet, and this is consolidated by heavy pressure and dried. The
material made in this manner is, however, very inferior in quality; it easily
breaks and separates, first, because curriers' shavings (being shavings removed
from hides by a hand knife) are of small size, and very light or thin, and,
second, because the cement employed, viz., flour paste, softens readily with
water, and so, if the pressed leather gets moist, allows the shavings to
separate.
Now according to my Invention, in place of using curriers' shavings in
making pressed leather, I use tanned fleshing pieces, which are waste pieces
made by machines employed to split hides; they are made in the first cut
taken by the machine in levelling the hide before commencing to cut a sheet
of uniform thickness from it. These pieces being of large size, make a pressed
leather, which is very superior to any heretofore manufactured. Also in the
process of manufacture I employ in combination with the tanned fleshing
pieces, and as a cement, gelatine or animal glue, which is much less affected
by moisture than is flour paste; when combined with the leather it becomes
acted on more or less by the tanning principles contained therein, and is thus
rendered more or less insoluble.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
The tanned fleshings or fleshing pieces (which may either be whole
"fleshers" or pieces made by rounding or cutting off edges or light parts,) are
first damped with water or a weak solution of animal gelatine or glue, after
which they are left for from 12 to 18 hours until they get into a soft mellow
state; each piece is then passed through a strong solution of animal gelatine
or glue, after which they are spread over a sheet of zinc, which is slightly
oiled to prevent the leather adhering to it. I prefer to employ sheets of
about 17 inches by 21 inches. Successive layers of the fleshings are placed
one above the other on the sheet until the requisite and a uniform substance
is obtained. A sheet of galvanized iron slightly oiled on the surface to prevent
the leather adhering to it is then put on the top of the layers of fleshings, and
they are then put in a bydraulic press, and a pressure of about 150 tons is put
upon them. They remain under pressure for about 12 hours or more, after

page_text: which the consolidated sheet is removed from the press, and is separated from
the sheets of iron and zinc; it is then put into a rack, and exposed to the air,
or put in a drying shed, and when dry it is fit for use.
I would remark that although in making pressed leather from tanned
fleshing pieces I prefer to employ gelatine or animal glue, as before stated,
I do not confine myself to the use of these cements, as other cements, such as
flour, paste, and solutions made from gums may be employed, but not,
I believe, so advantageously.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick John Bugg, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
FREDERICK JOHN BUGG. (L.S.)
FREDERICK JOHN BUGG. (L.B.)