IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Enos Welsford at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th June 1859.
I, ENOS WELSFORD, of Bona Algeria, Proprietor, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TANNING," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tanning. For this
purpose, in place of employing the bark of the oak tree or other matters
heretofore employed for tanning, I employ the leaves of the different trees and
shrubs of the family of the lentiscus or mastic tree, and of the myrtle. These
leaves may be employed either in a pounded or unpounded state, or an extract
of the leaves may be formed, and this extract may either be deprived of its
When this extract is
color, or it may be colored by any suitable means.
employed, water containing a small quantity of the extract is poured into a
pit in which the skins have been suitably arranged; afterwards water con-
taining more and more of the extract is from time to time poured in until the
skins are converted into leather.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Enos Welsford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ENOS
WELSFORD, of Bona Algeria, Proprietor, send greeting.
t
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Enos Welsford, Her special licence that I, the said
Enos Welsford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others.
as I, the said Enos Welsford, 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 TANNING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Euos Welsford, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Enos Welsford, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in tanning. For this
purpose, in place of employing the bark of the oak tree or other matters
heretofore employed for tanning, I employ the leaves of the different trees and
shrubs of the family of the terebinthaceæ class, commonly called lentiscus or
mastic, such as the pistacia terebinthus, pistacia Atlantica, pistacia lentiscus,
rhus coriaria, rhus pentaphylla, and others, abounding on the coasts of the
Mediterranean and elsewhere. The way in which I prefer to employ these
leaves is to soak the skins in an infusion made by pouring boiling water over
the leaves when dry, and in a pounded or unpounded state, or in a decoction
made by boiling the leaves in water, a stronger decoction or infusion of the
leaves being from time to time added to the first until the skins are converted

page_text: into leather. The first decoction or infusion I prefer to be of a strength of
about 8°, and gradually to increase the strength to about 30° of the gauge
employed by tanners. The stronger decoction may be made either by boiling
a portion of the first decoction or infusion with a fresh quantity of leaves, or
by at once making a strong decoction by putting a greater amount of leaves
in proportion to the amount of water; the time occupied in converting the
skins into leather will depend on the thickness of the skins and the strength of
the decoction used. Or a concentrated extract may be made by boiling the
leaves, and then concentrating the decoction so obtained by evaporation, and
this extract may either be deprived of its color, or it may be colored by any
suitable means. When this extract is employed, water containing a small
quantity of the extract is poured into a pit in which the skins have been
suitably arranged; afterwards water containing more and more of the extract
is from time to time poured in until the skins are converted into leather.
In witness whereof, I, the said Enos Welsford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
E. WELSFORD. (L.S.)