IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'BOARDING,' 'SOFTENING,' AND ⚫ BREAKING UP THE GRAIN' OF HIDES AND SKINS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sam Haley and Sugden Herbert Haley, of the
Firm of Thomas Haley and Company, of Bramley, in the County
of York, Engineers and Machinists, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'BOARDING,' 'SOFTENING,' AND
⚫ BREAKING UP THE GRAIN' OF HIDES AND SKINS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sam Haley and Sugden
Herbert Haley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 27th January 1873.
We, SAM HALEY and SUGDEN HERBERT HALEY, of the Firm of
Thomas Haley and Company, of Bramley, in the County of York,
Engineers and Machinists, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'BOARDING,'
⚫ SOFTENING,' AND 'BREAKING UP THE GRAIN' OF HIDES AND SKINS," to be as
follows:-

page_text: in a horizontal position, and side by side with an endless belt thereon of
either leather, india-rubber, or some woven fabric either with or without
a layer of cork or other material having adhesive or frictional property
thereon, also another pair of rollers mounted above the former with
endless belt as aforesaid, the bearings of one or both being movable, so
that the same may be lifted clear of contact with the former rollers
and belt by means of lever and weight, and pressed thereon by treaddle
or other means as and when required. A strap guide is also applied
to this machine operated by a finger attached to the rod in connection
with the treadle or weighted lever so that when one or both of the
upper rollers are lifted the driving strap will be thrown or placed on
the loose pulley, and when lowered into contact with the lower rollers
and belt, the said strap will be thrown or placed on the fast pulley and
thereby give motion to the rollers. The upper pair of rollers may also
have a lateral or endwise motion imparted to them by crank and rod, or
skew wheel, or other well-known means of imparting such motion. This
machine may be used in either of two ways.
Firstly, by having the belts (when in contact with each other) to
travel in different or opposite directions, so that when a hide or skin
is placed betwixt them doubled or folded, one part will be carried
forward in one direction, and the other part in another direction, by
which motion the double of the hide or skin will be constantly changing
position, and thereby perform the operation thereon technically known
as "boarding," softening," or "breaking up the grain."
99 65
Secondly, by having the two belts when they come in contact to
move in the same direction, and the top rollers with the belt to move
laterally or reciprocate endwise, in the use of which the hido or skin is
doubled or folded as before, and placed between the two belts with the
double across the rollers, so that the "boarding," "softening," or
"breaking up" will be effected while the hide or skin will enter or be
introduced at one side and pass out of the other side of the rollers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sam Haley and Sugden Herbert Haley in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, SAM
5 HALEY and SUGDEN HERBERT HALEY, of the Firm of Thomas Haley
and Company, of Bramley, in the County of York, Engineers and
Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
O year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Sam Haley and Sugden
Herbert Haley, Her special licence that we, the said Sam Haley and
Sugden Herbert Haley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
5 such others as we, the said Sam Haley and Sugden Herbert Haley,
our 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR 'BOARDING,' 'SOPTENING,'
AND BREAKING UP THE GRAIN OF HIDES AND SKINS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that wc, the said Sam Haley and Sugden
Herbert Haley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said Sam Haley and Sugden Herbert
Haley, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying Sheets
of Drawings, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of suitable framework upon which is mounted
in stationary bearings a pair of rollers placed (and capable of rotating)

page_text: 1
in a horizontal position, and side by side with an endless belt thereon
either of leather, india-rubber, or some woven fabric either with or
without a layer of cork or other material having adhesive or frictional
property thereon, also another pair of rollers mounted above the former
with endless belt as aforesaid, the bearings of one or both being movable
so that the same may be lifted clear of contact with the former rollers
and belt by means of lever and weight, and pressed thereon by treaddle or
other means as and when required. A strap guide is also applied to this
machine operated by a finger attached to the rod in connection with the
treaddle or weighted lever, so that when one or both of the upper rollers
are lifted the driving strap will be thrown or placed on the loose pulley,
and when lowered into contact with the lower rollers and belt, the said
strap will be thrown or placed on the fast pulley and thereby give
motion to the rollers. The upper pair of rollers may also have a lateral
or endwise motion imparted to them by crank and rod, or skew wheel or
other well-known means of imparting such motion.
This machine is used as follows:-The belts (when in contact with
each other) are caused to travel in different or opposite directions, so
that when a hide or skin is placed betwixt them, doubled or folded, one
part will be carried forward in one direction and the other part in another
direction, by which motion the double of the hide or skin will be
.constantly changing position, and thereby perform the operation thereon
technically known as "boarding," "softening," or "breaking-up the
grain" of hides and skins.

page_text: shafts or axes; H is a lever or treaddle connected to the shaft of the
roller E¹ by means of the rods J, and through the lower part of these
rods passes a lever K, on the other end of which is a counterbalance
weight L. Motion is communicated to the machine by means of the
gear wheels M, M³, and M', (M being the first driver) and driving
pulleys N and N¹. The strap guide O works on a stud P fixed to the
framework of the machine, and is worked by means of a finger or
fork R on the connecting rod J acting on the end P' of the strap guide;
S is a platform for supporting or holding the hide or skin so as to admit
of the requisite pressure being exerted thereon when between the two
pairs of rollers, that is, at the point T.
The method of using this machine and operating on the hides or skins
is as follows:-One end or edge of the face or side of a hide or skin is
folded or doubled, as shewn at Fig. 4, and this folded or doubled portion
is to be introduced between the rollers E' and A; the operative will now
by means of the treaddle H apply pressure to the rollers whereon the
belt F travelling in the direction shown by the arrow will draw the
remaining portion of the hide or skin in that direction. The folded or
doubled end of the hide or skin resting on the strap or belt D will (by
reason of the latter belt travelling in the opposite way to the belt F)
be returned or drawn in the opposite way or out of or from between the
rollers E and A, and belts F and D, whereon the hide or skin falls, and
is received on the table W. The hide or skin may be again submitted
to this operation, some other portion of the same being folded or
doubled in order to secure the portion first folded or doubled, being
equally operated npon.
It will be seen that to submit a hide to the operation above described
is to double every portion of it, and the tendency is to cause a divergence
of the grain on the face of the hide, whereby the whole hide is rendered
soft and pliant. On pressure being removed from the treaddle H the
counterbalance weight on the lever K (K' being the lever's fulcrum)
will by means of the rod J raise the top roller E' out of contact, whereon
the fork R acts on the end P¹ of the strap guide, and so moves the
driving strap from the fast pulley N¹ to the loose pulley N.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of this Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we would have
it distinctly understood that what we claim is, the construction and use of

page_text: machinery or apparatus for "boarding," "softening," and "breaking up
the grain" of hides and skins in the manner herein fully described and
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Sam Haley and Sugden Herbert
Haley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-first
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.