An Improved Method of and Apparatus for Facilitating the Removal of Hard or Coarse Hairs fro:n Seal and other Skins.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 24th June, 1889-Accepted; 31st Aug.,. 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of and Apparatus for Facilitating the Removal
of Hard or Coarse Hairs fro:n Seal and other Skins.
I EMIL SCHROEDER, corner of Howard and 27 Street, San Francisco, California,
United States of America, Fur dresser, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the treatment of seal and other skins and is chiefly designed
to facilitate the clipping or cutting of any hard or coarse hairs, which may have been
broken in attempting to withdraw them from the hide or the short coarse hairs which
cannot conveniently be removed by extraction from the hide.
Machines or apparatus for this purpose have been heretofore: constructed wherein
an overhead blast. or current of air produced by pressure, by means of a bellows or
other blowing machine is employed for separating the finer or softer hairs. from the
hardler or coarser ones. This operation, being performed by causing the. blast or
current of air from the said bellows to impinge. against the portion of the skin to be
operated upon which is stretched tightly over a knife-edged bar.. This method is
found in practice to be defective.
Moreover the said. machines are provided with complicated. arrangements of combs
and mechanism for raising and lowering the same and for feeding forward the skins,
and are otherwise complicated in construction and. difficult to work,. and are: con-
sequently expensive to manufacture, and necessitate the employment of. skilled labor.
The said machines are open moreover to various other objections.
My invention comprises an improved method whereby. I provide for the parting or
separation of the fine or soft. hairs: from the coarse or hard hairs. by means of a suction
or draught, produced by exhausting or drawing the air from the interior of the
apparatus and thus producing a partial vacuum, therein..
An important feature of this method, consists: in. drawing down the whole of the
hairs by suction or draught and. then regulating, the said suction or draught to permit
the hard. or. coarse hairs, to spring upward. whilst, the. soft. or fine hairs are still held
down.
My said invention also comprises an improved machine or apparatus which is
extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture and can be worked by any ordinary
workman with very little practice. The said machine or apparatus performs very
efficient work, and obviates the objections experienced in the machines hitherto
employed.
In the accompanying drawings I have shown. how my said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is a front elevation."
Figure 2 a plan, and
Figure 3 a side elevation showing one form of my improved apparatus..
Figure 4 is a transverse section on the line ; x Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 1 the front portion of the box or case being
removed.
Figure 6 is a vertical section, drawn to, an. enlarged scale, showing details of
construction hereinafter described.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A is the box or case of the apparatus which is. provided. with a door A³. B.is.a
skin to be operated upon.
a a are wooden or other rollers, the gudgeons or axles 6 of which are supported in

page_text: move freely in grooves d' provided on the interior of the box or case A. d² is a stay
or stiffening piece connecting the said slide pieces d. e is an endless band or apron
carried upon the rollers a. f is a bar provided with a knife edge f¹ and supported in
slots c¹ in the upper blocks c (as more clearly shown in Figure 6) in such a manner as
to leave sufficient clearance for the endless band or apron e to pass beneath the said
bar. The said rollers a and bar fare normally retained in their highest position by
means of a spiral or other suitable spring or springs g which are arranged to bear
against the underside of the lower blocks c and against brackets g¹ attached to the
box or case A. is a rod provided with a screw threaded portion and with a
nut 2 forming an adjustable stop for regulating the height of the said bar f. In some
instances I provide one of these stops to each of the lower blocks c.
The bar is preferably so adjusted that when in its highest position, it is in close
proximity to or just touching a metal plate i fixed on to the top of the machine. jis
another plate provided with slots into which project pins or studs provided upon
the upper portion of the box or case A. 33 are handles by means of which the said
plate can be moved to or fro through the length of the said slots j¹ so as to close or
open more or less, a hole or aperture A² provided in the upper part of the box or
case A. is a ratchet or toothed wheel firmly keyed or otherwise secured upon one
of the gudgeons 6 of the lower roller a which is extended through the side of the box
or case A for that purpose. The ratchet or toothed wheel k can be rotated by means
of a lever which is pivoted at to the said gudgeon and is provided with a reversible
pawl m pivoted to it at m'. The upper portion of the lever is arranged to work in a
fork n which is provided with an adjustable stop n' whereby the throw of the said
lever can be regulated so that the pawl m will engage with any desired number of
teeth upon the ratchet or toothed wheel at each stroke or movement of the said
lever . By rotating the said ratchet or toothed wheel k by means of the lever and
pawl m, intermittent rotation is imparted to the lower roller a and consequently also
to the endless band or apron e and the upper roller a thus shifting or feeding forward
the skin B which is passed over the knife edge f¹ of the bar and is attached to the
said endless band or apron by means of india-rubber straps o and clips o' as shown or
in any other suitable manner.
To provide for the vertical adjustment of the bar f relatively to the plate i so as to
leave sufficient clearance for the skin B to pass between the knife edge 1 and the said
plate when the endless band e is moved, I employ a bar p carried in suitable
bearings p' in the box or case A; cords or chains q. are secured at one extremity to
the blocks c of the lower roller a and at the other extremity to the said bar p. u is
a treadle firmly attached to arms or cranks a secured to the bar p. By depressing
the treadle u by means of the foot, the bar is. partially rotated and the cords or
chains are partially wound thereon, thus causing the lower roller a and consequently
the upper roller and the bar f to descend by compressing the springs g.
is a pipe which is connected to a suitable exhaust fan or other convenient means
for exhausting or withdrawing the air from the interior of the box or case A, and
thereby creating a draught or suction by the inrush of air from the exterior through
that portion of the hole or aperture A* not closed or covered by the plate j. The
corresponding edges of the plates i and j are formed true, so that when they are
brought close together any hair that may be situated between them is gripped and
held tightly thereby. The edges of the said plates are moreover bevelled so as to
reduce their thickness.
The operation of the machine is as follows that is to say :-The door A³ is first
opened or removed and a skin placed in position upon the endless band or apron e.
The door A is then closed or replaced and the adjustable plate j being in such a
position that the hole or aperture A2 is open to a slight extent, air is exhausted or
drawn from the interior of the apparatus through the piper situated at the rear of
the box or case A thus causing a strong draught, current or inrush of air to pass into
the said box or case through the said limited open portion of the hole or aperture A²
upon the side of the endless hand or apron e and of the skin placed thereon. The

page_text: partial vacuum formed in the apparatus draws or sucks down all the hair and fur
upon the said skin. The adjustable plate j is then moved or adjusted by means of the
handles ja so as to gradually open the aperture A until the velocity of the air current
is so much reduced as to only hold down the fine or soft airs, and allowing the
broken, or short coarse ones to spring up. The said plate j then moved up against
the plate i so as to grip the said broken or short coarse hairs and hold them in position
whilst they are cut off or clipped by means of any suitable shears or scissors. In
some instances I provide for this purpose devices known as spiral scissors. In order
to bring a fresh portion of the skin B into position for operating upon, the treadle u
is depressed and held down-so as to lower the bar and consequently the skin stretched
across the knife edge f¹ as herein before described, and the lever is operated to
partially rotate the ratchet or toothed wheel k through the desired angle and con-
sequently also the lower roller a and the endless band e, thus drawing or feeding the
skin B a certain distance over the knife edge f¹. The said tŕeadle is then released
and the rollers a and bar fare returned to their normal position by the action of the
spiral springs g. The above described exhausting and cutting operations are then
repeated. These alternating operations viz. :-the drawing or feeding of the skin B
across the knife edge f¹, upon the bar f, and the cutting of the hard or coarse hairs
are repeated until the whole of the said skin has been operated upon. By increasing
or diminishing the throw of the lover by means of the adjustable stop n the distance
through which the skin B is fed or moved forward at each operation of the said lever
can be regulated as may be required for the particular skin which is being operated
upon.
Although I have hereinbefore described a convenient and advantageous method of
carrying my said invention into practice it is obvious that I can somewhat modify the
construction of my apparatus without departing from the nature of my said
invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it understood that I
claim
First. The above described method of parting or separating the fine or soft hairs
from the coarse or broken hairs of seal and other skins, by first drawing down the
whole of the hairs by suction or draught and then regulating such suction or draught
in such a manner as to permit the springing upward of the coarse hairs whilst the
soft hairs are held down.
Second. An apparatus wherein the parting or separation of the fine or soft hairs
from the coarse or broken hairs to permit the cutting of the latter are effected by
exhausting the air from or forming a partial vacuum in the interior of the apparatus,
substantially as, and for the purpose above specified.
Third. The combination, with the knife-edged bar, of the fixed plate and the
adjustable or movable plate for regulating the draught or suction, substantially as
described.
Fourth. The combination, with the knife-edged bar, of means comprising the rollers
and the endless band or apron, for carrying or holding the skin to be operated upon,
substantially as set forth.
Fifth. The provision of suitable means for temporarily lowering the skin out of
contact with the fixed plate during the forward or feed movement of the said skin,
substantially as set forth.
Sixth. The combination with the rollers, the endless band and the knife-edged bar
and means for depressing the same, of a spring or springs for returning the same to
their normal position, and a stop or stops for regulating the height of the said.knife-
edged bar, substantially as set forth.
Seventh. The combination, with the rollers and the endless band, of the ratchet or
toothed wheel and the pivoted lever and pawl, substantially as, and for the purpose,
set forth.

page_text: Eighth. The provision of suitable means for varying or regulating the amount of
forward movement or feed of the skin by altering the throw of the feed-operating
lever, substantially as described.
Ninth.. The improved apparatus constructed substantially, as described with reference
to the accompanying drawings and, operating in the manner set.forth..
Dated: this 24th day of Inne 1880
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.