A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF SPLITTING HIDES AND SHAVING LEATHER
Year: 1810

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
WARREN REVERE, of Boston, in the United States of America, residing at the
London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nineteenth day of June,
in the fiftieth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph
Warren Revere, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Joseph Warren Revere,
my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "A NEW
AND IMPROVED METHOD OF SPLITTING HIDES AND SHAVING LEATHER," Communi-
cated to me by a certain foreigner; in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Warren Revere, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
two calendar months 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 in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Warren Revere, do hereby declare that the said Invention is describe

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof, that is to say:-
Figure 1: the letters A, A, denote two cylinders of metal, or of any other hard
and firm materials, fluted or groved longitudinally upon the surface of both of
them, and connected by, wheel-work so as to move together by means of a
winch or any other first mover; B, B, denotes screws fo setting the two
cylinders at the proper distance from each other, and at each end of the upper
cylinder there is a spring c, which by its reaction causes the said cylinder
D repre-
to recede from the other when the screws B, B, are turned back.
sents the hinder part of a metalic frame, in which is firmly secured; by springs
or other suitable fastenings, a streight-edged knife, as scen in II, Figure 2, which,
when in its place, can be brought and applied, so that the heads thereof shall
lie or be disposed in the angular space between the two cylinders A, A, having
the said edge parallel to the axis of the said cylinders, and so disposed as to
produce the effect of slitting herein-after described; and in order that the due
placing of the said edge may be correctly and adequately performed, the
said frame D, which is more clearly and separately designated in Fig. 2, is
made with parallel sides J, K, so as to fit between grooves or supports upon
or between the uprights E of the principal frame in Figure 1; and the said
grooves or supports are provided with suitable adjustments, by screws or
wedges, or other well-known means, by which the said frame can be so placed
and duly fixed and secured. L and M, Figure 2, denote two inclined or
curved pieces of metal, or other fit material, proceeding from each side of the
flat surface of the knife, and diverging therefrom, so as to cause the parts of
the hide or leather to seperate and be duly carried off after cutting. G is a
oller, which I call a feeding roller, and, which revolves on its axis in front of
and parralel to the forcing cylinders A, A., F, F, represents the framing or bed
by, which the machine is supported...
And I do hereby declare that the method of working or using my said
machine is as follows, viz-I attach one end of the hide or leather, by pins
or otherwise, to the roller G, and y turning said roller, the hide or leather
is wound thereon, and duly disposed so as to present the other end to
the forcing cylinders A, A, the knife H being so disposed and fixed as
that the edge, thereof shall be at the proper position for slitting; the upper
cylinder is then to be pressed towards the lower by means of the screws B, B,
so as firmly to take hold of the bide or leather. The cylinders A, A,
being made to revolve, will force the hide or leather against the edge of the
knife, which will split or shave the same, and one part thereof will pass
downward at M, and the other upward at L.
The roller G is resisted in its

page_text: revolution by a friction lever, or otherwise at pleasure, whereby any degree of
tension may be given to the byde or leather as it is drawn off.
And further, I declare that the principal improvements in my said new
method do consist in the use of a fixed or stationary knife, and in so
placing and confining it as to meet the hide or leather before it escapes from
the action of the forcing cylinders; and also in the construction of and the
manner in which a powerful action is obtained from the forcing cylinders,
whereby the hide or leather as it passess thro' has not room to deviate, but
must necessarily be forced and proceed right onward to the knife and undergo
the splitting or shaving intended by this machine; the hides or leather aro split
or divided into any thickness required, and with great expedition, and when
divided or split are left with smooth surfaces and free from any marks of
the knife.
And lastly, I do declare that the other particulars of the structure of my
said machine, and of the form and dimensions thereof, as well as of the fit and
proper materials, are capable of being varied according to the size and nature
of the work intended to be done, but that the same particulars are such as any
competent workman in machinery of this nature will find no difficulty in
providing for in constructing the same, and more especially that the sizes of
the hides or skins intended to be split or shaved will determine the sizes
of the cylinders as to the lenth thereof, and the other parts may be made to
correspond, without reference to any scale in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Warren Revere, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and ton