IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING HAW HIDE FOR SHAPING IT INTO OR UPON ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred George Brookes of 59 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Patent Agent for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PROCESS OF PREPARING HAW HIDE FOR SHAPING IT INTO OR UPON
ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE communicated to him from abroad by Oscar
Edmund Wait of Providence in the County of Providence and State of Rhode
Island one of the United States of America
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred George Brookes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th September 1883.
ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of 59 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex
Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING RAW HIDE FOR
SHAPING IT INTO OR UPON ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE (a communication to me
from abroad by Oscar Edmund Wait of Providence in the county of Providence
and State of Rhode Island one of the United States of America.).
"
Heretofore raw hide has been shaped by soaking it soft, placing it in position
and confining it there until dry, or by pressure in heated dies or by the process
patented to F. E. Darrow by Letters Patent of the United States dated May 1*
1866 and numbered 54,301 and described in the specification thereto.
The objects of my invention are to so prepare the hide that it may readily be
applied to spool heads and other articles and made to stay in place by simple glue
or cement without the aid of clamps, moulds, or other confining mechanism, or so
that the hide may be struck up in dies to better advantage than heretofore,
producing better work, and also enabling it to be struck into shapes which it was
impracticable to strike it into by any prior process, also to use thinner hides and
skivings such as could not be utilized by any prior process for shaping into or upon
articles, and to this end my invention consists, in first depriving the moist hide of
its elasticity and then fulling or upsetting it edgewise while still moist.
To carry my invention into effect I take dry hides and soak them in water or if
wet hides then dry out the water by exposure to the atmosphere until the hide is
DC71

page_text: about as pliable as tanned calf skin but not moist enough to prevent thick glue
from sticking to it or to necessitate further drying nor dry enough to be too hard.
As an approximate rule I would say that the hides should contain an amount of
water about equal to one half of their dry weight. By simply soaking hides in
water or drying wet hides it is difficult if not impossible to get the moisture evenly
distributed throughout the whole hide, or whole piece, without getting them much
too wet. In order to even up the moisture and prepare the hide ready for fulling
or upsetting by depriving it of its elasticity. I take the hides cut into convenient
pieces to handle, pack them in tight sweating boxes and subject to gentle pressure
to bring the different layers together. The hide should substantially fill the boxes
or be otherwise protected so as to practically exclude the atmosphere and prevent
the edges or other parts of the hides from drying more than the rest and thereby
prevent it from being prepared evenly. The hide is thus left in boxes until it has
lost its elasticity and a corner on being folded over will not straighten up and
resume its normal position. Slight fermentation takes place in hides thus packed
in sweating boxes and the pores are opened by the generation of gas and the
elasticity of the fibre is deadened or lost.
When the hide is in the press it is looked to occasionally to ascertain its condition
and sometimes to change the pieces around to make them sweat more evenly.
The time required for thus sweating or preparing the hide so as to deprive it of
_nearly or quite all of its elasticity varies from one day to one week according to the
condition of the hide and the temperature of the room in which the hide is packed,
the shortest time being sufficient in hot weather, especially for soft hides. If desired
instead of cutting the hide into small pieces it may be cut into strips of the whole
length of the hide and of the width of the boxes inside and then folded over in
folds of the size of the box in the other direction. I prefer to cut the hides when
wet as they then cut easier but it is immaterial to my process whether they cut
into pieces or strips when dry or wet.
After the hide is thus prepared evenly throughout it is cut into strips or pieces
of the proper size for the use intended and fulled or upset by passing it through
driving rollers against some suitable obstruction. I will first describe my process
as applied to covering spool heads.
The hide after being cut into narrow ribbons or strips large enough to cover the
rounded edge of the spool head with hide whose edges when dry have been turned
off smooth in a lathe These strips are passed endwise through the rolls and as
the strips are driven along by said rolls they meet the obstructing bar which
obstructs their passage and causes sufficient resistance to upset the hide and make
the strips both shorter and wider than before and inasmuch as the moist hide has
been deprived of nearly or quite all of its elasticity it will remain in this thickened
condition. It is best to make the rollers a little rougbened on their surface so that
they will drive the hide over the obstructing bar without compressing it too lightly
and in this connection and in order to better direct about the moistening of the
hide I may add that if it is too wet said rolls will not hold the hide so as to drive
it properly and if it is too dry it will not upset well. The bar may be made of
spring metal and suitably set and a stripper may be applied to prevent the strips
from being wound around the rolls The rolls should also be made yielding to and
froin each other under the action of a suitable spring or springes. When it is
desired to split the hide the fulling or upsetting can be done by an ordinary
splitting machine the knife of which performs the office of an obstructing bar.
A second pair of rolls may also be made to perform the office of said bar and in
order that they may do so without firmly compressing the hide they may be
provided with peripherical points and be geared to run slower than the feed rolls
or have their movement retarded by other simple means. Immediately after thus
fulling or upsetting the hide the part of the spool heads to be covered by the hide
is coated with glue and the strips are stretched over said spool heads by pulling on
the middle portion only of the strips thereby stretching said middle portion so
that the strips of hide conform to said spool head without materially disturbing

page_text: the edges of the strips which having been fulled or upset as described have no
tendency to spring away from the spool but will remain in place thereon without
the use of clamps or moulds to confine them in place. When dry the spool heads
are placed in a lathe and finished in any ordinary manner of finishing raw hide
covered spool heads. Care should be taken not to stretch the fulled hide until it
is applied to the spool. All laps in the strip should be carefully glued and neatly
made.
For striking up articles for instance oil cups, lamps or any other article the
pieces are treated in the same way except that they are passed both ways through
the rollers so as to full or upset the hide edgewise in two directions instead of only
one so that all of the edges of the blank piece of hide are gathered and it is only
necessary to stretch the middle portion during the act of stricking up in dies
The pieces may be passed several times through the rolls giving each piece a
quarter turn edgewise after it leaves the machine before inserting it the next time.
By the employment of hides prepared for shaping as before described much deeper
articles can be successfully struck up and articles so made are believed to retain
their shape better and to be struck up more smoothly than heretofore.
Occasionally hides may be found which are very refractory and flinty so that
water may not easily soften them. When this is the case I soak the hides in a
mixture of water 12 parts and acetic acid 1 part, for two or three days so as to
thoroughly soften them. They are drained and placed in ammonia water, 1 part
carbonate of ammonia to 70 of water for about 24 hours to neutralize the acid.
Then dry until they are ready for packing in boxes as before described. Other
acids may be substituted for acetic acid if desired and for the purpose of softening
the crust of flinty hides will accomplish the same result
When short haired tropical hides are used they can be soaked with the hair on
and afterwards the hair shaved off with the thin cuticle which on account of its
born like nature is worthless for most purposes. This will save lining the hides
and thereby they will contain more gelatine and other matter.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alfred George Brookes in the Patent Office on the 12th March
1884.
ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of 59 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex
Patent Agent
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING RAW-HIDE FOR
SHAPING IT INTO OR UPON ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE." (a communication to me
from abroad by Oscar Edmund Wait of Providence in the County of Providence
and State of Rhode Island one of the United States of America
Heretofore raw-hide has been shaped by soaking it soft, placing it in position
and confining it there until dry, or by pressure in heated dies or by the process
patented to F. E. Darrow by Letters Patent of the United States dated May 1, 1866
and numbered 54,301, and described in the specification thereto.
The objects of my invention are to so prepare the hide that it may readily be
applied to spool-heads and other articles and made to stay in place by simple glue
or cement without the aid of clamps, moulds, or other confining mechanism, or so
that the hide may be struck up in dies to better advantage than heretofore,
producing better work, and also enabling it to be struck into shapes which it was
impracticable to strike it into by any prior process, also to use thinner hides and
skivings such as could not be utilized by any prior process, for shaping into or upon
articles, and to this end my invention consists, in first depriving the moist hide of
its elasticity and then fulling or upsetting it edgewise while still moist.
To carry my invention into effect, I take dry hides and soak them in water, or if
wet hides then dry out the water by exposure to the atmosphere, until the hide is
about as pliable as tanned calf skin but not moist enough to prevent thick glue
from sticking to it, or to necessitate further drying, nor dry enough to be too hard.
As an approximate rule I would say that the hides should contain an amount of
water about equal to one half of their dry weight.
By simply soaking hides in water, or drying wet hides, it is difficult if not
impossible to get the moisture evenly distributed throughout the whole hide, or
whole piece, without getting them much too wet. In order to even up the moisture
and prepare the hide ready for fulling or upsetting by depriving it of its elasticity.
I take the hides cut into convenient pieces to handle, pack them in tight sweating
boxes and subject to gentle pressure to bring the different layers together. The
hide should substantially fill the boxes or be otherwise protected so as to practically
exclude the atmosphere and prevent the edges or other parts of the hides from
drying more than the rest and thereby prevent it from being prepared evenly.
The hide is thus left in boxes until it has lost its elasticity and a corner on being
folded over will not straighten up and resume its normal position. Slight
fermentation takes place in hides thus packed in sweating-boxes and the pores are
opened by the generation of gas and the elasticity of the fibre is deadened or lost.
When the bide is in the press it is looked to occasionally to ascertain its condition,
and sometimes to change the pieces around to make them sweat more evenly. The
time required for thus sweating or preparing the hide so as to deprive it of nearly
or quite all of its elasticity varies from one day to one week according to the
condition of the hide and the temperature of the room in which the bide is packed,
the shortest time being sufficient in hot weather, especially for soft hides. If
desired instead of cutting the hide into small pieces it may be cut into strips of the
whole length of the hide and of the width of the boxes inside and then folded over
in folds of the size of the box in the other direction. I prefer to cut the hides
when wet as they then cut easier but it is immaterial to my process whether they
cut into pieces or strips when dry or wet.

page_text: After the hide is thus prepared evenly throughout it is cut into strips or pieces
of the proper size for the use intended and then fulled or upset by passing it
through driving rollers against some suitable obstruction. As one object of my
invention is to prepare hide for covering spool-heads I will first describe my process
as applied to such use.
In the accompanying drawings. Figure 1, is an end view of a hide covered
spool-head
Figure 2, is a sectional view of the same on line
of Figure 1, and.
Figure 3, is a vertical section of my upsetting or fulling machine.
The hide after being cut into narrow ribbons or strips large enough to cover the
rounded edge of the spool head A, as shown by the hide a whose edges when dry
have been turned off smooth in a lathe. These strips are passed endwise through
the rolls B B Figure 3 and as the strips are driven along by said rolls they meet
the obstructing bar C which obstructs their passage and causes sufficient resistance
to upset the hide and make the strips both shorter and wider than before, and
inasmuch as the moist hide has been deprived of nearly or quite all of its clasticity
it will remain in this thickened condition. It is best to make the rollers a little
roughened on their surface so that they will drive the hide over the obstructing
bar without compressing it too tightly and in this connection and in order to
better direct about the moistening of the hide I may add that if it is too wet said
rolls will not hold the hide so as to drive it properly and if it is too dry it will not
upset well. The bar C may be made of spring metal and set as shown in the
drawing and a stripper may be applied to prevent the strips from being wound
around the rolls, The rolls should also be made yielding to and from each other
under the action of a suitable spring or springs,
When it is desired to split the hide the fulling or upsetting can be done by an
ordinary splitting machine the knife of which performs the office of an obstructing
bar.
A second pair of rolls may also be made to perform the office of said bar and
in order that they may do so without firmly compressing the hide they may be
provided with peripherical points and be geared to run slower than the feed rolls
or have their movement retarded by other simple means.
Immediately after thus fulling or upsetting the hide the part of the spool heads.
to be covered by the hide is coated with glue and the strips are stretched over said.
spool heads by pulling on the middle portion only of the strips thereby stretching
said middle portion so that the strips of hide conform to said spool head without
materially disturbing the edges of the strips which having been fulled or upset as
described have no tendency to spring away from the spool but will remain in place
thereon without the use of clamps or moulds to confine them in place. When dry
the spool heads are placed in a lathe and finished in any ordinary manner of
finishing raw hide covered spool heads. Care should be taken not to stretch the
fulled hide until it is applied to the spool. All laps in the strip should be carefully
glued and neatly made.
For striking up articles for instance, oil cups, lamps, or any other article the
pieces are treated in the same way except that they are passed both ways through
the rollers so as to full or upset the hide edgewise in two directions instead of only
one so that all of the edges of the blank piece of hide are gathered and it is only
necessary to stretch the middle portion during the act of stricking up in dies. The
pieces may be passed several times through the rolls giving each piece a quarter
turn edgewise after it leaves the machine before inserting it the next time. By
the employment of hides prepared for shaping as before specified much deeper
articles can be successfully struck up and all articles are believed to retain their
shape better and to be struck up more smoothly than heretofore.
Occasionally hides may be found which are very refractory and flinty so that
water may not easily soften them. When this is the case I soak the bides in a
mixture of water 12 parts and acetic acid 1 part, for two or three days so as to
thoroughly soften them. They are drained and placed in ammonia water, 1 part
carbonate of ammonia to 70 of water for about 24 hours to neutralize the acid

page_text: Then dry until they are ready for packing in boxes as before described. Other
acids may be substituted for acetic acid if desired and for the purpose of softening
the crust of flinty hides will accomplish the same result.
When short haired tropical hides are used they can be soaked with the hair on
and afterwards the hair shaved off with the thin cuticle, which on account of its
born like nature is worthless for most purposes. This will save lining the hides
and thereby they will contain more gelatine and other matter.
While I have described many of the sub-steps of the process in detail some of
which are very useful, it will be seen that the principal process consists of only
two steps, viz-depriving the pieces of moist hide evenly throughout of nearly or
quite all of their elasticity and then fulling or upsetting the same edgewise ready
for shaping. It is also evident that when the hide comes from the compressing
boxes that it is pliable and in condition to be used for striking up with shallow
dies into shallow articles or for use in covering spools and the like where clamps or
moulds are used for holding it in place until dry, but the fulling or upsetting
enables me to dispense with the use of clamps and to better shape the hide into
articles by means of dies. Without this second step of fulling or upsetting I get
the hide into as good if not better condition for working as is done by prior
processes and at little expense.
I claim as my invention.-
1. That improvement in the process of preparing-raw-hide for shaping, which
consists in depriving it evenly throughout of nearly or quite all of its elasticity and
then upsetting it edgewise, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.
2. That improvement in the process of preparing raw hide for shaping which
consists in taking the hides, when partly filled with water and packing them in
sweating boxes under pressure until they lose nearly or quite all of their elasticity,
substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.
3 That improvement in the process of preparing raw-hide for shaping which
consists in soaking the hide in water and acid, then soaking in a neutralizing bath,
and then when partially dried packing in sweating boxes under pressure,
substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof I the said Alfred George Brookes have hereunto set my
hand and seal this 12th day of March in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty four.
תתחז!
DDAARBA
ריא
מתחזו
ED & BROOKES