AN IMPROVED DEPILATORY COMPOSITION FOR HIDES AND SKINS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John William Willans Shaw, of Rochdale, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED DEPILATORY
COMPOSITION FOR HIDES AND SKINS."-A communication from abroad
Sealed the 3rd April 1872, and dated the 22nd December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John William Willans
Shaw at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 22nd December 1871.
I, JOHN WILLIAM WILLANS SHAW, of Rochdale, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED DEPILATORY COMPOSITION FOR HIDES AND SKINS," to be as
follows:-
:-
This improved composition is intended to be applied to hides or skins
for the purpose of facilitating the removal of wool or hair therefrom,
which is effected either by hand or by a suitable machine, for example,

page_text: such as that for which I have applied for Letters Patent on the 6th day
of December 1871, Number 3288.
The composition consists of the following ingredients dissolved in
boiling water, videlicet:-Slacked lime, flowers of sulphur, and soda ash
(white alkali). The ingredients may be put in the water either separately
or together, and should be well stirred. The composition should be
boiled about 2 or 3 hours, according to the consistency desired. I do
not limit myself to any specific proportions of the ingredients as these
may be varied according to circumstances. The composition when suffi-
ciently boiled is run into a vat or tub and when cold it is ready for
immediate use, or it may be put in a closed vessel and kept for subse-
quent use. It is applied to the flesh side of the skin or hide.
I
Patent Office on the 22nd June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WILLIAM WILLANS SHAW, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John William Willans Shaw, Her special
licence that I, the said John William Willans Shaw, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John William
Willans Shaw, my 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 "AN IMPROVED DEPILATORY COMPOSITION FOR HIDES AND
SKINS," a communication to me from abroad by Jules Watteau,
of Antwerp, in the Kingdom of Belgium, upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that I, the said John William Willans Shaw, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 I, the said John William Willans Shaw, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
This improved composition is intended to be applied to skins or hides
for the purpose of loosening the wool or hair at the roots, and so facili-
tating the removal thereof by hand or by any suitable machine, and
particularly by the machine for which I obtained Letters Patent bearing
date December 6th, 1871, No. 3288.
The composition consists of the following ingredients, videlicet :-
Lime (fresh burnt lime, hydrate of lime, or slaked lime), flour of sulphur,
and a caustic alkali, preferably a caustic soda or that which is known
commercially as soda ash. The ingredients may be put in water either
separately or together, and the compound is then boiled from 2 to 6
hours, according to the strength and consistency of the composition
desired. It is preferable to heat by fire than by steam to dissolve the
substances better, and the mixture should be continually stirred during
the boiling.
I do not limit myself to the specific proportions of the ingredients
given, as these may be varied according to circumstances, but the
following proportions will produce an efficient depilatory composition :-
Time herdnato or slaked
15 The

page_text: centage of alkali the depilatory action of the composition will be slower.
The liquid derives its great depilatory power from the resulting sul-
phosel or double sulphide of calcium and sodium. The depilatory power
of the composition may be further increased and its action on the skin
improved by adding to it a quantity of fresh burnt lime. The lime is
introduced when the composition is at the boiling point, and after it
has been boiled for a length of time as before indicated, the quantity of
lime so added being about one-fourth of the quantity of lime previously
used in the composition (10 to 12 lbs.). The composition is then boiled
for about half an hour or one hour longer and appears of a yellowish
color. Whether the lime last-mentioned has been added or not, the
composition when sufficiently boiled is run off into a vat or tub, and
when cold it is ready for immediate application, or it may be put in a
closed vessel and kept for subsequent use. The composition is applied
by means of a mop to the flesh side of the skin or hide, and one or more
applications may be made according to the strength of the composition
and the condition of the skin or hide. The skin or hide if dry should
first be steeped for a length of time (varying according to the kind and
condition of skin or hide) in cold water to bring it as near as possible
to its natural condition, the composition being applied while the skin or
hide is yet moist and supple. After application the skin or hide is
folded up flesh side inwards and left for a few hours (sheepskins about 6
hours, hides previously salted or others about 18 hours), varying
according to the skin or hide,) when the composition having permeated
and acted upon the skins or hides and loosened the wool or hair, the
latter may be removed either by the aid of machinery, for which I
obtained the before-mentioned Letters Patent, or by any other suitable
means. After the wool or hair is thus stripped from the skins or hides
the latter are then washed out and steeped in lime water to facilitate their
subsequent working; the time required for this will depend on the
purposes of the operator. For salted or other hides it may be found
desirable for their working to strip the hair from the hides by immersion,
to admit of a more regular stripping of the hair on all parts of the hide,
and at the same time to combine a part of the subsequent working in
the same process. I therefore place the hides in a tank containing the
following proportions of liquids:-20 to 25 lbs. weight of fresh burnt
lime per hide dissolved in about 10 times its quantity or weight of
water, and to this I add about 2 lbs. of composition (when cold) per
hide. This composition is formed of the ingredients originally indicated

page_text: and prepared accordingly, and after the hides have undergone this
immersion and remained from 24 to 36 hours they are ready for the
subsequent working, and do not require to be further steeped in lime.
In this last mode of treatment it is preferable to remove the hair from
the hide by hand labor. Either of the methods of treatment before
described may be employed at the discretion of the operator.
I am aware that similar depilatory compositions have been employed,
but the double sulphide of sodium and calcium is not obtained in any
of these combinations. In one or more of them sulphide of sodium and
sulphide of calcium are produced, but there is no chemical union between
the two sulphides. By boiling in water as I direct there takes place a
chemical union not otherwise produced to so great a degree in any other
manner. By the boiling the two sulphides are chemically united at the
instant of their formation, giving the double sulphide.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, a
sulphosel or a double sulphide of calcium and sodium produced as
indicated, for separating wool and hair from skins and hides.
In witness whereof, I, the said John William Willans Shaw, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
JOHN WILLIAM WILLANS SHAW. (L.S.)