IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING OR PREPARING SKINS INTENDED TO BE CONVERTED INTO LEATHER, OR. OTHERWISE MANUFACTURED
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hands, of Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, in
the County of Middlesex, Surgeon, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESERVING OR PREPARING SKINS INTENDED TO BE CONVERTED INTO LEATHER,
OR. OTHERWISE MANUFACTURED."
Sealed the 11th March 1859, and dated the 12th January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hands at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th January 1859..
I, JOSEPH HANDS, of Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Surgeon, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN PRESERVING OR PREPARING SKINS INTENDED TO BE CONVERTED INTO
LEATHER, OR OTHERWISE MANUFACTURED," to be as follows:-
Skins which are intended to be converted into leather, or otherwise manu-
factured, frequently have salt (chloride of sodium) or some other preservative
material applied to them, in order to preserve them from putrefaction or
decomposition during the interval which must elapse before they are subjected
to the processes by which they are to be converted into leather, or otherwise
manufactured.

page_text: But the preservative materials or processes which have hitherto been
applied to skins, I believe, have not only succeeded imperfectly in effecting
the object in view, but have also tended to injure the leather or skin, or
prejudicially affect the processes by which skins are converted into leather,
or otherwise manufactured.
My said Invention consists in subjecting skins to the action of gaseous
chemical agents for the purpose of preserving them more effectually, and also
facilitating or avoiding injury to the processes by which they are to be con-
verted into leather, or otherwise manufactured.
The chemical agents which I employ in performing my Invention are
binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid, and sulphurous acid, each in a gaseous
state. If skins subjected to the action of any of these gases be intended to be
kept for some considerable time before being converted into leather, I dry
them in any convenient manner.
Before, during, and after the process of drying, care should be taken to 1
avoid as much as practicable depriving them of the chemical agents with which
they have been impregnated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hands in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HANDS, of Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Member
of the Royal College of Surgeons, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, 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 Joseph Hands, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Hands,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Hands, 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 PRESERVING OR
PREPARING SKINS INTENDED TO BE CONVERTED INTO LEATHER, OR OTHERWISE MANU-
"

page_text: PACTURED," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Hands, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Hands, 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:-
'Skins which are intended to be converted into leather, or otherwise manu-
factured, frequently have salt (chloride of sodium) or some other preservative
material applied to them in order to preserve them from putrefaction or
decomposition during the interval which must elapse before they are subjected
to the processes by which they are to be converted into leather, or otherwise
manufactured.
But the preservative material or processes which have hitherto been applied
to skins, I believe, have not only succeeded imperfectly in effecting the object
in view, but have also tended to injure the leather or skin, or prejudicially
affect the processes by which skins are converted into leather, or otherwise
manufactured.
My said Invention consists in subjecting skins to the action of gaseous
chemical agents for the purpose of préserving them more effectually, and also
facilitating or avoiding injury to the processes by which they are to be converted
into leather or otherwise manufactured. The chemical agents which I employ
in performing my Invention are binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid, and
sulphurous acid, each in a gaseous state.
Skins may be conveniently subjected to the action of these gases by
suspending them in an air-tight chamber in such a manner that the gas or
gases employed for preserving them in the chamber shall have free access to
every part of the surface of each of the skins. The gas or gases used to
effect the preservation of the skins may be prepared in the chamber containing
the skins or introduced into it in any convenient manner.
I allow the skins (if neat skins) to remain amongst the gas or gases for
about ten hours, at the end of which time they will be sufficiently preserved.
If the skins be smaller or larger than neat skins the time of immersion in
the gas or gases may be proportionably varied, but I have not found any

page_text: excess in the time of immersion which may be necessary for effecting preser-
vation to be productive of any injury to the skins.
For the preservation of larger skins the following mode of proceeding may
be conveniently adopted :-
In an air-tight chamber about ten feet square and of a proper height for
hanging the skins, I arrange as many fresh skins as can be conveniently hung
within it without touching each other, and without preventing the gas or gases
from having free access to the surfaces of the skins. If the skins have hair
upon them, I prefer to hang them with their hairy sides inwards, in order that
the other sides may be brought more effectually into contact with the
preserving gas or gases.
I have found that a quantity of sulphurous àcid gás sufficient to preserve the
skins contained in a chamber of the above dimensions, and 'filled in manner
above mentioned, may be obtained by the combustion of six pounds of sulphur
mixed with three ounces of nitrate of potash, to which I prefer to add about
three ounces of charcoal or other carbonaceous matter in order to facilitate thé
combustion of the other materials. I have found it to be more convenient to
burn these materials for producing sulphurous acid gas (also producing at the
same time a small proportion of nitrous acid) in the bottom of the preserving
chamber than in any other manner, and I prefer to burn the materials in
several portions in different parts of the floor of the chamber in order to
ensure a more equal distribution of the gas or gases throughout every part of
the chamber.
In conducting this process I keep the chamber as free from moisture as
practicable in order to prevent the formation of sulphuric acid.
When the skins have been subjected to the action of the preserving gas or
gases for a sufficient length of time, I dry them in any convenient manner, and
I afterwards keep them as dry as practicable in order that the beneficial effect
of the preservation may not be destroyed. If I employ the binoxide of nitrogen
or nitrous acid as the preserving gas, I introduce it into the preserving
chamber from a gasometer or in any other convenient manner, the process in
other respects being the same as above described.
If skins treated in manner above described be kept dry they will not only be
preserved from putrefaction, but they will more readily undergo the process of
tanning than when preserved by salt.
Having now particularly ascertained and described the nature of my said
Invention and the manner of performing it, I declare that I claim as my said
Inntion the mode of preserving or preparing skins intended to be converted

page_text: into leather, or otherwise manufactured, by subjecting them to the action of
gaseous binoxide of nitrogen, nitrous acid gas, and sulphurous acid gas, either
separately or combined as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hands, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES,
73, Chancery Lane, London,
Patent Agent.
J. HANDS. (L.S.)