IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULLING THE HAIR FROM CONEY AND OTHER SKINS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fur
Cutter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULLING
THE HAIR FROM CONEY AND OTHER SKINS."-Partly a communication.
Scaled the 25th November 1856, and dated the 10th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th June 1856.
:
I, WILLIAM WILSON, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fur Cutter, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULLING
THE HAIR FROM CONEY AND OTHER SKINS," to be as follows:-
The machinery is composed of a drum. of about fourteen feet in cir-
cumference, fixed upon au axle passing to each side of the frame. Upon this
drum the skins are fastened, and as it slowly revolves they are brought under
the action of the pulling apparatus, which is fixed upon, the top of the frame,
and encircles the drum for more than one-third of its circumference. This
apparatus acts in. imitation of the workman, who, holding one end of the skin
between his knee and the work bench or box, and taking the fur between his
thumb and the pulling knife, which he holds in his hand, tears off the hair
which is not useful for felting. It is formed by a band of iron partially
encircling the drum, at each side to which are attached a number of sectors,

page_text: united at the top by a similar bar of iron, and capable of an oscillating move-
ment. To the under end of each sector a blade is attached to act as the pulling
knife in the band of the workman; at a little distance from these are similarly
placed bands of iron, covered with caoutchouc or some other elastic material,
which act as the thumb of the workman; these covered bands are attached to
other sectors fastened to the lower bar encircling the drum, as aforesaid. As
the drum, with the skins attached, revolves, these knives, capable of moving
backwards and forwards, take hold of the fur, and in their upward motion carry
it to the covered bar, on meeting which they take off the long bair. To
prevent these covered bars yielding to the pressure of the knives before taking
off the hair, strong elastic rings are attached to them and to the frame of tho
machine as well as to the knives.
On each side of the frame in front of this apparatus is attached an additional
support, on which rests the axle upon which the wheels revolve, which give the
various movements to this machine. On the centre of the axle is the wheel,
which, communicating by a strap with a wheel on an axle placed on supports
springing from cach side of the lower part of the frame, gives the motion to
the pulling apparatus by means of cranks and connecting rods. On the same
axle, at the left of the frame, is the wheel which communicates by a strap to
the wheel on the axle on which is fixed the great drum, and by which it is put
in motion. The whole are put in action by a wheel on the same axle at the
right of the frame.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
Wilson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Fur Cutter, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said William Wilson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Wilson, my exccutors, 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,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PULLING
THE HAIR FROM CONEY AND OTHER SKINS," (partly a communication,) upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Wilson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 William Wilson, 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 thereof, that is to say:
To prepare coney and some other skins for the fur cutter, it is needful
to take off the hair which will not felt, this is called "pulling," and has been
hitherto done by hand labour, but is now effected by this machine, which is
made so as to act in a similar way to the workman, who takes the fur between
his thumb and the pulling knife in his hand, and thus pulls off this hair.
This pulling machine consists of an upright cast-iron frame A, the two sides
of which are united by five iron stays B. Upon the axle C, placed on carriages
about the middle of the frame, revolves a wooden drum D with rims of iron;
upon this drum the skins to be pulled are laid, and firmly held by iron bars E,
working on a hinge on one side and passing over the ends of the skins and in
a groove in the drum into a fastener on the opposite side, which closes with a
spring; by pressing the button attached to this spring the bar is released, the
pulled skins are then removed by the attendant, and those to be pulled placed
on the drum, and this is done whilst it is in rotation. Upon each side of the
frame are placed three lifting carriages F, by means of which the pulling
apparatus is raised above the drum to the exact height required to take off the
pullings without removing any of the wool. From the block of each of these
lifting carriages an iron rod G passes to that opposite to it, and to these rods
are fixed two iron sectors II, with ten iron rods passing through them and
across the drum at equal distances apart. On the ends of each of these rods
is hung by its centre a lever I, so that it can move freely backwards and
forwards; these levers are united at the top to similar iron bars an sect ors J,
not, however, immoveable, like those on which they are hung at their centres,
but capable of an oscillating movement with the levers. To the under end of
these levers are fixed blades of steel K, which cut as the pulling knife in the
Land of the workman. A little in advance of these are other levers L, hung

page_text: on the same rods, and capable of the same oscillating movement as those
to which the blades are attached; but to these are attached ten small bars of
iron, to the front of each of which is fastened a piece of cork or other slightly
yielding substance, and both are encased in vulcanized india-rubber; these act
as tho thumb M of the workman, and are kept firm and in position by a bar
of iron placed above and fastened with them to the levers. Depending from
the before-named iron rods G are six hangers, to which are attached two iron
sectors N, each furnished with twelve hooks, from which twenty vulcanized
india-rubber rings pass to hooks fixed in the ends of the levers carrying
the thumbs; these rings are of sufficient strength and so arranged as to hinder
the thumbs yielding to the pressure of the knives before the skins are pulled,
and yet have sufficient elasticity to prevent the knives cutting too soon or too
deep. Two brackets O are fixed upon the front of the frame in carriages; on
the top of these is an axle P, in the centre of which is a sheave, connected by
a strap with a sheave below on an axle Q, also on brackets fixed to the frame;
on this axle Q work cranks with connecting rods attached to the sector J, and
communicating the needful motion to the pulling apparatus. At the end of the
axle P is a small sheave, connected by a strap with a large sheave R, revolving
on a spindle fixed to the frame; on this spindle also revolves the small pinion
working with the large wheel S on the same axle as the drum D) on which tho
skins are fastened. The axle P, on which the sheaves are placed which thus
give the needful movements to both the pulling apparatus and the drum,
is turned by a handle on the fly-wheel T.
This machine works by hand, but may be worked by steam or other power;
it may be made of other materials, and of different sizes and shape, in whole or
in part, and with a greater or less number of pullers.
What I claim is the combination of machinery above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness;
JOSEPH WILSON,
Nowcastle-on-Tyne.
WILLIAM WILSON. (L.S.)