IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANIMAL HIDE OR OF ARTICLES MADE THEREFROM TO RENDER THE SAME IMPERVIOUS TO MOISTURE."
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Edward Yates, of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANIMAL HIDE OR OF ARTICLES MADE
THEREFROM TO RENDER THE SAME IMPERVIOUS TO MOISTURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Edward Yates
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 5th June 1875.
I, WALTER EDWARD YATES, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANIMAL HIDE OR OF
ARTICLES MADE THEREFROM TO RENDER THE SAME IMPERVIOUS TO MOISTURE," to
be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to a former Invention for which Her
Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of

page_text: July, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four have
been granted to me.
According to the said former Invention shoes for horses and other
animals were formed from untanned hide. The object of my present
Invention is to render such shoes, or the hide from which they are to be
formed, impervious to water. I add litharge to linseed oil, and I boil
the mixture for a suitable period of time. I immerse the said shoes or
hide in the oil so treated for a length of time sufficient to ensure the
permeation of the hide by the oil, the operation being facilitated by the
application of a moderate degree of heat.
To promote the penetration of the oil I may employ a vacuum to
withdraw the air from the interstices of the hide, and I may subject the
hide or shoes immersed in the oil to a fluid pressure in excess of the
atmospheric pressure, and I may employ a vacuum and the pressure in
alternation. When sufficiently permeated the shoes or hide is or are
stoved or exposed to the action of air and heat until the oxidation of
the oil is considered to be effected.
Some other descriptions of oil may be substituted for linseed oil if
preferred or considered to be suitable.
My Invention may also be employed in the treatment of hides to be
otherwise used than in the manufacture of the said shoes, or of other
articles made of animal hide.

page_text: grant unto me, the said Walter Edward Yates, Her special licence
that I, the said Walter Edward Yates, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Walter Edward Yates, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANIMAL HIDE OR OF ARTICLES MADE THEREFROM
. TO RENDER THE SAME IMPERVIOUS TO MOISTURE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Walter Edward Yates, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Walter Edward Yates, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention relates principally to a former Invention for which Her
Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of
July, in the year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four have
been granted to me.
According to the said former Invention shoes for horses and other
animals were formed from untanned hide. The object of my present
Invention is to render such shoes, or the hide from which they are to be
formed, impervious to water. I add litharge to linseed oil, and I boil
the mixture for a suitable period of time. I immerse the said shoes or
hide in the oil so treated for a length of time sufficient to ensure the
permeation of the hide by the oil, the operation being facilitated by the
application of a moderate degree of heat.
To promote the penetration of the oil I employ a vacuum to withdraw
the air from the interstices of the hide, and I subject the hide or shoes
immersed in the oil to a fluid pressure in excess of the atmospheric
pressure. When sufficiently permeated the shoes or hide is or are

page_text: oil is considered to be effected.
Some other descriptions of oil may be substituted for linseed oil if
preferred or considered to be suitable.
My Invention may also be employed in the treatment of hides to be
otherwise used than in the manufacture of the said shoes, or of other
articles made of animal hide.
When carrying my Invention into effect I add to the linseed oil con-
tained in a suitable boiler litharge in the proportion of about three and
a half ounces to each gallon of oil, and I boil the mixture for about two
hours. When sufficiently boiled the contents of the boiler are allowed
to settle or are transferred to a settling tank, and the supernatent oil is
poured or run off the sediment; the oil is then transferred to a closed
boiler capable of withstanding internal pressure, and the shoes or pieces
of hide are immersed in the oil; air is then withdrawn from the interior
of the boiler so as to make a vacuum or partial vacuum, which is main-
tained for a short time. Heat is then applied until the oil has a
temperature of about one hundred and twenty degrees Fahrenheit, when
a pressure of about 400 (four hundred) pounds per square inch is
obtained within the boiler. This pressure I obtain by pumping in an
additional quantity of prepared oil. The above indicated temperature
and pressure are maintained for about a week, the shoes or pieces of
hide are then placed in a stove or chamber, in which a temperature of
about 120° (one hundred and twenty degrees) is maintained, and the said
shoes or pieces of hide are kept therein for about a week, when the
process will have been completed. I may repeat the formation of a
vacuum two or more times in alternation with the application of pressure
in the earlier part of the treatment of the shoes or hide within the

page_text: And, Lastly. Treating the said shoes, hide, or articles with linseed or
other suitable oil prepared in the manner herein indicated until
permeation of the said shoes, hide, or articles with such oil is effected.
.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Edward Yates, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Third day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WALTER EDWARD YATES. (L.s.)
Signed and sealed by the said
Walter Edward Yates in the
presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patenteė,
3, Princess Street,
Manchester.