IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF SKINS AND HIDES
Year: 1861

page_text: of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF SKINS AND HIDES."-A com-
munication from abroad by Doctor Friedrich Knapp, of Munich, in the
Kingdom of Bavaria.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th October 1861.
1, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain. Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF SKINS AND HIDES," a
communication from abroad by Doctor Friedrich Knapp, of Munich, in the
Kingdom of Bavaria, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the treatment of skins, such as lamb, kid, calf, and
other skins, so as to render them suitable for the manufacture of gloves, shoes,
boots, and other purposes; and also to the treatment of hides, such as ox,
cow, horse, and other hides, so as to render them suitable for the manufacture
of boots, shoes, driving bands, harness, and other purposes.

page_text: My improvements consist in subjecting skins or hides after they have been
cleaned or cleansed, scraped, and branned to a process which I employ
as a substitute for the tawing and the tanning processes now generally
adopted.
According to my Invention the skins and hides are to be submitted to a
kneading, fulling, or other similar process, and whilst undergoing that treat-
ment are to be incorporated with a mixture or mixtures of compounds of the
fatty or oily acids, such as slearic, margoric, or oleic acids, or other suitable
fatty or oily acids, or mixtures of the same with metallic oxides, such as
the oxides of iron, chromium, manganese, or any other suitable metallic
oxides; or instead of employing metallic oxides in combination or in con-
junction with the fatty or oily acids, silicates of alumina, or the silicates of the
metallic oxides, or of the alkaline earths, such as baryta or lime, may be used
in combination or in conjunction with the fatty or oily acids either alone or in
combination with any of the metallic oxides and the fatty or oily acids,
herein-before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Henry Johnson. Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or
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 PREPARATION OR TREATMENT OF SKINS AND HIDES," a
communication froin abroad by Doctor Friedrich Knapp, of Munich, in the

page_text: Kingdom of Bavaria, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and scal of one of them,
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 John Henry Johnson, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the treatment of skins, such as lamb, kid, calf, and
other skins, so as to render them suitable for the manufacture of gloves, shoes,
boots, and other purposes; and also to the treatment of hides, such as ox, cow.
horse, and other hides, so as to render them suitable for the manufacture of
boots, shoes, driving bands, harness, and other purposes.
My improvements consist in subjecting skins or hides after they have
been cleaned or cleansed, scraped, and branned, to a process which I employ
as a substitute for the tawing and the tanning processes now generally
adopted.
According to my Invention the skins and hides are to be submitted to a
kneading, fulling, or other similar process, and whilst undergoing that treat-
ment are to be incorporated with a mixture or mixtures of compounds of the
fatty or oily acids, such as slearic, margaric, or oleic acids, or other suitable
fatty or oily acids, or mixtures or compounds of the same with metallic oxides,
such as the oxides of iron, chromium, marganese, or any other suitable
metallic oxides; or instead of employing metallic oxides in combination or in
conjunction with the fatty or oily acids, silicates of the metallic oxides, or of
the alkaline earths, such as baryta or lime, may be used in combination
or in conjunction with the fatty or oily acids either alone or in combination
with any of the metallic oxides and the fatty or oily acids herein-before
mentioned.
In carrying out my Invention the skins or hides when cleansed may either
be indurated on one or both sides, or may be completely impregnated, as may
be desired, with a compound previously prepared consisting of one or more of the
fatty or oily acids, such as stearic, margaric, oleic, or other fatty or oily acid, in
combination or in conjunction with suitable metallic oxides, or the skin or hide
may be prepared in accordance with my Invention by being, firstly, immersed
in indurated or impregnated with a solution of a suitable salt of a metallic

page_text: oxide, by preference such salt or salts being neutral or as nearly so as con-
venient; and, then secondly, by being immersed in or indurated with a solution
of a soap, that is to say, with a solution in water, of an oleati, stearate, margarate
of soda or potash, or other cheap soluble soap, by which process the desired
compounds of the fatty and oily acids with the metallic oxides will be produced
in the pores of the skin or hide so heated.
My improvements further consist in the employment of silicates of the metallic
oxides or of the alkaline earths such as baryta or lime or any other suitable
carthy compounds in conjunction with the fatty or oily acids, either alone or in
-combination or in conjunction with any of the metallic oxides and the fatty or
oily acids in a manner similar to those herein-before described, that is to say,
either by previously preparing a mixture or compound of the silicates of the
metallic oxides or of the alkaline earths, as before described, with fatty or oily
acids, and applying such mixture or compound to the skin or hide, or by first
impregnating the skin or hide with a metallic salt, or with a soluble salt or
compound of the alkaline earths, and then by subsequent immersion in or
'impregnation with a solution of a soluble alkaline silicate, or by firstly
immersing the hide or skin so treated in or impregnating the same with a
solution of a soluble silicate, and then subsequently immersing in or impreg-
nating with a solution of a soluble soap, such as before described, or by the
employment in like manner of a solution containing mixtures of the said
'soluble silicates; and of the soluble soaps, in which case insoluble silicates and
fatty or oily compounds of the metallic oxides and of the alkaline earths will be
precipitated in the pores of the skin or hide.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the treatment of skins or hides in the
manner herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification, hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth
day of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.s.)