IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SEVERAL PROCESSES OF DRESSING LEATHER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Haynes, of Middle Hulton, near Bolton,
in the County of Lancaster, Leather Dresser, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SEVERAL
PROCESSES OF DRESSING LEATHER."".
Sealed the 16th March 1869, and dated the 19th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Haynes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1868.
I, WILLIAM HAYNES, of Middle Hulton, near Bolton, in the County
of Lancaster, Leather Dresser, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE
SEVERAL PROCESSES OF DRESSING LEATHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the several processes of dressing leather
known as washing, limeing, pureing, and tanning and drawing the
goods out of the liquors in which they have been worked; and consists
of placing in a suitable vat or cistern a cylinder formed of bars of a
V shape, the thin edge pointing inwards and three or four larger bars
hollow in the middle and curved broader at the ends to act as dashers,

page_text: the cylinder having a door to enable the workman to put in and take
out the skins to be operated upon; the ends of the cylinder are closed
and the shafts upon which it revolves firmly fixed to them. Fixed to
the vat or cistern are two iron plates with a groove in them and toothed
racks on each side the groove, and toothed racks forming a section of a
circle, the lower end of the groove connecting with the bearings. Upon
the shaft at each side is a pulley and small toothed wheel to fit the
rack cast together and running loose upon the shafts, being kept in
their place by a collar, and upon one side is a toothed wheel keyed firmly
to the end of the shaft, and connected with a smaller toothed wheel and
pulley fixed to the vat or cistern and running loose on its shaft; a strap
passing from a pulley on a main driving shaft to the smaller pulley gives
a slow rotatory motion to the cylinder. Running along the. front of
the vat or cistern is a shaft with a pulley keyed firmly on one end, and
a pulley and toothed wheel keyed firmly on the other end. A smaller
toothed wheel is also fixed to the side of the vat or cistern running loose'
on its shaft and connected with the toothed wheel at the end of the
shaft. The pulleys on the shaft running along the front of the vat or
cistern are connected by straps with the pulleys on the centre shafting,
and upon the small wheel connected with the toothed wheel on the
shaft running along the front of the vat or cistern being turned motion
is communicated to the shaft running along the front of the vat or
cistern, and from that to the pulleys and wheels on the centre shafts,
and the toothed wheel acting upon the rack before mentioned raises the
cylinder out of the vat or cistern. During the raising of the cylinder a
catch on the centre shaft acts on the rack on the inside of the iron plate
before mentioned, and prevents the cylinder going back. When the
cylinder is raised out of the vat or cistern the door may be removed and
the opening turned downwards, when the goods the cylinder contains
will fall into a truck or barrow placed to receive them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Haynes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HAYNES, of Middle Hulton, near Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, 35
Leather Dresser, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eiglit hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Haynes, Her special licensé
that I, the said William Haynes, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Haynes, 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, usc, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE SEVERAL PROCESSES OF DRESSING LEATHER,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Haynes, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Haynes, 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 (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists of an improved machine for performing the
operations in dressing leather known as washing, liming, unhairing,
pureing, drenching, scudding, or beaming, raising, salting, aluming,
and tanning on calf, goat, seal, sheep, and other light skins-and hides;
also drawing the goods out of the vat or pit in which they have been
worked by an improved method, and performing these operations in a
shorter time than is at present done, and with a great saving of labour.
The machine can also be applied to washing cotton waste, rags, and
other materials that require washing.
The manner in which this Invention is to be performed will be clearly
understood by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which
Fig. 1 is a transverse section; Figs. 2 and 3, front and end views; and

page_text: Fig. 4, a plan of my improved machine for performing the operations
before mentioned.
I form a cylinder a of V-shaped bars b, the thin edge pointing inwards,
the bars for some of the processes having a metal blade fixed in the
inner edge, as seen in Fig. 1. There are also three or four larger bars c,
Fig. 1, to act as dashers; and the cylinder has a door d, Figs. 1 and 2,
for putting in and taking out the goods to be operated upon in the
various processes. The ends of the cylinder are closed, and the shafts e
which enable it to revolve firmly fixed to them. This cylinder is placed
in a vat or cistern having inclines f, Fig. 1, so that any sediment which
the liquors used contain cannot settle during the working of the
machine, and therefore lime, shumac, bran, meal, flour, salt, ground
bark, and other materials used in the different processes of leather
dressing are kept in constant motion, and equally mixed amongst the
goods as they are worked in the different processes. Pipes g, Fig. 4,
are placed in the vat to supply steam and water, the steam being used
to keep the liquors at an equal temperature during the working of the
machine without injuring the goods on account of the steam being pre-
vented from touching the goods by being delivered into the vat and
liquor at the part where the ends of the cylinder come. To the ends
of the vat are fixed iron castings h, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, and toothed
racks k, l, Figs. 1, 3, and 4, are fixed on each side of the castings, the racks
being formed to the section of a circle, the lower end forming part of
the bearings of the shafts; and a Itttle below there is a rest m, Fig. 3,
which carries the small wheels T, Fig. 4, when the cylinder is in the
vat, thus forming the bearings for the shafts. At one end there is a
toothed wheel N, Figs. 3 and 4, fixed firmly to the end of the end of the
shaft, and gearing with a smaller toothed wheel o cast to the pulley o¹,
Fig. 4, working on a stud fixed to the end of the vat, so that a strap
passing from a driving pulley to the small pulley o¹ causes the toothed
wheel o and the toothed wheel n, Figs. 3 and 4, on the shaft of the
cylinder to give a rotatory motion to the cylinder, and the goods it
contains are kept in constant motion, and are scraped and worked by
passing over the sharp edges of the bars during the revolving of the
cylinder.

page_text: toothed wheel q' keyed firmly on each end, there being also at each end
a small toothed wheel r and handle running loose on a shaft fixed at
each end of the vat, and each toothed wheel r gears with its corre-
sponding toothed wheel q'. The pulleys or wheels q¹ on the shaft
running along the front of the vat are connected by straps or link
chains S, Figs. 3 and 4, with the pulleys or wheels on the shafts of
the cylinder, and when the small wheel geared with the wheels q' are
turned by the handles motion is communicated to the shaft running
along the front of the vat, and from that by the straps or link chains S,
Figs. 3 and 4, to the wheels or pulleys t, and the small wheels & fixed
or cast to the wheels acting upon the racks 1, Figs. 3 and 4, raise the
cylinder out of the vat, and then the door of the cylinder is opened, and
the opening turned downwards to allow the goods the cylinder contains
to fall into a truck or barrow placed beneath to receive them. During
the raising of the cylinder a catch v, Fig. 1, on the centre shafts acts on
the rack k, Figs. 1 and 4, and prevents the cylinder falling back
accidentally, and the catch in Fig. 1 is shewn off the shaft. When it is
required to lower the cylinder into the vat the catch is thrown back, and
the handles turned in the opposite direction.
METHOD OF WORKING THE MACHINE.
The vat is partly filled with water, lime liquor, pure, drench, tan
liquor, alum, and salt liquor, sours, or any of the liquors used in leather
dressing; the cylinder is then half filled with the skins to be operated
upon and set in motion, and as the cylinder revolves the skins are con-
stantly passing over the edges of the bars which scrape them, and open
the pores of the skins and works the liquors into them, by this means
doing the work in a regular manner, and in a much shorter time than
usual.
For processes where a large amount of scraping is required, as in
scudding, unhairing, and removing the wool from lamb and shearling
sheep skins, the cylinder is formed of bars with metal blades fixed in
them, as shewn in Fig. 1, but for processes where the scraping required
is less the cylinder is formed of bars without the metal blades.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
5 manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that I claim as my improvements,---
First. The formation of the bars of the cylinder, so as to give a
scraping action to them during the revolving of the cylinder.

page_text: Secondly. The formation of the vat in connection with the cylinder so
that no sediment.can settle during the working of the machine.
Thirdly. The method of drawing the goods and the cylinder con-
taining them' out of the liquor in which they have been worked by the
machinery. and in the manner before described.
And, fourthly. Supplying heat to the liquors by steam, and keeping
them at a regular temperature while the cylinder is revolving for
preventing injury to the goods.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Haynes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.