AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR UNHAIRING FLESHING, AND CLEANSING HIDES
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Gérard, of Soignies, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Tanner, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR UNHAIRING
FLESHING, AND CLEANSING HIDES."
Sealed the 11th January 1878, and dated the 21st July 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Gérard at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1877.
"
AUGUSTE GÉRARD, of Soignies, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Tanner. 'AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR UNHAIRING, FLESHING, AND CLEANSING HIDES."
My Invention relates to apparatus for unhairing, fleshing, and cleansing hides,
and consists of the improvements herein-after described, whereby the said operations
are effected more efficiently than heretofore.
Upon one end of a suitable frame, I mount in suitable bearings a roller, herein-
after called the drawing roller. In the said drawing roller are formed two, or more
than two, longitudinal grooves or depressions extending from one end to the other
of the said drawing roller; and in the saiti grooves or depressions are fitted a certain
number of hooks, placed at intervals one from the other, for the purpose of hooking
on the ends of the hides to be operated on. At a little distance in front of the said
drawing roller, and also mounted in suitable bearings upon the said frame, is a
second roller, herein-after called the pressure roller, which also extends from one
side of the apparatus to the other. The said pressure roller is covered with india-
rubber or other suitable soft and compressible material
In front of the said pressure
roller and mounted in suitable bearings carried by a sliding frame, capable of sliding
in either direction on longitudinal slides formed upon the main framing of the
apparatus, is a third roller, herein-after called the working roller. The said working
roller is provided with a number of steel blades, disposed spirally or in a helical or
other suitable curve upon its surface. On the under side of the said sliding frame
is a rack, the teeth of which gear with the teeth of a toothed quadrant or wheel
mounted on an axis carried by the main frame. Upon the said axis is also a crank,
which, by means of a suitable link or rod, is connected to a hand wheel carried by
I Price Cd11

page_text: the main frame, so that by turning the said hand wheel in the required direction
the sliding frame and working roller may be brought near to the pressure roller
or removed therefrom.
Above the apparatus is a pipe perforated with holes, through which water is
caused to play upon the hide being operated on by the working roller.
Motion is communicated to the drawing roller and to the working roller by means
of a suitable-shaft mounted in bearings carried by the main frame. Upon the said
shaft are affixed a fast and loose pulley and suitable gearing for actuating the
drawing roller, and a train of wheels for giving motion to the working roller, the
said wheels being so disposed that more or less speed may be given to the said
working roller, according to the kind of hide to be operated on.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The hide to he operated on is spread
crosswise upon the pressure roller, and is fixed by one of its ends to the hooks in
one of the grooves or depressions in the drawing roller. Thus about one-half of the
said hide passes from the drawing roller to the pressure roller, and its other half
passes over and hangs down from the said pressure roller. The working roller is
then brought close to the said pressure roller and against the hide upon it by means
of the hand wheel, as herein-before described, and motion is given to the drawing
roller and to the working roller, and at the same time the water in the perforated
pipe is caused to play upon the hide on the pressure roller. The drawing roller
draws on the hide continuously, and the blades on the working roller, by rotating
rapidly, scrape or rub the surface of the hide, any asperities on the said hide sinking
into the elastic surface of the pressure roller.
The hair and fleshy parts upon the surface of the hide are removed by the action
of the blades of the working roller, and at the same time the hide is washed by the
water from the perforated pipe. When one half of the hide has been operated on,
the said hide is turned, and its other half is subjected to a like operation.
By means of the gearing, herein-before described, the rotation of the drawing
roller may be regulated so that the action of the working roller on the hide may be
greater or less, according to the requirements of each particular case.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Auguste Gérard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th
January 1878.
Auguste Gérard, of Soignies, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Tanner. " AN IM-
PROVED APPARATUS FOR UNHAIRING, FLESHING, AND CLEANSING HIDES."
The progress made in the mechanical developinent of the art of tanning is similar
to that of other branches of industry. Every effort is made to substitute, as much
as possible, mechanical for manual labour. For this special purpose various
apparatuses have already been produced for treating the bides by the process of
soaking.
It is needless to enumerate here the unfavourable conditions under which this
kind of work was performed when entrusted to manual labour alone. These dis-
advantages are well known by all employed in tanning, and are the starting point
of all researches.
It is equally unnecessary to observe that the apparatuses which have been pro-
duced all realised, more or less, those commercial results which form essentially the
basis of substituting the mechanical motor for manual labour, namely, a quicker,
more regular, more economical, and more healthy manufacture. In short, it will not
be saying anything new to remark that preceding machine makers have employed,
by a special combination of their own, devices or principles already existing in
branches of industry more or less similar.
The new or improved apparatus possesses in a higher degree that any that have
preceded it the various advantages desired.
The apparatus, which is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, consists of the
following main parts:-
1st. A drawing roller a provided with a coupling. This part is not in itself new.
It will be seen by examining it that it is borrowed from the leather-shifting
machine.
2nd. A working roller c, borrowed from the cloth manufacturing apparatuses,
and also in general use. This roller is provided with helicoidal blades, according to
an arrangement well known in the trade.
3rd. A counter-pressure roller b so arranged and lined as to efface the roughnesses
of any object pressed against it. This result is attained by means of a lining of
soft and compressible materials. This process and the effect thereof are well known
in practice, and have been often applied. India-rubber especially has been used
for this purpose, and I have also adopted it, by preference, for the new or improved
apparatus, without however confining myself thereto.
4th. Gearings of differential speed e, a, e, regulating the motion of the roller a.
5th. Lastly, a motion from a to , by means of which the roller c will be
brought near to or separated from the roller b, a motion to which no analogy
has been anywhere found, and which constitutes the main novel feature of the
Invention.
The novelty of the new or improved apparatus consists in the general arrange-
ment of the different parts above enumerated. As a commercial acquisition, this
novelty is confirmed by a higher degree of excellence attained in the advantages
constantly sought after in industry, and by the fact that hitherto the said apparatus
alone can work hides in any manner by the soaking process, such as are known in
the tanning trade.
The working of the apparatus is easily shown by the description of its different
parts and by the inspection of the Drawing, and will be understood without
difficulty by any competent person. The details thereof are however given herein-
after.
The hide is spread out transversely by the middle on the roller 6 and is booked
on to the roller a; as soon as the hide is placed in position, one of the workmen

page_text: who guide the machine, by a motion imparted by the hand to the lever d, brings
the working roller c in contact with the hide. At the same time the other work-
man sets in motion the roller a and turns on the cock of the pipe g.
The following is the operation thereby effected :-The roller a draws forward
the hide by a continuous motion; the blades of the roller c in their rapid evolution
rub the whole surface of the hide, the roughnesses of which are effaced in the india-
rubber of the roller b; the hair or flesh gives way under the pressure of the blades,
and the water which escapes from the pipe g washes the hide, and when the first
half is done, it is turned over to be completed.
By means of the differential speed gearings, the motion of the drawing roller is
regulated so as to prolong more or less the action of the working roller, according
to the special requirements of the different shapes, or according as the unhairing
and fleshing are more or less difficult.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect, what I claim is, a new or improved
apparatus for unhairing, fleshing, and cleansing hides, provided with a motion
which consists in bringing the working roller near to or separating it from the
drawing roller, and the combination of the different parts thereof, substantially as
above described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Gérard, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
A.
GERARD (L.C.)