CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, SHAVING, THINNING, AND GRINDING SKINS, HIDES OR PRIMS IN A TANNED DRESSED AD DARMLY DRECORD SAME
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Clunan, of Bolton, in the County of Lan-
caster, Leather Seller, and Noah Nightingale, of the same Place,
Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, SHAVING, THINNING, AND GRINDING SKINS,
HIDES OR PRIMS IN A TANNED DRESSED AD DARMLY DRECORD SAME"
Sealed the 26th June 1866, and dated the 10th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Clunan and Noah
Nightingale at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 10th January 1866.
We, JAMES CLUNAN, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Leather Seller,
and NOAH NIGHTINGALE, of the same Place, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, SHAVING, THINNING, AND GRINDING SKINS, HIDES, OR
PELTS IN A TANNED, DRESSED, OR PARTLY DRESSED STATE," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is designed for the purpose of shaving or reducing skins,
hides, or pelts to an even and regular thickness, and afterwards raising or
producing a rough texture on the surface thereof.

page_text: The improvements consist in the application and use of revolving spiral
or curved knives or cutters secured around a shaft in the form of a roller,
which during revolution are to act upon the surface of the hide, so as to
reduce the thickness and inequalities thereof. The hide passes between a pair
of feeding rollers, and is submitted to the action of the cutters whilst passing
round one of these rollers, which acts as a bed or foundation to hold the hide
up to the knives; and this roller together with the cutter roller are made
adjustable by screws, levers, or springs, so that they may be regulated as the
thickness of the hide requires; and the hide may be kept in contact with the
knives by the pressure of the screws or springs. After the hides have been
reduced in thickness by this means they are to be dried, and a roller covered
with emery, pumice stone, or other similar hard rough surface is to be sub-
stituted for the cutting roller, or a metallic roller having a "file cut" surface
may be substituted, and the hides being again passed through the machine
receive the roughness or "nap" required by the action of the roughened
rollers. In passing round the bed roller the hide is kept in contact there-
with by means of guides pressing upon it, and the hide is conveyed away
from the roller and knife and grinders, after cutting and grinding, by means
of an endless apron or band beneath, on to which it falls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 2
by the said James Clunan and Noah Nightingale in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
CLUNAN, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Leather Seller, and NOAH
NIGHTINGALE, of the same Place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said James Clunan and Noah Nightingale, Her special license that we, the
said James Clunan and Noah Nightingale, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said James Clunan and Noah Nightingale,
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
5

page_text: "
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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS.
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CUTTING, SHAVING, THINNING, AND GROUNDING
SKINS, HIDES, OR PELTS IN A TANNED, DRESSED, OR PARTLY DRESSED STATE,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Clunau and.
Noah Nightingale, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or one of our, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain 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 James Clunan, 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
and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
Our Invention is designed for the purpose of shaving or reducing skins,
hides, or pelts to an even and regular thickness, and afterwards raising or
producing a rough texture on the surface thereof.
The improvements consists in the application and use of revolving spiral or
curved knives or cutters secured around a shaft in the form of a roller, which
during revolution are to act upon the surface of the hide, so as to reduce the
thickness and inequalities thereof. The slide passes between a pair of feeding
rollers, and is submitted to the action of the cutters whilst passing round one
of these rollers, which acts as a bed or foundation to hold the hide up to the
knives; and this roller, together with the cutter roller, are made adjustable by
screws, levers, or springs, so that they may be regulated as the thickness of
the hide requires; and the hide may be kept in contact with the knives by the
pressure of the screws or springs. After the hides have been reduced in
thickness by this means they are to be dried, and a roller covered with emery,
pumice stone, or other similar hard rough surface, is to be substituted for the
cutting roller, or a metallic roller having a "file cut" surface may be substituted,
and the hides being again passed through the machine receive the roughness
or "nap" required by the action of the roughened rollers. In passing round
the bed roller the hide is kept in contact therewith by means of guides pressing
upon it, and the hide is conveyed away from the roller and knife and grinders,
after cutting and grinding, by means of an endless apron or band beneath, on
to which it falls.

page_text: In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about three inches to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts on all the Figures.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of the machine, shewing the arrange-
ment of apparatus employed for adjusting the rotating blades and the top or
pressure roller to suit the different thicknesses of the hides or skins submitted
to the action of the said blades, in order that they may be reduced to an even
and regular thickness. Fig. 2 represents a plain view of the driving portion
of the machine and also the said apparatus for arranging and adjusting the
cutters and roller; and Fig. 3 represents a diagram of the peculiar form of
the blades which are placed spirally around a shaft, one being only shewn as
an example.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a, a, is the framing of the machine, in which the vertical
slide b supports the upper pressure or feed roller c, such roller being mounted
in the sliding block 6', which is actuated by the screw d, and may thus be
caused to approach or recede from the lower feed roller e, which revolves in
bearings secured to the framing a. When these rollers are caused to revolve
either by hand or other power they draw or carry the hide or skin which is
placed between thein under the action of the spiral cutters or knife f, by which
means the surface is reduced in thickness. The distance of the revolving
blades is also adjustable, and may be set nearer or further from the surface of
the bottom roller e, so as to suit the different thickness of skins or hides, and
the adjustment is effected by means of the screw gand hand wheel and the
lever and connecting rod h, the said connecting rods being attached on each
side of the machine to the sliding blocks i, i, in which the shaft of the
revolving cutters is mounted. The hide or skin to be operated upou is passed
between the rollers c and e, which present its surface to the spiral blades f, and
then under the guide roller k, the bottom roller e forming a foundation or
support for the hide whilst being operated upon. After the hide or skin bas
been reduced in thickness by this means it is dried and may, if required, be
submitted to the action of grinding rollers as herein-before described.
We would remark that rollers of stiff bristles, like revolving brushes, may
be used for the lower and guide rollers instead of solid rollers.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we claim the novel employment, application, and use o
revolving spiral blades or cutters of the ordinary or of any required form, fo

page_text: cutting, shaving, or thinning hides, skins, or pelts in a dressed or partly
dressed state; and secondly, we claim the peculiar form of cutter shewn for
the purpose, and also the arrangement and construction of apparatus, as herein
before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Clunan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JAMES CLUNAN. (L.S.)