IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF HIDES OR SKINS AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREFROM OF SHEETS OR STRIPS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES.
Year: 1882

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for an invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF HIDES OR SKINS AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE THEREFROM OF SHEETS OR STRIPS TO BE USED FOR VARIOUS
PURPOSES. "-A communication from abroad by John Rowe, Junior, of
Ballardvale and Charles F. Perkins of Brookline, both in Massachusetts,
United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th July 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent Agents
Southampton Buildings London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF HIDES
OR SKINS AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREFROM OF SHEETS OR STRIPS TO BE
USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by John Rowe,
Junior of Ballardvale, and Charles F. Perkins of Brookline both in Massachusetts,
United States of America.
This invention relates to the treatment of raw or untanned skins or hides of
various animals to obtain therefrom, sheets of uniform thickness, and strips of
uniform width and thickness throughout. The raw or untanned hide or skin of any
animal may be used that will, when treated in the manner hereinafter specified,
give as a result the desired qualities such as tenacity, durability, flexibility, and
elasticity, in the finished article: the hides of oxen, cows, bullocks or calves being
preferred.
The hide is first to be submitted to some process by which the hair and other
foreign matters are removed. The well known process of "cold sweating" used by
tanners is preferable for this purpose. This process is as follows viz:-The hides
are suspended in an air-tight room in which the air is maintained at a temperature
of 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and is dampened in some way, as for example, by
a jet of spray, or by running a stream of water over the floor of the apartment.
The pores of the hide are swelled by this means, and the hair becomes loose, and is
thus readily removed by the knife or scraper and "beam" (or convex inclined

page_text: table over which the hide is laid in a way commonly practised by tanners in
unhairing skins to be tanned into leather).
The next step is to bring the hide into such condition that it may be accurately
cut or split into pieces of uniform width or thickness. The different portions of
the hide vary very greatly in the compactness and firmness of the fibre; those
which cover the back and upper part of the side of the animal being the toughest
and firmest, and those which cover the under part of the body being the softest and
most spongy. The expansion or swelling of the hide by the absorption of liquid in
the cold sweating process of unhairing, is consequently very unequal in different
portions of the hide, so much so as to make it very difficult to cut or split the hide,
with any uniformity. Again, even if it could be accurately worked the subsequent
unequal shrinkage would deprive the strip or split of any substantial regularity in
size or thickness. The hide is therefore next treated specially as follows:-First,
the liquid that has been taken up in the unhairing process is removed, by
subjecting the hide to pressure, by allowing the liquid to evaporate, or in any other
manner that may be desired: It is found in practice that the best method is the
following, viz: the hide is stretched in any suitable manner, and the liquid allowed
to evaporate. In this way the hide is kept at its full extent during the process of
drying. After the hide has become dry, it is remoistened slightly, so as to slightly
soften it throughout, but not so much as to swell the hide materially. This
condition of the hide is essential to successfully splitting it into sheets or cutting it
into strips, for the hide, when dry, cannot be practically cut or split by any cutting
or splitting device, owing, among other things, to the extreme hardness of the
material being sufficient to turn the edge of any knife.
On the other hand if the hide be unduly moistened it will be so slippery and
spongy as to render accurate work nearly impossible, and even though the sheet
or strip be of uniform thickness, or width, when cut, the subsequent shrinkage
which accompanies the drying will so distort the sheet or strip that it will be
worthless for the desired purposes.
One of the forms in which it is desirable to obtain the finished article is a sheet
or "split" of uniform thickness. Another form is that of a narrow ribbon or strip
of uniform width and thickness throughout. The hides can now be worked into
these forms as follows:-that is to say, they may first be split into sheets of
uniform thickness from which strips of uniform width may be cut, or a strip or
strips of uniform width may be cut directly from the hides and subsequently split
to the thickness desired. In working up the hide in the manner first indicated,
which seems to be preferable in many cases, it is best for convenience of working, to
treat it in the following manner. From each hide are first cut one or more circular
pieces regulated in diameter by the size and quality of the hide the circle being
marked on the bide and the latter cut by the mark with heavy shears, such as are 4
used by tinsmiths. A sufficient number of these circular pieces having been
obtained they are next split. For this operation any suitable device may be
employed, as for example, a knife in the form of an endless belt or band travelling
horizontally over pulleys, along a bed, the distance of which from the knife bed
(and thereby the thickness of the split sheets of hides) may be regulated. Passing
the circular piece of hide through such a cutter will give one or more thinner
circular pieces of uniform thickness throughout. These pieces may now be cut
into a strip or strips of uniform width by the use of any suitable cutting device,
and their circular form enables me (by cutting the ribbon or strip circumferentially,
beginning at the outside) to obtain a continuous strip of great length. Such a strip 5
when cut of the narrowest width commonly required for chair-seating (for the
making of which this invention is particularly useful) may be obtained, if cut
circumferentially of a continuous length as great as fifteen hundred feet.
The feature of cutting the hide into circular pieces, although not an essential
prerequisite of successful splitting, is preferable for the reason that by presenting 5
the hide tangentially to the cutter, the danger of cutting through the split, or
otherwise losing the desired feature of uniformity, is greatly. lessened. This cutting

page_text: into circular pieces may however be done at any earlier stage in the treatment or
may be dispensed with altogether if desired. In case it is found desirable to cut
the strip from the hide, and subsequently split the strip, it is obvious that splitting
may be performed readily without the use of the band-knife splitter, the narrow
strip being readily split by any of several other well known devices. The cutting
may be done circumferentially or otherwise as may be desired.
If, at any stage of the operation of splitting or cutting, the hide is found to be
too dry or hard, to be readily and successfully split or cut, this defect may be
remedied by repeating the operation of dampening above described. It will be
seen that the essential features of this improvement in the art, are these, namely:
removing the hair, bringing the hide to the proper condition as to moisten for
successful splitting or cutting, and then cutting or splitting it into strips or sheets;
what is believed to be the best way of doing these things to the hide has been
described, but there will now be pointed out some of the other ways in which
they may be done.
The unhairing may be accomplished by a "hot sweating" or steaming process,
or it may be effected by immersing the hides for a sufficient length of time in some
suitable chemical solution such as is commonly employed by tanners for the same
purpose in preparing hides to be converted by tanning into leather. When such a
chemical solution is employed the hide is subsequently at the proper time drenched,
that is to say, exposed to a bath by which the chemicals are washed out, or their
action upon the hide arrested. The hair having been loosened by either of the
methods described, may be readily removed by the use of the knife and "beam
before mentioned.
"
The unhairing of the hide may also be accomplished by cutting the hair from the.
hide, when slightly moistened, by a revolving knife or scraper, but among the
difficulties attending the use of this method the fact that the roots of the hair are
not perfectly removed thereby makes it less desirable than the process of "cold
sweating" specially described. There are also other ways of obtaining in the
unhaired hide the proper condition of moisture and softness for cutting. Thus:-
when the hair has been removed by the revolving knife, scraper, or other
mechanical means necessitating only the slight moistening referred to in the
previous mention of such unhairing process, it may be found that the hide is left in
the proper condition of slight moistening for immediate cutting or splitting and in
this case the drying and remoistening may be omitted. Again, where any method
of unhairing by soaking, sweating or the like has been followed, the slightly
softened and moistened condition of the hide required for cutting or splitting it
successfully may be brought about by not drying the hide entirely, but stopping the
drying process when the condition of softness and slight moisture proper for
cutting or splitting has been reached.
When it is desired to produce a strip or ribbon of raw hide to be used as a
substitute for split cane or rattan, the strip may be made convex or round upon
one face, a convenient and preferred method of doing this being to pass the strip
between pressure rollers whereby it may be compressed or rounded to the desired
shape. The convexity or rounding may however also be obtained by cutting or
skiving. A coating of shellac, water proof varnish, or other suitable material may
be put upon the strip if desired, and will be found to give a durable finish for
many of the uses to which the strip may be applied. When a variety of color is
desired, it may be obtained by dyeing or staining the hide at any appropriate stage
of the manufacture.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign Correspondents, and the manner of performing the same I wish it understood
that I Claim :-
First The process consisting in dampening raw-hide substantially as described
so as to fit it for being cut into sheets or strips of permanently uniform thickness,
and cutting the same while in such condition of dampness into either sheets or
strips as described.

page_text: Second-The process of treating raw-hide or untanned hides or skins, consisting
in unhairing, softening by moisture, and splitting or skiving into either sheets or
strips of uniform thickness, substantially as set forth.
Third.:-The process of treating raw or untanned hides or skins, consisting
in unhairing, drying the hide or skin, and then slightly moistening or dampening
the same, and then cutting the same into either sheets or strips substantially. as set
forth.
Fourth-The process of treating raw or untanned hides or skins, consisting in
splitting or skiving the hide or skin into sheets of uniform thickness, and cutting
the sheets into strips of uniform width, substantially as set forth.
Fifth The process of producing strips of uniform width and thickness with one
face or both faces bevelled or rounded, from the raw or untanned hides or skins of
animals by splitting or skiving the skins into sheets of uniform thickness, cutting
therefrom strips of uniform width, and bevelling or rounding one face thereof by
pressure or otherwise substantially as set forth.
Sixth-The process of producing strips of uniform width with one face or both
faces bevelled or rounded, from raw or untanned hides or skins by cutting the hides
into strips of uniform width and splitting or skiving the strips into thinner strips
of uniform thickness, and finally bevelling or rounding one face, or both faces, by
pressure or otherwise substantially as set forth.
Seventh-The process of treating raw or untanned hides or skins by cutting
therefrom strips of uniform width and thickness, and coating or covering the same
with shellac, or its equivalent, to produce a water-proof and polished surface
substantially as described.
Eighth The process of treating raw or untanned skins or hides, consisting
in procuring therefrom a strip of uniform width and thickness, and then bevelling
or rounding one face thereof, and applying to said strip a coating or covering of
shellac, or its equivalent, to produce a smooth water-proof surface substantially as
described
Ninth: The manufacture of a new material consisting of a strip of raw
hide formed, to imitate the strip of cane employed in seating chairs or other
articles, from a split sheet or "split" from a sheet of raw hide substantially as
described.
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one