A NEW METHOD OF DRESSING OR PREPARING HIDES, SKINS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Cornides, of No. 4, Trafalgar Square, (Office
for Patents,) Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW METHOD OF DRESSING OR PREPARING HIDES, SKINS,
"
Sealed the 27th February 1857, and dated the 3rd September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Cornides at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd September 1856.
I, LOUIS CORNIDES, of No. 4, Trafalgar Square, (Office for Patents,) Charing
Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF DRESSING OR PREPARING HIDES, SKINS,
INTESTINES, AND SUCH LIKE ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a new method of dressing or preparing hides, skins,
intestines, and such like animal substances, which I propose to effect by the
use and employment of certain ingredients hereafter mentioned, for the purpose
of altering the natural properties of gelatinous or glutinous compounds con-
tained in various animal bodies or substances, such as the hides, skins, and
intestines of animals. The ingredients which I propose to employ, for the
purposes of this Invention, are glycerine and acetate of alumina, or salts of

page_text: alumina, by the use of which I soften the gelatine, albumen, or gluten con-
tained in various animal substances, said ingredients being used as follows:-
I first clean the hides, skins, &c., and when dry I immerse them in a bath of
diluted glycerine, known as "sweet liquor," and as soon as the animal sub-
stance has been sufficiently softened, it is then removed and placed in a second
solution of concentrated glycerine. The result of the above process is the
production of a firm and pliable semi-transparent material, applicable to a
variety of useful purposes; and I would here observe, that as the application
of the said material to any particular purpose renders it necessary to make the
same more or less pliable, and for the purpose of rendering the material
perfectly insoluble in boiling water or steam, I propose to steep the same in a
solution of acetate of alumina or salts of alumina. If necessary, the material
may be dyed or colored by any of the known means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Louis Cornides in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
CORNIDES, of No. 4, Trafalgar Square, (Office for Patents,) Charing Cross, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Louis
Cornides, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Cornides, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Louis Cornides,
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 "A NEW MODE OF DRESSING OR
PREPARING HIDES, SKINS, INTESTINES, AND SUCH LIKE ANIMAL SUBSTANCES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Louis Cornides, 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

page_text: 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 Louis Cornides, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to a new method of dressing or preparing hides, skins,
intestines, and such like animal substances, which I propose to effect by the
use and employment of certain ingredients herein-after mentioned, for the
purpose of altering the natural properties of gelatinous or glutinous compounds
contained in various animal bodies or substances, such as the hides, skins, and
intestines of animals. The ingredients which I propose to employ, for the
purposes of my said Invention, are glycerine and solutions of acetate of alumina,
or salts of alumina, by the use of which I soften the gelatine or gluten con-
tained in various animal substances.
The first part of my said Invention consists in preparing the hides for the
application to various useful purposes, either as a new, firm, pliable, and semi-
transparent material, or as a substitute for leather. The chemical ingredients
above mentioned I use in the following manner :-The hair is first removed
from the hides by the usual methods, and the hides thoroughly cleansed in pure
water; I then place a batch of fifty or one hundred of said hides in a solution
of glycerine, produced either by concentrating a solution known as "sweet
liquor," (the refuse from the manufacture of candles and soap,) containing
glycerine, or any other known method of manufacturing glycerine out of neutral
fatty bodies. The hides to remain in the said glycerine solution from six to
twenty-four hours, the length of time depending upon the thickness of the
hides. When thoroughly steeped and saturated by the action of glycerine,
the hides are then withdrawn, well washed in pure water, and dried. The
results of the above process will be a firm, pliable, and semi-transparent material,
applicable for many useful purposes. Another mode of dressing or preparing
hides, and which I have found to produce a good substitute for leather, is as
follows: The hair is removed and the hides tanned by any of the known
means, but the hides are only subjected to the tanning process sufficiently long
to give a superficial appearance of leather to them. The hides, thus prepared,
are then treated with glycerine in the manner above mentioned; and I would
here remark, that as the application of the said prepared hides or skins to any
particular purpose renders it necessary to make the same either more or less
pliable and flexible, and for the purpose of rendering the materials employed
perfectly insoluble in boiling water or steam, I propose to steep the hides or

page_text: skins in an ordinary solution of acetate of alumina or salts of alumina. The
concentration or strength of the aforesaid alumina solutions, and the length of
time for steeping the hides or skins therein, depending upon the thickness and
the required degree of hardness and insolubility of the same.
The second part of my said Invention consists in preparing hides or animal
skins in the following manner, so as to retain and preserve the hair or fur
permanently thereon:-The flesh and fatty substances are first removed in the
usual way, and the hides and skins are then thoroughly cleansed and dried; I
then apply with a brush, to the depillated or flesh side of the hide or skin a
mixture composed of concentrated glycerine and whitening, or ordinary pipe-
clay, mixed to the consistence of paint, so as to be readily spread upon the
side of the hide or skin; the glycerine will be soon imbibed by the said dried
material, and the result will be firmness and pliability of the hair or fur
thereof. The dry whitening or pipe-clay must be brushed off.
The third part of my said Invention consists in treating and preparing other
animal substances, namely intestines, &c., in the following manner :-The
intestines, when dry, are to be steeped in a solution of diluted glycerine or
concentrated "sweet liquor," in the proportion of about three parts of glycerine
to one part of water, and then dried; the result will be firmness, pliability,
and softness of the said intestines. To give a certain colour to all the above
mentioned materials, I mix a suitable vegetable dye with the glycerine, so as
to combine the steeping process with the colouring processes.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of a new mode of dressing or preparing hides, skins, intestines, and
such like animal substances, together with the best means I am acquainted
with for carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark, in conclusion,
that what I claim as my Invention intended to be secured to me by the above
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
Firstly, the use of glycerine in the dressing or preparing of hides and skins,
as set forth and described uuder the first head of my said improvements.
Secondly, the mode set forth and described, under the second head of my
said improvements, of preparing hides or animal skins so as to retain or preserve
the hair or fur permanently thereon, by the use of concentrated glycerine mixed
with whitening or pipe-clay, as above stated.
Thirdly, the use and employment of glycerine for treating or preparing the
intestines of animals, as set forth and described under the third head of my
said improvements.
Fourthly, and lastly, the treating of hides or skins (prepared as above,) with
acetate of alumina or salts of alumina, for the purpose of rendering the

page_text: materials employed more or less hard, and also insoluble in boiling water or
steam, as herein-before particularly described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Cornides, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
LOUIS CORNIDES. (L.S.)
Witness,
ALEX PRINCE, Jun',
Office for Patents, 4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.