A CERTAIN PROCESS OR METHOD OF MANIPULATION AND TREATMENT FOR THE PREPARATION OF LEATHER, WHEREBY IT BECOMES LESS PERVIOUS TO WATER AND PRESERVES BETTER ITS PLIABILITY DURING USE THAN DOES LEATHER PREPARED BY THE ORDINARY MEANS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME I, THOMAS
EDMONDS, of Bruton Street, in the Parish of Saint George II over Square,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, represent to His most Excellent Majesty
King William the Fourth that I had invented "A CERTAIN PROCESS OR
METHOD OF MANIPULATION AND TREATMENT FOR THE PREPARATION OF LEATHER,
WHEREBY IT BECOMES LESS PERVIOUS TO WATER AND PRESERVES BETTER ITS
PLIABILITY DURING USE THAN DOES LEATHER PREPARED BY THE ORDINARY
MEANS;" and His said Majesty, being willing to encourage all useful inven-
tions, did issue His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bear-
ing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the fourth year of
His reign, whereby His said Majesty did, for Himself, His heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Edmonds, His especial licence
that I, the said Thomas Edmonds, my exors, adñññors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Edmonds, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my said Invention; in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Edmonds, by
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and

page_text: ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Edmonds, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are described and ascertained
in manner following, that is to say:-
I subject leather, as it has been previously prepared by tanning or tawing,
to the processes and treatment as herein-after set forth.
For the first operation, dissolve, in three gallons of water, alum, four
pounds; gum arabic. gum tragacanth, of each two ounces. Apply this solu-
tion, at nearly boiling heat, with a sponge or soft cloth to both sides of the
leather, in either a tanned or tawed state. Whilst the leather is still soft
and damp it must be pressed for a few hours betwixt hard and smooth sur-
faces, the degree of pressure being made greater or less according to the
substance, kind, and quality of the skin or hide. Such continued pressure
may be made betwixt plates of glass or polished metal, or betwixt slabs of
marble, the pressure being effected by means of weights or scrows. When
removed from this kind of pressure the leather should be passed repeatedly
through a rolling machine, one of the cylinders of which should be heated by
steam or other well known means, and the other kept cool. The degree
of pressure betwixt the cylinders should be adjustable by means of screws,
cams, levers, or wedges, so as to accommodate it to the thickness of the skin.
This will give firmness or closeness to the leather.
For the second operation, liquefy by heat, of hogslard and deer suet, cach
four pounds, and melt together; also, by the aid of heat, of the cicanest
rosin, white beeswax, and Burgundy pitch, cach one pound and a half, in
one pint of pale sperm oil. Mix the two quantities of liquefied matters
together whilst hot, and strain the whole through a fine sieve, adding at
intervals, whilst it is passing through the sieve, one pint of spirits of tur-
pentine and subsequently half a pint of spirits of wine. Then simmer the
whole together gently and apply it in a warm state, by means of a boss or
mass of fine cloth, to the dressed side of the leather, until the surface is well
covered. Whilst the leather is still moist pass it through the rollers as
before, until it becomes quite dry. For black leather mix together two
ounces of nitrate of silver and four ounces of Prussian blue, each pulverized,
and four ounces of lamp black. Add these ingredients to the composition of

page_text: resinous and unctuous matters before passing it through the sieve. If the
leather is intended to be of any other colours, suitable pigments or colouring
matters in place of the above must be employed.
For the third operation, triturate together burnt alum, chalk or pipe clay,
and steel filings, of each four ounces, and pass the powder through a very fine
sieve. With a flattened face of a piece of pumice stone or other porous
material rub some of the above powder on the dressed side of the leather, the
skin being laid upon a slab of marble or plank of smooth hard wood, the
rubbing being continued until the surface becomes clear and polished.
Lastly, mix a portion of such colouring matter as corresponds with the
colour of the leather in preparation with a solution of white wax in spirits of
turpentine, and brush some of this, in a liquid state, slightly over the face
of the leather, and again pass it through the rollers or betwixt the pressing
plates, and then the process will be completed.
This is my Specification
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1834, the aforesaid Thomas Edmonds came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifica-
tion aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.