IMPROVE- TMT TID
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Harcourt Brown, of Abbey Mills, Romsey,
in the County of Hants, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
TMT
TID."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 14th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Harcourt Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th October 1870.
I, JOHN HARCOURT BROWN, of Abbey Mills, Romsey, in the County
of Hants, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER PAPER," to be as
follows:-
These improvements have for their object the combining of leather or
skin fibres with rag or other fibres of which paper is usually made to
represent leather for bookbinding and other kindred purposes. To effect
this object I employ the fleshings or refuse cuttings of any of the skins

page_text: of which leather is made, but I prefer the fleshings of calf skins and
sheep or chamois cuttings from which the grain side has been removed.
I take one hundred pounds weiglit of calf fleshings and twenty-eight
pounds of sheep or chamois cuttings or fleshings free from grain, dirt, or
other impurities cut into suitable pieces and place them in a rag washing
machine as employed by paper makers, or any other suitable contrivance
with a sufficient quantity of water in which seven pounds of alkali, or
soda, or other alkaline salt has been dissolved, and when the materials
are quite clean and reduced to a coarse fibrous mass a portion of the
water, about one-half, is drained off, seven pounds of oil of vitriol of
ordinary strength is diluted in nine gallons of water, and then added;
this is well impregnated with the fibres for about half an hour; then ten
pounds and a half of chloride of lime, more or less, according to the age
and quality of the skin, dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water is
strained into the pulp; after about two hours, or when bleached
sufficiently, it is washed free from the vitriol and lime, and ten pounds of
ground alum, more or less, according to the hardness of the fibres, is
introduced; it is then beaten and drawn out into such lengths of fibre
as may be required, and is known to paper. makers as "half stuff." It
is now in a condition to be mixed with any of the half stuffs of which
paper is usually made, but for bookbinding and similar purposes I prefer
Manilla or canvas, being the strongest. I now add twenty pounds by
weight, or if wet by measure, allowing for water to every hundred
pounds of the paper half stuff or any other quantities in the same pro-
portions, although other proportions may be employed, but I prefer these
for this purpose, and place them in a paper maker's pulping engine or
other suitable machine until combined and reduced to the condition
required for the production of a strong fabric. I also prefer when colours
are required it should be coloured in the pulp in the same manner as
paper is coloured, and dried at a lower temperature than paper to prevent
the leather combination from contracting or cockelling, but where there
are facilities I prefer air drying. It is now passed through embossing
rolls to impart the leather grain required, and finished in the ordinary
manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said John Harcourt Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1871..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARCOURT BROWN, of Abbey Mills, Romsey, in the County of Hants,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Harcourt Brown, Her special
licence that I, the said John Harcourt Brown, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Harcourt Brown,
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
the Manufacture OF LEATHER PAPER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Harcourt Brown, 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 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.
$6
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Harcourt Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
These improvements have for their object the combining of leather, or
skin fibres with rag or other fibres of which paper is usually made to.
represent leather for bookbinding and other kindred purposes. To effect
this object I employ the fleshings or refuse cuttings of any of the skins

page_text: of which leather is made, but I prefer the fleshings of calf skins and
sheep or chamois cuttings from which the grain side has been removed.
I take one hundred pounds weight of calf fleshings and twenty-eight
pounds of sheep or chamois cuttings or fleshings, free from grain, dirt, or
other impurities cut into suitable pieces, and place them in a rag washing
machine employed by paper makers or any other suitable contrivance
with a sufficient quantity of water in which seven pounds of alkali, or
soda, or other alkaline salt has been dissolved, and when the materials
are quite clean and reduced to a coarse fibrous mass a portion of the
water, about one-half, is drained off, seven pounds of oil of vitriol of the
ordinary strength diluted in nine gallons of water are then added; this
is well impregnated with the fibres for about half an hour; then ten
pounds and a half of chloride of lime, more or less, according to the age
and quality of the skin, dissolved in a sufficient quantity of water is
strained into the pulp. After about two hours, or when bleached
sufficiently, it is washed free from the vitriol and lime, and ten pounds
of ground alum, more or less according to the hardness of the fibres, is
introduced; it is then beaten and drawn out into such lengths of fibre
as may be required, and is known to paper makers as half stuff;" it is
now in a condition to be mixed with any of the half stuffs of which paper
is usually made, but for bookbinding and similar purposes I prefer
Manilla or canvas pulps, being the strongest. I now add twenty pounds
by weight, or if wet by measure, allowing for water to every hundred
pounds in its dry state, or allowing for water of the paper half stuff, or
any other proportions may be employed, but I prefer these for this
purpose, and then place them in a paper maker's pulping engine or other
suitable machine until combined and reduced to the condition required
for the production of a strong fabric. It is then run on a paper maker's
machine or other suitable machine, and made as paper is made. I also
prefer when colours are required it should be coloured in the pulp in the
same manner as paper is coloured, and dried at a lower temperature
than paper to prevent the leather combination from contracting or
cockelling, but where there are facilities I-prefer air drying. It is now
passed through embossing rolls to impart the leather grain required, and
finished in the ordinary manner.
"

page_text: proportions of the fibrous materials or the quantities of chemicals herein
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harcourt Brown, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.