IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Phillips Thompson, of the Firm of W. P.
Thompson and Co., Solicitors of Patents, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER,
AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF." A communication from abroad by
Monsieur Conrad Stierlin, of Paris, in the Republic of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Phillips Thompson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 7th June 1879.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Firm of W. P. Thompson and Co.,
Solicitors of Patents, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF." A com-
munication from abroad by Monsieur Conrad Stierlin, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
The following is a description of the Invention literally translated as forwarded
by my foreign correspondent:-
My Invention relates to the fabrication of a leather, and by my process I am
enabled to make products imitating very exactly all kinds of leathers without
exception, whilst that I am at the same time able to treat them according as
they are designed to replace one kind of natural leather or another. Up to
the present time a quantity of product has been fabricated known as "American
leather," "surrogats de cuir," varnished cloth under similar names, etcetera. All
these products have no analogy to that I propose to manufacture. Taking
for a model the veritable skin from which the tanner by his labour forms the
leather, this skin is constituted of its natural fibres interlaced, forming with the
gelatinous matter an entirety known as hide, which after having been submitted
to the contact of tanning substances passes to the state of leather more or less
permeable and more or less soft, according to the treatment to which it is subjected.
My aim is to manufacture a product resembling natural leather in all respects, and
as much as possible capable of being sold at a "good price," and fulfilling the same
conditions as leather. To this effect I establish by means of a carding machine a
Price 71

page_text: nappe or felt of any cellulose fibre, whether linen, cotton, or hemp, of thickness
variable at pleasure. The fibres of this felt are designed to replace those that
exist in the natural leather, in giving to my product a consistance equal to that of
natural leather without the necessity of having recourse either to a spun material
or cloth, as that which is actually used for products known as leather cloth, etcetera.
My felt obtained by the carding machine has a very uniform thickness, which is
not the case with natural leather.
Theory says that though the raw hide does not contain glue, although the latter
is extracted by cooking, the fundamental principle of the glue does exist in it.
Since then the fundamental principle of the glue does exist in the raw hide, and the
glue which I bring in contact with the tannin, in the same way that the raw hide
is brought in contact with it, produces the same effects of impermeability and of
tenacity obtained by the tannin upon the raw hide. There results a very close
similarity between natural raw hide and my felt of cellulose saturated with animal
or other glue, liquified with water, and submitted to the action of tannin.
In comparing the two products, the raw hide and mine, they possess the same
character; they become hard and stiff in drying; neither the one nor the other
possesses the character of leather; both brought in contact with water soften as
completely and in as little time.
To remedy this, and to cause this raw skin to enter into the category of leather,
the tanner submits this raw hide to the contact of a tanning agent to obtain imper-
meability, and by means of grease, of which the use is well known, he gives it
pliability, according to the kind of leather that he wishes to make. In submitting
my product, as I am about to explain, to the same treatment it acquires the same
character.
In making the comparison between the character of the raw skin and my felt
formed of cellulose and a glue of some kind, one finds that they are the same, since
I can replace the fibres naturally existing in the raw skin by the fibre of the cellu-
lose, and the matter containing the principle of glue known as corine by any other
glue subject to be acted on by tannin. At this point I depart from the habitual of
leather by the tanner, instead of making like him the raw skin to undergo for more
or less time the action of tannin, and after that, that of grease, I form a preparation,
a liquid containing at the same time the gelatinous or gluey matters, the tannin, and
the grease; with this mixture I soak my nappe of cellulose in a manner to give it
all the character of leather, whether more or less soft or more or less hard, and at
the same time more or less impermeable, always according to its destination. Thus
then when my nappe has come from the carding machine I make it pass into the
mixture composed as I have described, and from thence it passes between two
cylinders heated by steam, which take off the superfluous matter. This leather,
stove-dried or air-dried, can then be considered as raw material possessing the
character of imitation natural leather, capable of being dressed or fashioned like
the different kinds of natural leather. In this situation it enters into rivalry with
natural leathers, compared with which it possesses the same tenacity, the same soft
character, and it can admit of all colours and impressions. Avoiding in my fabri-
cation of all spun material or cloth, and being able to manufacture eight hundred
to a thousand metres a day, I obtain a product that can be produced at a very
cheap rate.
My product can be applied to shoes, upholstery, hat linings, and other uses to
which leather is applied

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Phillips Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th December 1879.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, of the Firm of W. P. Thompson and Co.,
Solicitors of Patents, of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
and 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer.
21 IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARTIFICIAL LEATHER, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE THEREOF." A com-
munication from abroad by Monsieur Conrad Stierlin, of Paris, in the Republic of
France.
The following is a description of the Invention literally translated as forwarded
by ny foreign correspondent:-
My Invention relates to the fabrication of a leather which I call "Stierlin
leather." By my process I am enabled to make products imitating very exactly
all kinds of leathers without exception, whilst that I am at the same time able to
treat them according as they are designed to replace one kind of natural leather or
another.
"
Up to the present time a quantity of product has been fabricated known as
American leather," "surrogats de cuir," varnished cloth under similar names,
et cetera. All these products have no analogy to that I propose to manufacture.
Taking for a model the veritable skin from which the tanner by his labour forms
the leather, this skin is constituted of its natural fibres interlaced, forming with
the gelatinous matter an entirety known as hide, which after having been sub-
mitted to the contact of tanning substances passes to the state of leather more
or less permeable and more or less soft, according to the treatment to which it is
subjected. My aim is to manufacture a product resembling natural leather in all
respects, and as much as possible capable of being sold cheaply, and fulfilling the
same conditions as leather. To this effect I establish by carding a nappe or felt of
any cellulose fibre, whether linen, cotton, or hemp, of thickness variable at pleasure.
The fibres of this felt are designed to replace those that exist in the natural leather,
in giving to my product a consistence equal to that of natural leather, without the
necessity of having recourse either to a spun material or cloth, as that which is
actually used for products known as leather cloth, et cetera. My felt obtained by
carding has a very uniform thickness, which is not the case with natural leather.
Theory says that though the raw hide does not contain glue, although the latter
is extracted by cooking, the fundamental principle of the glue does exist in it.
Since then the fundamental principle of the glue does exist in the raw hide, and
the glue which I bring in contact with the tannin in the same way that the raw
hide is brought in contact with it, produces the same effects of impermeability and
of tenacity obtained by the tannin upon the raw hide. There results a very close
similarity between natural raw hide and my felt of cellulose saturated with animal
or other glue, liquified with water, and submitted to the action of tannin. In
comparing the two products, the raw hide and mine, they possess the same
character; they become hard and stiff in drying; neither the one or the other
possesses the character of leather; both brought in contact with water soften and
decay in a short time.
To remedy this, and to cause this raw skin to enter into the catagory of leather,
the tanner submits this raw hide to the contact of a tanning agent to obtain
impermeability, and by means of a suitable grease or oil, of which the use is well
known, he gives it pliability, according to the kind of leather that he wishes to

page_text: make. In submitting my product, as I am about to describe, to the same treatment
it acquires the same character.
In making the comparison between the character of the raw skin and my felt
formed of cellulose, and a glue of some kind, one finds that they are the same,
since I can replace the fibres naturally existing in the raw skin by the fibre of the
cellulose, and the matter containing the principle of glue, known as corine, by
any other glue subject to be acted on by tannin.
At this point I depart from the habitual treatment of leather by the tanner,
instead of like him making the raw skin to undergo for more or less time the
action of tannin, and after that, that of grease, I form a preparation, a liquid
containing at the same time the gelatinous or gluoy matters, the tannin, and the
grease; with this mixture 1 soak my nappe of cellulose in a manner to give it all
the character of leather, whether more or less soft or more or less hard, and at
the same time more or less impermeable always according to the use to which
it is destined.
I now proceed to describe the details of the practical treatment to which I
submit the materials, with the respective proportions.
With cotton and a carding apparatus I form a sort of foundation or nappe like
wadding having little consistancy with a view to saturating this species of wadding
in a mixture composed of the following ingredients:-Animal or vegetable glue
already submitted to the action of tannin, twenty five per cent.; clear water, seven
per cent. To this mixture I add pipe clay, twenty per cent., and besides some
five to ten per cent. of some form of tannin, whether vegetable or mineral (such
as the employment of "nansieurs "), so as to render the glue impermeable. When
the nappe of wadding issues from the card it is impregnated with the above men-
tioned mixture, and passes between two cylinders heated by means of steam, which
remove the excess. In issuing from between these cylinders the web falls into
a vat containing a decoction of cork bark with fifty per cent. of glycerine; this
mixture gives to the product colour, suppleness, and impermeability.
When my product issues from this bath, a period of twelve to twenty four
hours suffices to dry it either in hot or cold air, so as to produce Stierlin leather,
which requires neither gum-lac, india rubber, nor cloth tissue above the glue to
give it the strength of leather. On the other hand its price is fifty per cent.
cheaper than natural leather.
As I have shown above my work rests always on the essential employment of
cellulose of glue or gelatinous matter with equivalent properties, and of tannin in
such manner as to follow as much as possible a treatment very nearly analogous to
that which the tanner employs in the case of real leather; besides this I have a
continuous turn out (in fact make the leather "in the web").
By the employment of the mixtures above described each fibre of the cellulose
gets well impregnated, the glue losing by its contact with the tannin its charac-
ter of glue, and taking that of the corinaceous character contained in natural
leather. This is why my product resembles leather as nearly as possible. My
leather, whether stove dried or air dried, can then be considered as the raw material,
possessing the characters of natural leather imitated, being able to be dressed or
fashioned according to the different kinds of natural leather.
It can then enter into rivalry with the natural leathers, possessing as it does the
same strength and tenacity, the same pliant character, and it will admit of all kinds
of colours and impressions.
Avoiding in my manufacture all spinning or weaving, and being able to manu-
facture from eighty to one hundred metres per day, I obtain a product which is
produced at a very cheap rate.
My products can be applied to books, upholstery, hat linings, and the like.
I claim as my Invention under the herein before in part recited Letters Patent,―
The manufacture of artificial leather (to be known as Stierlin leather), and also
the said artificial leather itself composed of any carded fibrous (that is to say, not

page_text: spun or woven) fabric, of which the fibres are bound together by a gluey material
subjected to the operation of tanning.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Phillips Thompson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord 1879.
W. P. THOMPSON. (L.S.)