IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING HIDES OR SKINS FOR TANNING
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Birdsall, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Chemist, and James Birdsall, of the same Place, Tanner, for the Inven-
tion of IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING HIDES OR SKINS FOR TANNING."
Sealed the 7th August 1862, and dated the 17th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Birdsall and
James Birdsall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 17th February 1862.
We, THOMAS BIRDSALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Chemist, and
JAMES BIRDSALL, of the same Place, Tanner, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING HIDES OR SKINS FOR
TANNING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means of killing the lime which is employed in
the process of removing the hair from bides or skins previous to the tanning
process; heretofore after the hides have been subjected to the process of
"liming," they have been put through another process called "bateing " or

page_text: pureing," consisting of steeping them in the dung of certain animals or fowls
dissolved in water, which kills the lime and opens the pores of the hides or
skins, the residuum of lime, dirt, and other matters being afterwards worked
out or extracted by well-known means, but which is a very filthy and dis-
agreeable process, and occupying or requiring a considerable length of time;
to remedy or obviate which we employ instead of dung a solution of hydro-
chloric acid diluted to about one thousand and ten specific gravity, in which
the hides or skins are submerged, which in a short time kills the lime and
opens the pores of the hides or skins, the residuum being afterwards worked
out or extracted by usual means or process. By means of this Invention all
nuisance is avoided, and the process of bateing or pureing is accomplished
with greater facility than heretofore.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Birdsall and James Birdsall in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
BIRDSALL, of Leeds, in the County of York, Chemist, and JAMES BIRDSALL,
of the same Place, Tanner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Birdsall and James Birdsall, Her special license that we,
the said Thomas Birdsall and James Birdsall, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Birdsall and James
Birdsall, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING HIDES
OR SKINS FOR TANNING," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said
Thomas Birdsall and James Birdsall, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-

page_text: tion, 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 Thomas Birdsall and James Birdsall,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner tho
same. is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):-
66
66
This Invention relates to means of killing the lime which is employed in
the process of removing the hair from hides or skins previous to the tanning
process. Heretofore after the hides have been subjected to the process; of
liming," they have been put through another process called "bateing" or
pureing," consisting of steeping them in the dung of certain animals or fowls
dissolved in water, which kills the lime and opens the pores of the hides or
skins, the residuum of lime, dirt, and other matters being afterwards worked
out or extracted by well-known means, but which is a very filthy and dis-
agreeable process, and occupying or requiring a considerable length of time;
to remedy or obviate which we employ instead of dung a solution of hydro-
chloric acid, diluted to about one thousand and ten specific gravity, in which
the hides or skins are submerged, which in a short time kills the lime, and
opens the pores of the hides or skins, the residuum being afterwards worked
out or extracted by usual means or processes. By means of this Invention
all nuisance is avoided, and the process of "bateing" or "pureing" is
accomplished with greater facility than heretofore.
In performing this Invention or carrying the same into practical operation,
we would observe that although one thousand and ten specific gravity may be
considered an average strength for the solution of hydrochloric acid in ordi-
nary cases, yet we find it necessary to vary the strength or to dilute the acid
more or less according to the condition of the hides or skins, in order to
produce the effect required to be produced upon them; and in some cases we
find it advantageous to add a little sulphuric acid to the solution. This solu-
tion is also applicable to preparing hides or skins for currying.
Having thus fully described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is or may be performed, we would have it distinctly
understood that we do not confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details
or to the specific gravity of the solution, as herein named, as we have shewn
that it is necessary to vary the strength according to circumstances; but what
we claim as of our Invention, and which we believe to be new within this realm

page_text: is, the use or employment of hydrochloric acid in manner and for purposes
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Birdsall, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Thomas Birdsall, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fourteenth day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-two.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named James Birdsall in
the presence of
W*. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
JAMES BIRDSALL. (L.B.)
Halifax.