IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SKINS OR HIDES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Anderson, of Inverkeithing, in the
County of Fife, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN TREATING SKINS OR HIDES."
Sealed the 16th April 1872, and dated the 21st December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Anderson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st December 1871.
I, WILLIAM ANDERSON, of Inverkeithing, in the County of Fife,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING SKINS OR HIDES," to be as follows, that is
to say:
This Invention, which relates to improvements in treating skins or
hides of animals, consists of an improved process for removing the hair
therefrom, and cleaning the pores for tanning. Hitherto it has been
the practice to employ lime for removing the hair and cleaning the
pores, but according to this Invention charcoal is employed, either as a

page_text: substitute for lime, or the skins or hides may be at first partly treated
with lime as heretofore, and finally treated with charcoal. The car-
bonaceous matter employed may be either animal, vegetable, or mineral
charcoal, either in a powdered or compact state, which may be either
laid over or upon the skins or hides, or the skins or hides may be
immersed in water containing the charcoal in suspension. The results
of this treatment are that the hairs are loosened, the pores of the skins
or hides purified, and the putrescent matter, grease, and other impurities
removed.
In order to accelerate the process herein-before described heat may
be applied to the tanks wherein it is conducted. The tanks may be
heated by means of hot air or steam pipes or flues led from a contiguous
furnace or boiler, or fire from an ordinary furnace or fire-grate may be
applied direct to the bottom of the tanks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Anderson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 19th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANDERSON, of Inverkeithing, in the County of Fife, North Britain,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 21st day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
35th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Anderson, Her special license
that I, the said William Anderson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Anderson, my executors,
administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TREATING SKINS OR HIDES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Anderson, by an instrument in writing under my

page_text: aid 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 William Anderson, 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 :—
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in treating skins
or hides of animals, consists of an improved process for removing the
hair therefrom, and cleaning the pores for tanning. Hitherto it has
been the practice to employ lime for removing the hair and cleaning
the pores, but according to this Invention charcoal is employed, either
as a substitute for lime, or the skins or hides may be at first partly
treated with lime as heretofore, and finally treated with charcoal. The
carbonaceous matter employed may be either animal, vegetable, or
mineral charcoal, either in a powdered or compact state, which may
be either laid over or upon the skins or hides, or the skins or hides may
be immersed in water containing the charcoal in suspension. The
results of this treatment are that the hairs are loosened, the pores of
the skins or hides purified, and the putrescent matter, grease, and other
impurities removed.
In order to accelerate the process herein-before described heat may
be applied to the tanks wherein it is conducted.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
I now proceed to set forth what I have found to be the most efficient
manner in which to carry it out in practice, that is to say, the skins or
hides to be treated according to my Invention are placed in water of
not less temperature than 50° Fahrenheit, and which may vary there-
from up to 60° or 70°. With this water a quantity of powdered wood
charcoal, sufficient to bring it to the consistency of paint, is admixed.
The skins or hides are taken out of and put back into the same liquid
daily, until it is found that the hairs are sufficiently loosened for being
easily removed. As the charcoal tends to deposit itself on the bottoms
of the vessels or tanks in which the treatment is carried out, care should
be taken to stir the liquid from time to time in order to keep the

page_text: charcoal in a proper state of admixture with the water. After being
treated in the manner now described, the skins or hides are afterwards
washed, scudded, and fleshed in the manner usually practised, after
which they are ready for being tanned. The charcoal powder is from
time to time revivifyed by drying it in thin layers in the sun or in a
current of air.
In order to render soft and flat and remove impurities from skins or
hides which are or may have been treated with lime for the purpose of
removing hairs, the treatment by charcoal as herein described may be
applied.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe
in conclusion that what I consider novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the treating of skins or hides with charcoal
for the purposes and in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Anderson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM ANDERSON. (L.s.)