IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND POLLISHING LEATHER, AND, TANNED OR UNTANNED HIDES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Abraham Ripley, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington!
Causeway, Southwark; County of Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND POLLISHING LEATHER,
AND, TANNED OR UNTANNED HIDES."
Sealed the 27th August 1858, and dated the 2nd March 1858. .
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Abraham Ripley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
March 1858.
I, ABRAHAM. RIPLEY, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington Causeway, South-
wark, County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said.
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND POLLISHING:
LEATHER, AND TANNED OR UNTANNED HIDES," to be as follows, and consists of
a cylinder with steam casing and slide valve laid horizontally on a proper
frame. Within the cylinder works a piston, having a rod on each side, which;
passes through stuffing boxes in the covers at each end of the cylinder. These
piston rods are prolonged each way and operate each upon a box loaded with'
weights and mounted upon a roller immediately underneath, and supporting.
the boxes are tables or platforms upon which the hides or leather is placed,'
so that the weighted box rolls over them. A rod passing from one extremity:
of the one end of the piston rod to that of the other, so as to support and'

page_text: steady them, has mounted upon it two tappets or studs which can be moved
or set upon the said rod so as to be any distance apart. Attached to the
slide valve rod is a vertical lever br rod, so arranged as to come in contact
with the tappets when the slide is in action. Upon steam being admitted to
the cylinder, motion will be communicated to the piston, and through the
piston rods to the weighted boxes, which will be rolled backwards and
forwards upon the hides or leather which is placed upon the platforms, each
part being in succession brought under the roller. The length of the stroke
of the piston will be regulated by the distance between the tappets which
strike the lever on the slide valve rod and reverse its motion and that of the
piston lustead, however, of placing the cylinder horizontal, in some cases I
fix it vertical and a spur wheel driven by a pinion on the axis moving in a
slot regulates the stroke of the piston.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Abraham Ripley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd 1
?September. 1858..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ABRAHAM
RIPLEY, of 10, Alfred Place, Newington. Causeway, Southwark, County of
Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 2
Patent bearing date the Second day of, March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Abraham Ripley, Her special licence that I, the said Abraham
Ripley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such. others as I, the 2
said Abraham Ripley, my exécutors; "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."IM- 3
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND POLLISHING LEATHER, AND TANNED
OR UNTANNED, HIDES," upon the condition (amongst others) that.. I, the. said
Abraham Ripley, 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 3
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: 'Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Abraham Ripley, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, that is to say:-
Hitherto in rolling and finishing leather this has been effected by means of
a loaded box mounted on rollers which is urged backwards and forwards'over
the surface of the leather by manual power acting on a rod attached to one end
of the box. The object of my Invention is to substitute for the manual power
the action of machinery driven by steam, and I effect this in the following
manner: Arranged between two benches or tables on which is placed the
leather to be rolled, I fix a frame or bed which supports a cylinder laid
horizontally, having a cover with proper glands and stuffing boxes at each end,
and within which works a piston having a rod or rods passing through each of
the said covers, the other extremities of which articulate into and are attached
.a small chamber containing two rows of rollers, and which is itself firmly
fixed to the weighted rolling box usually made use of for rolling and finishing
leather these two boxes are supported and roll on the tables or benches fore
mentioned. It will be perceived that in the arrangement described if 'steam
be admitted at the ends of the cylinder alternately, the piston will be urged
backwards and forwards, and through the piston rods give a similar motion to
the weighted boxes which roll over the leather. The object attained by
articulating the heads of the piston rods into the chamber attached to each
box is to give the boxes a slight play vertically by allowing the rollers to rise
on the cross piece attached to the extremity of the rods, which are at the same
time kept in a straight position.
to.
The next part of. the Invention relates to the means for regulating the
admission of the steam to the cylinder, and also the length of the stroke, this
I effect by means of a rod passing from a vertical supporting rod attached to
each extremity of the piston rods, and having upon it two tappets or studs
which being moveable on the rod may be set to any distance apart,
and by acting.üpon levers fixed upon the rod or the spindle of the slide valve
reverse its motion. Instead of that method, however, I prefer to adopt the
following supported and fixed over the slide valve of the cylinder is a slide
bed, which should be at least three times the length of the cylinder, upon this
bed are mounted four slides, the two outer or extreme ones are attached each
to an upright rod which is fixed to the extremity of each of the piston' rods
just in front of the boxes. The other two inner slides have upon their upper

page_text: surface a prong or bar sloping upwards, also fixed on the same surface of these
two slides, that is on each of them, is an eye or guide having a thread tapped
in it, stretching between and having its extremities resting in two eyes or
seats; in the extreme slides is a rod having on a portion of its surface near
each end a right and left-handed screw, corresponding to the thread in the eye
or guide on the inner slides, and working in them, so that upon causing the
said rod to rotate by means of a small wheel on each end, the inner slides with
their prongs can be made to approach and recede from each other.
It will be seen that when the piston is in motion the two outer slides being
connected with it will move backwards and forwards on the bed, and carry
with them the rod which in its turn carries the 'two inner slides with the pro-
jecting prongs which press each as they approach on a lever fixed on each
extremity of the spindle of the slide valve, and thus reverse its motion by
- admitting the steam on the other side of the piston.
In order more clearly to understand the aforesaid description the accom-
panying Drawings are appended to this Specification of which, the following is
"the description, reference being made to the letters indicating the several parts
in each Figure.
Figure 1 is a plan of the machinery; Figure 2 is a section of the same;
and Figure 3 is a plan shewing the mode of fixing the piston rod into the
chamber attached to the weighted box so as to allow the latter to have a slight
vertical play, and at the same time retain the rod rigid and straight.
a, a, are the tables or benches on which the leather is placed; a', a¹, strips
of zinc or other metal let into the said tables, and on which the boxes roll;
b, b, is the frame upon which the bed plate or the cylinder itself is placed, and
which, by means of brackets, serves partly to support the tables a, a; c is
the cylinder; d, the piston; d', d', the piston rods; e, e, the weighted boxes
moving on the rollers e¹, e¹; f. f, the connexion joining the piston heads to 'the
"said boxes; the chamber f is bolted firmly to the boxes, and has within it the
rollers f, f, which, moving on the head of the piston rod, allows a free play
to-the-box-;-9,-9,-is-the_slide_bed fixed over the slide valve h, on the spindle
of which are mounted the bent levers k¹, k¹, so that by depressing each
alternately, the slide valve receives an alternate backward-and-forward-mótion;
1,1, are the two upright bars attached to each piston rod. head, and fixed to
'the slides m, m; n, n, the other two slides having the prongs 0, 0, and the
tapped guides p, p, through which the rod r passes, and terminates in an eye
on each of the slides m, m, turning freely in them when acted upon by the
small wheels s,. s.
The action is as follows:-When the steam enters the
cylinder and puts in motion the piston, the boxes are caused to roll backwards

page_text: and forwards over the leather on the tables a, a; by the same action the
rod r, is made to traverse similarly, carrying with it the inner slides, the prongs
on which alternately coming in contact with the levers k¹, k¹, on the slide
valve spindle, depress them so as to admit the steam first at one end then at
the other end of the cylinder, thus giving a reciprocating rectilineal motion to
the piston rods. By turning the wheels s, s, which are keyed on the rod r,
the latter is caused to rotate, and the inner slides moving on the screws on it
will be caused to approach or recede from each other according to the motion
of rotation given to the rod, and by this means it will be seen that the length
of the stroke of the piston may be increased or diminished.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and how the same is
effected, I wish it understood that what I claim as new and wish secured by
the before in part recited Letters Patent is the arrangement and combination
of parts before described or their equivalents forming a machine to be applied
for the purpose of rolling and finishing leather and tanned or untanned hides.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Ripley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JAMES WRIGHT,
21, Bridge Street, Blackfriars.
A. RIPLEY. (L.S.)