A New or Improved Process in or connected with the Currying of Skins, and Appliances therefor.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 4th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Feb., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Process in or connected with the Currying of
Skins, and Appliances therefor.
We, HENRY WALKER, and JOHN JOSEPH WILSON, Directors of the Firm of
Wilson, Walker, and Co., Limited; of Sheepscar Works, Leeds, in the County of
York, Leather and Glue Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention refers to that part of the process of leather dressing in which
the skins are reduced by hand labour to a uniform thickness by shaving with
knives.
The object of the invention is to save time, and in that way reduce the cost
of manufacture, and also, at the same time, to turn out more even work.
In the plan at present in vogue, the workman takes a moist skin and throws it
over the head of his "shaving beam," in such a manner that a portion, after being
spread out, hangs down on the flat front of the "beam." Then bending over.
his beam, from behind it, in a manner that enables him, when necessary, to press
somewhat against it (and so hold the skin in place) he, with a shaving knife, pares
away the inequalities or superfluous thickness of the skin, using his knife so that
the cutting edge is always downwards and from him. The face of the beam being
only some ten inches in width, it follows that a considerable amount of time is
taken up in continually laying out the skin afresh in order to operate on the unworked
portions. This continual re-arrangement of the skin has moreover to go on, not
only until all the surface has been gone over, but until all is of one even thickness-
or as even as may be under the circumstances.
In our new or improved process the workman takes a skin, which must be
thoroughly wet and dripping (say straight out of a tub of liquid where convenient,
and not semi-wet as in the old process last mentioned) and proceeds to lay out, say,
if possible, about one half of it on a perfectly flat stone, or other similar slab;
which slab may be of any size such as he can conveniently stretch across and along.
At the higher side of the slab, which is preferably slanted, a wooden or other bar,
or its equivalent, is arranged to secure the length (or width) of that part of the
skin which is not at first laid out, so that no subsequent pull or drag of the skin
may cause it to change its position under manipulation.
The workman then takes a somewhat blunt edged "sleeker" (or "slicker") and,
standing, say, at the higher side of the slab, commences to straighten the skin
systematically outwards and downwards from the secured edge; and, so, squeezing
all air from below it, causes the whole to cling firmly and flatly to the slab-this,
by reason of the vacuum set up below, somewhat after the manner of the school-
boy's "sucker."
The skin being thus laid out and held down (by atmospheric pressure) flat on the
slab the workman takes a shaving knife, specially arranged as to its blade and
handle to permit its use over the surface of the table, and proceeds to pare down
the skin, standing preferably at the low side of the slab and drawing the knife
towards him. In moving the .knife along, instead of keeping the blade square
across the line of advance, as usual when cutting with a shaving knife, he arranges
and moves the blade in a diagonal line, so that what is often termed a "shear" cut

page_text: After obtaining a smooth surface the workman may, when special accuracy is
required, by using a straight roller, or straight-edge, capable of leaving an
impression on the surface of the skin, when moved across it say both longitudinally
and transversely, find out the prominent parts of the skin. By so using the roller
and noting its distance from the face of the slab, where it projects beyond the skin,
the thicker places are at once made apparent, and they are then reduced with the
blade diagonally drawn across as before.
The first portion of the skin having been thus treated, the other half is released
from the fixing bar before mentioned, and so, by an interchange of positions, the
whole skin is brought under treatment, say, at two operations.
•
Although the table has been described as being on a slant, a horizontal one
might be successfully used, but what is described is more satisfactory, as the
water &c. is better carried away from it.
From the above description it will be understood that the slab must either be of
stone, or of an equivalent rigidity, to retain its true flat surface and to further
sustain any vacuum set up under the wet skin, during the process of "sleeking
out.
"
Another way of using a roller, when a skin is to be worked down to a given
thickness, is to provide a roller with a collar at each end, the extra thickness of
the collars being equal to the desired thickness of the skin. The skin would then
be worked down until all touched equally, i.e., the collars on the slab and the
roller on the skin. The collars would preferably be interchangable in pairs of
different thicknesses.
An alternative method of shaving or paring a skin down to an even thickness is
by introducing movable bars on which the knife may be rested or guided when
drawn across the skin. Such bars at their extremities would rest on supports
whose tops were parallel with the plane of the table, so that the cut given by the
bottom of the knife would leave the surface of the skin parallel with the table top
and therefore of one even thickness throughout.
Dated this 5th day of March 1894.
WM. SNOWDON,
9, Old Bank Chambers, Leeds, Yorks, Agent for the Applicants..
A New or Improved Process in or connected with the Currying of
Skins, and Appliances therefor.
We, HENRY WALKER, and JOHN JOSEPH WILSON, Directors of the Firm of
Wilson, Walker, and Co., Limited, of Sheepscar Works, Leeds, in the County of
York, Leather and Glue Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention refers to that part of the process of leather dressing in which the
skins are reduced by hand labour to a uniform thickness by shaving with knives.
The object of the invention is to save time, and in that way reduce the cost of
manufacture, and also, at the same time, to turn out more even work.
In the plan at present in vogue, the workman takes a moist skin and throws it
over the head of his "shaving beam," in such a manner that a portion, after being
spread out, hangs down on the flat front of the "beam." Then bending over his
beam from behind it, in a manner that enables him, when necessary, to press some-
what against it (and so hold the skin in place) he, with a shaving knife, pares away
the inequalities or superfluous thickness of the skin; using his knife so that the
cutting edge is always downwards and from him. The face of the beam being only

page_text: some ten inches in width, it follows that a considerable amount of time is taken up
in continually laying out the skin afresh in order to operate on the unworked
portions. This continual re-arrangement of the skin has moreover to go on, not
only until all the surface has been gone over, but until all is of one even thickness-
or as even as may be under the circumstances.
In order to fully explain our invention we have annexed a sheet of drawings
which we shall refer to as we proceed. The same letters refer to the same parts in
all the figures, and the arrows show the direction of the motion of the workman's
tools.
In our new or improved process the workman takes a skin A, which must be
thoroughly wet and dripping (say straight out of a tub of liquid where convenient,
and not semi-wet as in the old process last mentioned) and proceeds to lay out, say,
if possible, about one half of it as shown in Fig. 1 which is a plan view-on a
perfectly flat stone or other similar slab B; which slab may be of any size such as
he can conveniently stretch across and along, the skin being flesh side up.
At the higher side of the slab, which is preferably slanted, a wooden or other
bar C, or its equivalent, is arranged to secure the length (or width) of that part
of the skin which is not at first laid out, so that no subsequent pull or drag of the
skin may cause it (the skin) to change its position under manipulation.
The workman then takes a somewhat blunt-edged "sleeker" (or "slicker") and,
standing, say, at the higher side of the slab-as shown in Fig. 2, which is an end
elevation-where he may stand say on a slightly raised platform D, commences to
straighten the wet skin systematically downwards and outwards from the secured
edge; and, so, squeezing all air from below it, causes the whole to cling firmly and
flatly to the slab this by reason of the vacuum set up below, somewhat after the
manner of the schoolboy's "sucker."
The skin being thus laid out and held down (by atmospheric pressure) flat on the
slab, the workman takes a shaving knife, specially arranged as to its blade and
handles to permit its use over the surface of the table-Figures 3 and 3^-and
proceeds to pare down the skin, standing preferably at the low side, or the ends, of
the slab, and drawing the knife towards him as shown in side elevation in Fig. 4.
In moving the knife along, instead of keeping the blade square across the line of
advance, as usual when cutting with a shaving knife, he arranges and moves the
blade in a diagonal line, so that what is often termed a
"shear" cut is obtained.
The knife which has the usual blade E with the cutting edge peculiar to a shaving
knife is shown in front elevation in Fig. 3; and in side elevation in Fig. 34.
Neither of the handles F, F,.projects downwards (as one in the old knife usually
does) towards the slab, hence the instrument may be used equally well in the centre
of the table as at the sides. What we mean by a shear cut will be understood by
inspecting Fig. 5-a plan view-where the arrows show the direction in which the
knife is being drawn across the skin, the cutting blade E of the knife taking up a
slanting position relative to the advancing movement. The slant may be to either
side-right or left-as shown by the two positions in Fig. 5. In passing the knife
over the skin the workman proceeds after the manner and in the direction which
he choose in sleeking out, so as not to risk disturbing the skin or the vacuum by
which it is held down; see arrows in Fig. 1.
•
After having obtained a smooth surface the workman may, when special accuracy
is required, by using a straight roller, or straight-edge-sufficiently rigid to avoid
springing out of true line and capable of leaving, an impression on the surface of
the skin when moved across it, say both longitudinally and transversely-find out
the prominent parts of the skin. By so using the roller and noting its distance
from the-face of the slab, where it projects beyond the skin, the thicker places are
at once made apparent, and they are then reduced with the blade of the shaving
knife diagonally drawn across as before.
The first portion of the skin having been thus treated, the other half is released
from the fixing bar C before mentioned, and so, by an interchange of positions, the
whole skin is brought under treatment, say, at two operations.

page_text: Although the slab or table has been described as being on a slant, a horizontal
one might be successfully used, but what is described is more satisfactory, as the
water &c. is better carried away from it. For this latter purpose a channel at B'
is provided.
From the above description it will be understood that the slab must either be
of stone, or of an equivalent rigidity, to retain its true flat surface and to further
sustain any vacuum set up by the driving out of the air from under the wet skin,
during the process of "sleeking" out.
Another way of using a roller, when a skin is to be accurately worked down to a
given thickness, is to provide a roller with a collar at each end, the extra thickness
of the collars being equal to the desired thickness of the skin. The skin would
then be worked down until all touched equally, i.e., the collars by resting on the
slab and the roller touching on the skin. The collars would preferably be inter-
changable in pairs of different thicknesses. Such an arrangement is shown in
Fig. 6, where G, G, are the collars on the roller H. These collars may slide on
the roller so as to accommodate the span required; and where the roller has to
span the slab from head to foot-as shown in Fig. 6, a sectional elevation-an
outer prolongation of the slab (movable if required) past the slot through which
the skin rises from under the bar C, may be arranged as at J.
An alternative method of shaving or paring a skin down to an even thickness is
by introducing movable bars on which the knife may be rested or guided when
drawn across the skin. Such bars at their extremities would rest on supports
whose tops were parallel with the plane of the slab or table, so that the cut given
by the bottom of the knife would leave the surface of the skin parallel with the
table top and therefore of one even thickness throughout. A reference to Fig. 7,
a plan, and Fig. 74, an end elevation in section, will explain this latter method.
Here L', L', and L³, L', (say by being framed together) form the movable bars
for guiding the knife. This frame has its surfaces truly planed and is of a parallel
depth throughout measured towards the slab. The supports for this upper frame
consist of a lower frame K', K2, and K³, K', whose upper surface is laid out parallel
to the surface of the slab below, and whose side pieces may have plates m and n to
keep the whole in position on the slab. If now these latter members are built up
from wedges 0, 0, (tongued and grooved say to keep them in relative position)
adjustable by screws as shown in Fig. 7B, then by twisting the heads P of the
Fcrews Q, which work through nuts R, the distance of the top of the frame from
the slab may be regulated to suit the thickness desired for the skin. Hence the
uniform thickness may be arrived at, as it were, mechanically by the workman's
knife being guided in its distance from the slab.
The more unskilled the labour the more valuable would be these latter appliances
for accuracy; as a skilled man would probably be able to discard them; "but they
are here given for the guidance of the more unskilled.
Referring again to results; the evenness of the shaved surface left by this.
process is superior to the old one, and where skins are required to be finished on
this face (the flesh side) the result is a better one.
Moreover the process leaves
the skins in a flat condition, such as allows them to be dried in a stretched con-
dition on boards-when such is the next process-without the necessity of further
striking out. Time is saved by the new process requiring the skins to be more
thoroughly wet; whereas the old, requiring them semi-dry, demands more time for
getting into that condition. The adhesion to the table also saves the skins from
being so often torn by the shaving knives.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. The new or improved process described herein (with the aid of the drawing)
with the object and for the purpose set forth.
The combination of a Ant clah R fixing har C and knife with specially

page_text: arranged handles F, F, substantially as described and shown, with the object and
for the purpose set forth.
3. The use of the appliances for securing accuracy when less experienced work-
men are relied upon, substantially as described and shown, with the object and for
the purpose set forth.
Dated this 3rd day of January 1895.
WM.
SNOWDON,
9, Old Bank Chambers, Leeds, Yorks, Agent for the Applicants.