AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SLEEKING, CREASING, AND RAISING LEATHER
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
SLEEKING, CREASING, AND RAISING LEATHER."-A communication from
abroad by William Thornton, of the City of Cincinnati, State of Ohio,
United States of America.
Sealed the 4th November 1862, and dated the 13th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 13th September 1862.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR
SLEEKING, CREASING, AND RAISING LEATHER," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention, which applies chiefly to the treatment of
harness straps, whether they be solid or filled, is to effect by machinery the
sleeking, creasing, and raising of such articles instead of effecting those
operations by hand labour as heretofore. The machinery may be said to
consist of an arrangement of pressing rollers which, while pressing the leather
that is passed between, will act as friction rollers and burnish the surface of
the leather. The rollers of suitable configuration are mounted respectively on a
shaft that turns in fixed bearings, and a shaft mounted in sliding bearers, and
by preference two rollers are mounted side by side on the same shaft, the counter

page_text: rollers having corresponding or suitable configurations so that the upper and
lower rollers constitute pairs of pressing rollers. The bearings of the upper roller
shaft are carried by a sliding block which works over guides forming the standards
of the rolling press, and the two roller shafts are geared together and driven by a
winch handle or otherwise. The upper rollers are pressed down by means of a
screw which passes through the cross head of the machine, and bears against a
block or rubber carried by a projection on the sliding block. The finishing rollers
are made of metal and of somewhat less diameter than the base rolls. The strip
or strips of leather to be operated upon are passed between these rollers, and by
reason of the unequal surface speed of the upper and lower rollers the
leather will simultaneously be subjected to a rubbing and a compressing
operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vinceut Newton, 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 "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR SLEEKING, CREASING, AND RAISING
LEATHER," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, referenco being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent consists
in the adaptation of mechanism whereby strips of leather of the various widths
used in the manufacture of harness and other like work may be "raised "
"creased" and "sleeked" (made smooth and glossy) at a single operation,
and in a manner analogous to the ordinary manipulation of the same, but in.
a far more effective and expeditious manner.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig: 1 is a sectional elevation of the improved
sleeking, creasing, and raising machine, and Fig. 2 a transverse sectional view
in the line y, y, of Fig. 1. Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6; represent a full set of
plane faced "finishing rolls" in juxtaposition. with their fellow base rolls,. the
working faces of which are of a width to perform work upon the various
widths of straps or strips of leather in ordinary use in the manufacture of
harness and other like work. Figures 7, 8, 9, and 10, represent a full set
of concave faced "finishing rolls "in juxtaposition with their fellow convex
faced base rolls, the working faces of which are of the same dimension as
stated in regard to Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. Fig. 11 represents a raised filling
roll in juxtaposition with its fellow base roll, the uses of which will be
herein-after described, and Figures 12 are sectional views of the work
performed by the rolls represented in Fig. 11, as well as the rolls shewn in
Figures 1 and 2.
In Figures and 2, A, indicates the foundation of the machine having
vertical columns B rising therefrom, and secured thereto by screw nuts c, as
shown. These columns are surmounted by a cross bar C, which is perforated
at one end for the reception of a hand screw D, and by means of which
pressure is applied to a vulcanized solid rubber spring e, interposed between
the ledge of the sliding carriage F, and a metal disc g', which receives the
lower end of the screw D. The sliding carriage F is made accurately to fit
and slide up and down upon the columns B, and on its rear side furnishes
bearings for the shaft j, which earries upon one of its ends a spur driving
wheel H, and upon the other a "finishing" roll I, the metal raise roll shewn
in Fig. 11. Any one, however, of the finishing rolls shown in Figures 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, is capable of being secured upon one end of the shaft j, in
lieu of the finishing roll shown thereon in Fig. 1. The rear portion of the
foundation A furnishes bearings for a second shaft j, lying parallel with

page_text: and beneath the shaft j. To one end of this shaft j, a driving wheel H' is
keyed, which gears into the wheel II, these wheels being of the same diameter
and like capacity in every particular. An extension of the shaft is made to
receive a crank handle K, as shown for driving the machine, and at the
opposite end of the shaft j', a wooden baso roll I' is keyed thereto, in the
position represented in Fig. 1, or in lieu thereof any one of the base rolls
shown in the Figures may be attached to the shaft as occasion may require.
The roll I may be secured to its shaft j by a pintle projecting from the shaft
and into a recess or slot in the eye of the roll through which the shaft passes,
and by a screw nut l applied to the end of the shaft as indicated, the pintle
and slot preventing the rotation of the roll around the shaft, and the screw
nut preventing the accidental slipping of the roll from off the shaft. The
base roll is prevented from revolving around its shaft by a proper projection
or feather being made longitudinally upon the shaft to take into a corres-
ponding groove cut in the body of the roll, and when in position as shown in
Fig. 1 it is kept from slipping off or being moved endwise upon the shaft by
reason of the overlapping or interlocking collars m, m' and m³, of the finishing
roll I. It is evident that upon compressing the spring e by screwing down
the hand screw D, the sliding carriage F will be made to approach the
foundation A, at the same time carrying with it the shaft j, wheel H, and
finishing roll I, and that the depth of the mash of the cog wheels H and H',
and the degree of pressure upon tho strips of leather when passed through the
spaces n, n¹, between the rolls I', I', will depend upon the pressure of the
spring. But whatever the pressure may be, the cog wheels and rolls are
prevented from "binding" upon cach other by means of a "stop" p,
projects above the foundation A, and upon which the sliding carriage will
rest when at its lowest point of depression. It is also apparent that a strip
of leather when passed through the space n or n¹, will under proper pressure
be made to assume the outline or form of such spaces, such strips being by
the operation raised as at n², in Fig. 12, and creased as at n³, in that Figure,
and such raising and creasing being due to the surface outline of the rolls I,
and 1', as shown in Fig. 1. The finishing roll I, and the base roll 1', are
of full working size and capable of raising, creasing, and sleeking a strip of
leather one half inch in width if passed through the space n, or a strip of
leather one inch and a half in width if passed through the space n', as shown
however in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; the finishing and base rolls
are of reduced size, but each set is intended to represent a capacity for working
strips of leather of two widths, to wit, Fig. 3 a strip seven-eighths of an inch
in width, and a strip one inch in width. Fig. 4, a strip three-fourths of
which

page_text: an inch in width, and a strip one and one-eighth of an inch in width;
Fig. 5, a strip five-eighths of an inch in width, and a strip one and one-fourth
of an inch in width; Fig. 6, a strip half an inch in width, and also a strip
one inch and a half in width, and these same rates of widths also extend
throughout sets Fig. 7, Fig. 8, Fig. 9, and Fig. 10. Fig. 11 repre-
sents a set of raise filling rolls by the use of which a trace can be put up
complete with raised, filled, sleeked, and creased work all at the same time.
Fig. 12 shews a specimen of such work in longitudinal and cross sections,
the "raised" filling being indicated at s, the raised, sleeked, and creased
work at s', and the bottom or inside strap of the trace at 8³. For example, to
put up double raised work, first raise and crease the top layer (s', Fig. 12)
with the iron raise roll I, and wooden raise base roll I', Fig. 1, after which
prepare filling with filling rolls (Fig. 11) then place the filling as seen at s,
Fig. 12, on the under strap s', laying the finished, raised, creased, and sleeked
upper layer son both, then change the raise wood roll I', Fig. 1, for the flat
wood roll seen in Fig. 6, of the same size, and use it with the iron raise
finishing roll I, Fig. 1, passing the entire trace through at one time on the
flat roll so substituted, thus giving a "sleek" "raised," "creased," and "filled"
job all complete with even and dressed edges as seen in cross section
Fig. 12. It will be observed that the shafts j and j' carrying the cogged
wheels H, H', and rolls I and I', have their bearings close up to the columns B, B,
and are situated and work at right angles therewith, also that the pressure of
the springe upon the sliding carriage F is so applied as to be directly above
or nearly over the rolls I and I, and nearly central of the length of the
shafts and, thus bringing the spring pressure as near as possible to and
over the work being done when the machine is in operation, the result of
which construction is to prevent the "binding" of the carriage F, upon the
columns B, B, as well as the binding of the cogs of the wheels H and II",
and the "gaping" or spreading apart of the rolls while passing work between
them.
One of the principal features of the machine is during its operation to
impart a sleek, compact, and finished appearance to the surface of the work,
thoroughly smoothing down the face of the leather, and compressing its pores.
To this end while the wheels H and H', are of the same pitch and revolve at
precisely the same rate of speed, carrying with them their respective shafts j
and, the smoothly polished iron rolls shewn in blue tint in the several
Figures, are made of less diameter. than the wooden rolls shown in brown
tint. Thus in the operation of the machine, for example, a given point on
the periphery of the roll I, while such roll is making a revolution will not

page_text: travel as great a distance as a given point on the periphery of the roll I'
during one of its revolutions. Both rolls however are compelled to complete
a revolution in the same length of time, and to accomplish this, the
periphery of the roll I' is compelled to travel faster than the periphery of
the roll I. The result of such construction and operation of the rollers is to
cause a strip of leather, when passed between them under pressure to travel
at the same rate of surface speed as the periphery of the roll having the
greatest diameter. To effect this the strip of leather must slide upon or over
the surface of the roll I, at the same time that it is compressed by its passage
between the two rolls. The face surface of the strip of leather is thus sleeked,
smoothed, and polished down by an action similar to the ordinary laborious
manipulation, but in a manner far more effective and complete. A lever L
may be inserted between the foundation A and sliding carriage F whenever it
is necessary to force the rolls apart for the purpose of inserting between them
a strip of leather having a blunt end.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of an improved mode
of and apparatus for sleeking, creasing, and raising leather as commu-
nicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the
above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the sleeking, creasing, and
raising of harness straps, whether they be solid or filled by organized means
of pressing and friction rollers constructed, mounted, and operating as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)