IMPROVE. MENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF SKINS. FURS, WOOL, AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT.to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincolu's Inn Fields, in
the County. of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow,. North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF SKINS. FURS, WOOL, AND
TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
-A communication from Madame Marie Louise Prost, Widow.
Sealed the 14th May 1858, and dated the 28th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
. on the 28th December 1857.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF SKINS, FURS, WOOL
AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
a communication from Madame Marie Louise Prost, Widow, a foreigner
residing abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar system or mode of treating hides or
skins, furs, wool, or fleece, and certain textile fabrics, such as woollen goods
and carpets, whereby they are preserved and purified, and are less liable to
become deterioated (as is the case with skins or wool) by putrefaction.
Price 871

page_text: In the treatment of skins, hides, and other articles capable of being
stretched, the principal feature in the process is the combination of heat and
powerful tension, the skins being stretched in suitable frames, and held therein
by meaus of uippers or pincers which are closed tight upon the edges of the
skin by sliding rings or ferrules.
The tension may be imparted by the aid of a windlass or other convenient
purchase. The chamber in which the skins are contained is made to close
hermetically,and is heated by any convenient means to a temperature of from
100° to 160° Fahrenheit.
In order to accelerate the process and render it more efficacious, the skins
may be fumigated whilst in the hot chamber, by throwing on to a brisk fire a
mixture, the bases of which are chloride of lime and flour of sulphur.
The following ingredients will be found to answer effectually for fumi-
gating the skins, wool, or other articles, under treatment: -
Powdered wood charcoal
Iron filings
100 parts
Powdered resin
⚫ Flour of sulphur
-
100
"
50
"
-
375
21
"
125
75
Chloride of lime
Leaves and wood of the walnut tree
100. "
The skins or other articles, having been thus subjected to tension and heat
and to the fumes arising from the combustion of the above-named ingredients
for the space of about 6 or 8 hours, are removed and pla ced inanairysituation
for about 48 hours, when they will be thoroughly prepared and fit for keeping
any length of time.
When required for use they will simply require steeping in pure water a
greater or less time according to the length of time they have been kept, when
they will be perfectly sweet and fresh. If after treatment, the skins have
still an unpleasant odour, they may be re-operated upon with a double pro.
portion of chloride of lime and three handfuls of onion peeling. The process
_may be also accelerated by placing within the chamber substances, power-
fully absorbent of humidity, such as quicklime, chloride of calcium, phospho-
rous, &c.
In treating furs the process may be repeated several times, and odiferous
substances may be added to the fumigating ingredients.
In treating fleece or wool, it is placed on a grating and kept agitated and
turned constantly over by a set of rotating spikes,so as to subject it thoroughly
to the heat and fumes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on.
the 11th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex, and
of 166, Buchanau Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 lawfullymight
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 TREATMENT AND PRESERVATION OF SKINS, FURS, WOOL.
AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
a communication from Madame Marie Louise Prost, Widow, a foreigner
residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, by an instrument in writing under my haud and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Jolinson,, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained' in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar system or mode of treating hides or
skins, furs, wool, or fleece, and certain textile fabrics, such as woollen goods
and carpets, whereby they are preserved and purified, and are rendered less.
liable to become deteriorated (as is the case with skins or wool) by putre-
faction: In the treatment of skins, hides, and other articles capable of being
stretched, the principle feature in tlie process is the combination of leat and

page_text: powerful tension, the skins being stretched in suitable frames and held therein
by means of nippers or pincers, which are closed tightly upon the edges of the
skin or other article under treatment by sliding rings or ferules. The tension
may be imparted by the aid of a windlass or other convenient purchase. The
chamber in which the skins or other articles are coutained whilst under treat-
ment is made capable, of being hermetically closed, and is heated by any
convenient means to a temperature of from 100° to 160° Fahrenheit.
In order to accelerate the process and render it also more efficacious, the
skins may be fumigated whilst in the hot chamber by throwing on to a brisk
firea mixture composed principally of chloride of lime and flowers of sulphur.
The following ingredients and proportions will be found to answer well for
fumigating the skins, wool, or other articles under treatment :-
Powdered wood charcoal
-
Iron filings
Powered resin
Flowers of sulphur
Chloride of lime -
-
100 parts by weight.
-
100
"
50
"
375
"
-
125
"
100
Leaves and wood of the walnut tree
"
The skins or other articles having been thus subjected to tension and heat,
and to the fumes arising from the combustion of the above-named mixture for
the
space of six or eight hours, are removed and placed in an airy situation
for about forty-eight hours, at the expiration of which time the process is
complete.
When required for use it will be simply requisite to steep them in pure
water a greater.or
ror less time according to the length of time elapsed since the
completion of the
of the process above mentioned. They will in most cases be found
to be perfectly sweet and fresh. If, however, the skins should have an
unpleasant odour after being once treated, they may be again operated upon
with a double proportion of chloride of lime and three handfuls of onion
peelings. The process may be accelerated by placing within the chamber
substances, which are powerful absorbents of humidity, such as quicklime,
chloride of calcium, and phosphorus.
In treating furs the process may be repeated several times, and odoriferous
substances may be added to the fumigating compound herein-before referred
to. In treating fleeces or wool, they are placed on a grating and kept agitated
and turned constantly over by a set of rotating spikes, so as to subject them
thoroughly, to the heat and fumes.
PE
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
41
1.

page_text: refer to the several Figures in the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed; the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
corresponding Figures.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a side elevation,
partly in section, of the apparatus which it is proposed to employ in the
treatment of skins, and shews the mode of stretching the skin; and Figure 2
is a corresponding edge view of the same. A, A, are uprights, having each a
slot or opening a formed along its entire length. In these slots are fitted the
two cross bars B, C, the upper one of which, B, is free to slide vertically
by the action of the windlass D, with which it is connected by the rope d
passing round an overhead pulley at e, and is capable of being fixed at
pleasure in any desired position; any other convenient mode may be adopted
for adjusting the height of the bar B. The skin E to be treated is attached
to the top and bottom bars B, C, by means of the nippers F, one of which is
shewn detached at Figure 3. These nippers consist of two parts, which are
made to grip the edge of the skin more or less tightly by a ring or ferule f.
Several skins may be connected together side by side by the double nippers g,
one of which is shewn in detail at Figure 4, all of which will be stretched by
the weight of the lower bar C acting in opposition to the top bar B. This
stretching frame is contained in an oven or other close heating chamber, as
herein-before described.
For treating very small skins, such as those of fish, birds, or very small
animals, the size of the apparatus and chamber is of course considerably
reduced.
Figure 5 represents a grating which may be used in the treatment of
fleeces or wool newly cut from the animal, the wool being laid upon such
grating in a heated chamber, as herein-before described, and agitated and
turned over by rotating spikes or stirrers, so as to expose every part of it to
the action of the heat and fumigating vapours above referred to.
In Figure 6 is represented a species of hammock composed of open wire-
work or other suitable material suspended from each side of the heating
chamber for the purpose of holding the wool, which is agitated by the
revolving shaft m fitted with spikes, which in their rotation constantly turn
over and agitate the wool.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as variations may be made therefrom without deviating

page_text: from the principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I
consider to be novel and original,, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,.
First, the general construction, arrangement, and combination of apparatus
for treating and preserving skins, furs, wool, and textile fabrics, as herein-
before described.
Second, the system or mode of preserving skins of all kinds by submitting
them in a state of tension to the action of heat in closed chambers either in
combination or not with the above-mentioned fumigating process, as herein-
before described.
Third, the system or mode of preserving skins, wool, and woollen fabrics
by submitting them to the action of vapours arising from the mixture of
substances herein-before-described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)