A NEW METHOD OF TANNING AND MAKING LEATHER OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY, AND IN A MUCH SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME THAN HATH HITHERTO BEEN DONE
Year: 1795

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN TUOKER,
of Wickham, in the:County of Southampton; Tanner, send greeting.
:WHEREAS:His.present Majesty King George the. Third, by 'His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twelfth day of May now. last past, hath given and granted unto me, tho
said John Tucker; my executors, administrators, and assigns, special licence,
full power, sole privilege, and authority, to make, use, exercise, and vend
within England, Wales, and the Town of. Berwick-upon-Tweed; during the
term of years therein expressed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF TANNING
AND MAKING LEATHER OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY, AND IN A MUCH SHORTER PERIOD OF
TIME THAN HATH HITHERTO BEEN DONE;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said, John Tucker, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next after the date of the said recited Letters Patent; as-in and by the same,
(relation being thereunto.had," may more fully and at large appear.)...
NOW KNOW..YE, that I, the said John: Tucker, in compliance with the
said proviso, do hereby declare 'that: the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described "and
ascertained as follows (that is to say):-
The vat, fat, or pit may be made or composed either of wooden, earthen, or
metallic, or other substance fit for the purpose, and constructed in any form
or sise that may be necessary or convenient. The woozes should be kept in a
gentle or regular kind degree of heat by means of a flue connected with them
by an inclosure of brick, wood, stone, or any kind of metal, or other

page_text: substanco fit for the purpose. But the best method is to make the vat of
beach, with the top plank of oak, about two inches thick, four feet and a half
deep, six feet long, and four feet wide, the sides to be perforated with holes
about one inch and a half in diameter, and two inches in distance from each
other. The vat, fat, or pit should be inclosed in a metallic coating, and so com-
pleatly soldered as to prevent the escape of any of the fluid. There must be
an eyo made in the vat, with a hole in it for tlie wooze to discharge itself
through when exhausted. The vat should be placed on bricks, and inclosed
with a case of brick work, leaving an interstice of a few inches for the heat to
circulate in, and which heat should be kind and gentle, and received from a
fire placed near the bottom of the vat, so as to be either increased or extin-
guished at pleasure, as necessity or convenience may require. A small hole or
holes must be left in the upper part of the brick work, which is necessary for
the warm air to ascend through. The old way of cold infusion for the extracts,
as to the taps and spenders, will not be affected by this process, and the liides
may be brought into the yard as usual; but it will be proper to handle them
very frequently for some time, otherwise as the action of the bark is very con-
siderably increased by the warmth it has received, it will, if the hides bo not
often moved, operate partially, so as to defeat the production of perfect
leather. But if this process of tanning be strictly attended to, it will produce
leather not only in a much shorter period of time than has hitherto been done,
but of a very superior quality and durability.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Tucker, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and in the thirty-fifth year of
the reign of King George the Third.