A NEW AND USEFUL PROCESS WHEREBY LEATHER WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY TANNED OR ANIMAL TISSUE OF ANY NATURE IS MADE HARD, SEMI-ELASTIC, AND TRANSPARENT
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Towers, of the City, County, and State
of New York, United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL PROCESS WHEREBY LEATHER WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY TANNED
OR ANIMAL TISSUE OF ANY NATURE IS MADE HARD, SEMI-ELASTIC, AND
TRANSPARENT."
Sealed the 21st May 1867, and dated the 7th March 1867.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Henry Towers at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration on the 7th March 1867, pursuant to the 9th Section of
the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL WHOM. IT MAY CONCERN BE IT KNOWN that I, WILLIAM
HENRY TOWERS, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America, have invented "A NEW AND USEFUL PROCESS WHEREBY LEATHER
WHOLLY OR PARTIALLY TANNED OR ANIMAL TISSUE OF ANY NATURE IS MADE HARD,
SEMI-ELASTIC, AND TRANSPARENT."
The nature of my Invention consists in so treating the raw material with
sulphur or its combinations and equivalents as to form or produce the desired
effect, and so render it a fit material from which to manufacture cones,
buttons, buckles, eye-glass frames, splints, knife handles, articles of jewelry,
and other articles now produced from vulcanized india-rubber.

page_text: To enable those skilled in the arts to which my Invention appertains
to manufacture and use the material I will proceed to describe the operation.
The leather or other substance to be treated in pieces of any suitable or
convenient size is immersed in a bath of boiling sulphur; this bath may
contain rosin, or it may contain any coloring matter, the color of which it
may be desirable to communicate to the material. By the action of the
sulphur the leather or other substance throws off its impurities and becomes
transparent, unless a dark and opaque color has been communicated to it by
the coloring matter used. As soon as the above effect is produced the leather
or other substance is removed from the bath, pressed into any desirable form
in a mould or otherwise, and dried; it is then hard and transparent, but if
exposed too long to the action of the sulphur it may become brittle, if so it
may be softened and rendered elastic by boiling in water for a greater or less
length of time according to the degree of elasticity required.
The above-described material which I call "coribou" may be prepared
from scraps of the before-mentioned materials by treating them as by the above
process, and after drying, pulverizing them, and mixing the powder with any
adhesive gum or any coloring matter, and then pressing it into the desired form
and drying as in the previous mentioned case and in all cases. The material
may be rendered waterproof by means of any of the well-known waterproofing
materials or substances.
I claim as new and of my Invention the treatment, substantially as before
described, of wholly or partially tanned leather or animal tissue of any
description, or any of its component parts, or their combination with other
materials with sulphur, or any combination of or equivalent to sulphur, for the
purpose of producing the material or the effects before explained.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 19th day
WILLIAM HENRY TOWERS. (L.S.)