IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER AND GELATINE
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
Cox and GEORGE Cox, of Georgie Mills, near Edinburgh, Manufacturers of
Leather and Gelatine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of February, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John
Cox and George Cox, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that we, the said John Cox and George Cox, our exors, adiñors, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said John Cox and George Cox, our exors,
adiñors, or 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER AND GELATINE;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso, that we, the said John Cox and George Cox, or one of us,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part 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, we, the said
John Cox and George Cox, do hereby declare the nature of our said improve-

page_text: ments are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say :-
The nature of our said Inventions consists in the use of certain improved
machinery for working and finishing leather and hide pieces, and in certain
improved processes of treating hide pieces in the manufacture of gelatine or
glue, and refining and evaporating gelatine or glue.
Our improvements in the manufacture of leather relate chiefly to the
finishing of sole leather, which requires to be "struck," "pinned," or "rolled,"
which we accomplish by improved machinery. We shall first describe our
improved roiler for rolling or finishing sole leather, and which is more easily
driven and more conveniently worked than any other at present in use. We
prefer that the roller in itself be similar to what is at present in use, that is to
say, made of brass, six inches diameter and nine inches long; but instead of
having the load which presses upon the leather to travel with the roller,
thereby causing loss of power, from changing the direction of motion of a
heavy weight, owing to the momentum acquired, we contrive to keep the load
stationary, except giving it a slight vertical motion, and also to suspend the
roller like a pendulum at every stroke, so as to admit of the leather being
shifted beneath it. The roller is to be worked upon the pendulum system, and
we prefer that it have as long an arm or radius as may be found convenient,
We prefer an arm of twelve feet in length, which admits of the roller working
in the arc of a flat circle, or of sufficient obtuseness, the brass roller being
fitted to an arm of twelve feet in length, and which arm we prefer to be
made of iron, two inches diameter. The load or weight which is to press upon
the leather is to be placed upon a well-supported frame, which frame shall
have freedom of motion vertically, only it should not fall below the horizontal
position at the end to which the roller shall be suspended. This frame, which
must be made of sufficient strength, we prefer to be fifteen feet long and two
feet broad, and we hinge it at one end to a fixed object, so that it may rise
and fall like a trap door or lid of a desk.
at one end, the other end is to be supported by means of beams being placed
beneath it or otherwise, so that the frame shall lie in a horizontal position.
The arm or radius, at one extremity of which the roller is attached, is to be
suspended by its other extremity from an axle or journals fixed to the said
frame at about two feet from the end, which is farthest from the hinged or
fixed end, and two strong beams of wood or iron should support the horizontal
frame, about a foot apart on each side of the point of suspension of the arm, so
that the weight or load which is to be put upon the frame immediately above the
suspended arm may be firmly and securely supported. The arm is to be driven
This frame being hinged to a fixture

page_text: in any
convenient way from a crank, which may be connected with the arm about
two feet above the roller, by means of a rod. Any suitable length of a stroke
may be given, but we prefer a stroke three feet and a half in length. The bed
upon which the roller is to work is to be an arc of a circle, having the length
of the working arm (including over the roller) as a radius, and this bed we
prefer being made of brass or copper.
It is to be observed, however, that this bed shall not be continued to its
extremities of length as a true arc of a circle, but shall die away or flatten into
the horizontal from within a few inches of either or both extremities, so that,
by the roller travelling in the true arc, it may leave its bed at the extremities
of the stroke, by being suspended by the arm from the frame. The bed is to
be placed so that the roller shall merely roll upon it or touch it, so that when
leather is introduced, the frame to which the roller is attached shall be forced
upwards, and thus lift the load, the weight of which shall then be upon the
leather. At the extremity of the stroke, where the bed flattens from the arc of
a circle, the roller will leave it and be suspended from the frame above. The
weight will thus be supported alternately by the leather during the central
part of the stroke and by the beams which support the frame at the period
when the stroke is near or at its extremity, at which latter time the leather
can be shifted beneath the roller. Although we prefer pressure from the
pressure of real weight, yet we do not confine ourselves thereto, as pressure
may be given by the application of levers or springs.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 an end view, where I is the frame,
hinged or fixed on a centre at C, and supported in a horizontal position at its
other end by the beams B, B; P is the arm, suspended from the frame F at
the points S, S; R is the roller, which works in the arc A, which approaches a
straight line at its extremities E, E, where the roller leaves its bed and
becomes suspended from S; R¹is the rod, which is attached to a crank to give
motion to the roller; and W is a box for containing the weight necessary for
giving sufficient pressure, which may vary according to the nature of the
leather to be rolled. It is obvious, however, that modifications may be made
in the mode of suspending the roller at the end of each stroke, and instead of
the are in which the roller works being flattened at its extremities, the frame
from which the roller is suspended may be elevated by self-acting levers at the
extremity of each stroke, and thus suspend the roller from off the bed or
are.
Our improved machine for working and striking leather consists of two
rollers or cylinders, which we prefer to be of metal, upon one of which is fixed
a spiral edge or knife, which rubs against the hide or leather which winds

page_text: round upon the other roller. We prefer both rollers to be six feet long, but
what we call the lower roller we prefer being two feet and a half in diameter,
while what we call the upper roller is to be six inches diameter. In
the circumference of the under roller and parallel to the axle there is an
aperture, about three or four feet long and an inch wide, and penetrating to the
centre of the roller or interior of a cylinder, and equally distant from the
extremities of the roller, and which aperture is for fixing the end of the hide
to be worked into with wedges. Around the circumference of the upper roller
a spiral knife or edge is fixed so as to project about an inch beyond the cir-
cumference of the roller, starting or commencing at the centre, and winding
to both extremities in a similar manner, and making one turn round the roller
on each side of the centre. The spiral knife is to be blunt, like what is at
present used for striking leather. The two rollers now described are to have
axles through them that they may rotate. The under roller is made to rotate
in fixed bearings, but the upper roller is supported upon two levers, so as to
admit of a vertical motion. When the machine is to be worked, the smaller
roller is placed above the larger, and placed at such an elevation by the levers
that the spiral knife shall be very close to the under roller, yet not rubbing
upon it; but when any leather is to be rubbed, the upper roller shall have
power of being elevated to the extent of the thickness of said leather. The
motion to be given to the rollers shall be in the same direction, but as the
upper side of the one and the lower side of the other shall be next each other,
their motion at the nearest points of contact shall be in opposite directions ;
it shall also be arranged, that while the upper roller rotates one revolution the
under roller shall move at its circumference from half to one inch. This can
be done in any convenient way by screw or toothed gear; the upper roller
being placed upon levers, its pressure upon any substance can be adjusted by
adding to or taking weight from the levers. The hide to be "struck" or
worked is to be fixed by the neck end by a wedge or otherwise into the hori-
zontal aperture in the under roller, keeping the grain side out, and when the
roller rotates the hide shall be wound around it. The spiral knife on the upper
roller being put in motion, so that the hide shall be rubbed from the centre to
the sides and forwards; it will be smoothed according to the pressure upon it,
and the time it may be allowed to remain in process. By this operation hides
may be cleansed from hair, flesh, &c. We prefer that the upper cylinder
rotate seventy revolutions per minute, although the nature of the article to be
rubbed or scraped will cause a modification of the speed. We also prefer that
the upper roller be driven by a belt in a horizontal position, so as to admit of
a little vertical play to the roller, and it should be as nearly balanced as

page_text: possible from the point where the spiral knife starts at the centre of the
cylinder, so that when the spiral knife bears upon two points, which it always
will do after entering from the centre, the pressure be equal at the point of
bearing or pressure.
At the entering of the spiral knife a smooth sloping surface should exist about
half an inch broad, so as to bring the knife gradually to work and prevent
concussion. Figure 3 presents a front view, and Figure 4 an end view, of the
machine for working and striking leather. A is the under roller, with a
horizontal aperture C, into which the hide is to be firmly fixed at the neck
end; B is the upper roller, around which is fixed the spiral knife, starting at
the centre at B, and making one turn round the roller to each hand equally;
L is the lever upon which the roller and spiral knife rests, which may rise but
cannot fall below a fixed level S.
Our improvements in the manufacture of gelatine consists in superior
methods of treating, cleansing, and dissolving hide and skin pieces, and in
refining and evaporating gelatine or glue. We prefer to use shoulders and
cheeks of ox hides, but other parts may be used. These we first cleanse well
in pure water, after which we cut them into small pieces by a convenient
machine, exactly similar to that used for cutting straw, and we afterwards
subject the small cuttings to what we call a pulp mill, similar to that used by
paper makers for reducing rags to pulp. By this process the gelatinous fibre
is thoroughly washed and cleansed, as we keep a stream of pure water flowing
into the pulp mill during the operation, so as to wash away all impurities.
When the hide pieces are sufficiently cleansed and reduced to pulp, it is to be
pressed betwixt rollers, or other convenient way, and afterwards mixed with
fresh water sufficient to dissolve it. It is now to be subjected to heat, varying
from 150° to the boiling point, and from the extensive and intimate contact
of the pulp with the water a superior gelatine is speedily produced, thus pre-
venting injury to the quality from long exposure to heat, which is well known
to weaken gelatinating power. When we wish to make a very pure gelatine,
we cut or strip off the grain as well as the flesh from the hide pieces, thus
getting rid of the albuminous parts, and producing a purer solution. After
the hide pieces or pulp is sufficiently dissolved, we run the liquid gelatine into
a refining vessel, which we prefer to be a steam bath, and when the tem-
perature does not exceed 160° or 170° we mix fresh ox blood with it, in the
proportion of about one gallon to seven hundred of the gelatine. This mixture
we subject to heat by means of the steam bath, when in a short time, as the
temperature increases, the albumen of the blood becomes coagulated, and partly
rises as a scum to the top of the vessel and partly sinks to the bottom. When

page_text: all the scum has settled at the top the heat is to be withdrawn, and after a
space of about half an hour the scum is to be removed, and the purer liquor
allowed to settle for about an hour more, when it is to be run into coolers or
troughs to congeal, after which it is to be cut out in any convenient way and
dried. As frequently the weather is not favorable for drying gelatine,
and as long subjection to heat is injurious to its gelatinating power, we
evaporate it in vacuo, which enables us to keep it at a comparatively low
temperature. This process is similar to that used in evaporation of syrup.
Another mode of evaporating, which allows the gelatine to be exposed to heat
for a short time, is to allow a very small depth, say, half an inch or one inch in
depth, upon a surface heated by steam, which we prefer to be metal tubing, half
an inch diameter. These tubes we place within one-eighth of an inch of each
other along the surface of a flat trough, and by covering them about one inch
deep with gelatine and filling them with steam, evaporation goes on with great
expedition. As soon as the solution is sufficiently concentrated to dry safely in
the atmosphere, we run it off and put a fresh weaker solution into process of
evaporation, or a constant flow into and out of the trough may be kept up, as by
the time the solution flows across or along the trough it will be sufficiently
evaporated.
Having thus stated the nature of our Inventions, and the manner in which
they may be worked, we claim,
First, the use of a roller for pressing or rolling leather, when such roller is
suspended at the extremity of each stroke, so as to admit of leather being
shifted beneath it, caused by the flattening of the arc at each extremity in
which the roller works, and while the pressing weight does not travel with the
roller, and otherwise modified, as described.
Secondly, we claim the use of a machine for "striking" leather, consisting
of two rollers, one of which having a spiral knife fixed upon it and made to
rub against the leather upon the other roller, as described.
And, thirdly, we claim the reducing of hide pieces to the condition of small
pieces and pulp by machinery, as described, and the using of blood, which we
prefer to be that of ox, for refining gelatine or glue, and the evaporating of
gelatine or glue in vacuo, and upon steam, heated surfaces, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cox, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-four.
JOHN COX. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid John Cox came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
5 written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighth day of August in the roar of our I and One thousand