IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GLAZING OR BURNISHING LEATHER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Allen, of East Dercham, in the County
of Norfolk, Leather Dresser and Leather Merchant, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GLAZING OR BURNISHING LEATHER
"
Sealed the 22nd May 1874, and dated the 28th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Allen at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th November 1873.
I, EDWARD ALLEN, of East Dereham, in the County of Norfolk,
Leather Dresser and Leather Merchant, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR GLAZING OR
BURNISHING LEATHER,” to be as follows :—
This Invention consists in placing the bed or surface on which the
leather is placed to be glazed or burnished on movable and clastic
bearings or supports, such moveable bed being supported or sustained on
or placed in a moveable frame, and such frame supported on a spring or
springs. The motion of the bed is limited, and the pressure of the spring
or springs regulated by screws or otherwise, and means are provided by

page_text: levers or otherwise, as heretofore practised or otherwise, for the purpose.
of withdrawing the bed from or bringing the same nearer to the bur-
nishing or glazing wheel, and increasing or diminishing the pressure and
bringing into operation the action of the glazers or burnishers on the
leather on the said yielding or elastic bed.
The machine to which such improvements are applicable is con-
structed by placing a shaft or axis in bearings in a suitable main
framework, and mounting on such shaft or axis the glazing or bur-
nishing wheel, on the circumference of which wheel are placed pieces,
rollers, or cylinders of lignum vitæ or other hard wood, substance or
material, such pieces, rollers, or cylinders being fixed in a rigid and
inelastic manner, but capable of being adjusted or regulated as to the
distance thereof from the centre of the said shaft or axis by means of
screws or other suitable means. Opposite the said glazing or burnishing
wheel, and supported by the same main framing, a swinging or moveable
compound framing is placed, and in this framing is placed the bed on
which the leather to be operated on is placed and moved, and such bed
is supported by a spring or springs or placed in a secondary frame sup-
ported by a spring or springs, and the pressure, initial or otherwise, of
such spring or springs is regulated by screws or other means. The com-
pound framing, with the yielding bed and its supports therein or thereon,
is brought by the action of a lever, treadle, or other means to a given or
fixed distance from the said burnishing wheel, such distance being regu-
lated by screws, stops, or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Edward Allen in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ALLEN, of East Dereham, in the County of Norfolk, Leather Dresser
and Leather Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three,
in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
3

page_text: .
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Allen, Her special
license that I, the said Edward Allen, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Allen, my executors,
administrators, or 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 MACHINERY FOR GLAZING OR BURNISHING LEATHER," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Edward Allen, my
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Edward Allen, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in placing the bed or surface on which the
leather is placed to be glazed or burnished on moveable and elastic
bearings or supports, such moveable bed being supported or sustained on
or placed in a moveable frame, and such frame supported on a spring or
springs. The motion of the bed is limited, and the pressure of the spring
or springs regulated by screws or otherwise, and means are provided by
levers or otherwise, as heretofore practised or otherwise, for the purpose
of withdrawing the bed from or bringing the same nearer to the bur-
nishing or glazing wheel, and increasing or diminishing the pressure and
bringing into operation the action of the glazers or burnishers on the
leather on the said yielding or elastic bed.
The machines to which such improvements are applicable are con-
structed by placing a shaft or axis in bearings in a suitable main
framework, and mounting on such shaft or axis the glazing or bur-
nishing wheel, on the circumference of which wheel are placed pieces,
rollers, or cylinders of lignum vitæ or other hard wood, substance, or,

page_text: material, such pieces, rollers, or cylinders being fixed in a rigid and
inelastic manner, but capable of being adjusted or regulated as to the
distance thereof from the centre of the said shaft or axis by means of
screws or other suitable means. Opposite the said glazing or burnishing
wheel, and supported by the same main framing, a swinging or moveable
compound framing is placed, and in this framing is placed the bed on
which the leather to be operated on is placed and moved, and such bed
is supported by a spring or springs or placed in a secondary frame sup-
ported by spring or springs, and the pressure, initial or otherwise, of
such spring or springs is regulated by screws or other means. The com-
pound framing, with the yielding bed and its supports therein or thereon,
is brought by the action of a lever, treadle or other means to a given or
fixed distance from the said burnishing wheel, such distance being regu-
lated by screws, stops, or otherwise.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figures 1 and 2 represent perspective views of the improved machine.
A represents the glazing or burnishing wheel fixed to the shaft B,
which is mounted in bearings 1, 1, secured to the main framework C,
and receives a rotatory motion by means of the spur wheel 2, acted upon
by the spur pinion 3, which is fixed to the first motion shaft 4, driven by
a pulley or drum 5, acted upon by a belt from without; or the necessary
motion may be imparted to the shaft B by any other suitable means.
At suitable distances apart on the circumference of the burnishing
wheel A four or more pieces, rollers, or cylinders D, D, of lignum vitæ
or other hard wood or material are carried by studs d, d, fixed in the
brackets E, E, which are secured by bolts to the faces of projections
from the rim of the burnishing wheel A, as shewn. The holes for these
bolts through the brackets E, E, are slotted, to allow of the latter being
adjusted or moved nearer to or further from the centre or axis of the
burnishing wheel A, as required. The pieces, rollers, or cylinders D do
not revolve on the studs d, but are firmly fixed by the nuts on the said
studs.

page_text: At one end and forming part of or attached to the feet of the main
framework C are the standards or frames F, F, in front of which
extending across the said main framework is a shaft G mounted in
bearings 6, 6, on the said main framing. Fixed at its lower end to and
carried by the shaft G is a bracket or frame H, on and against the upper
and lower ends of which the respective ends of a compound spring I
extending between them presses and acts as shewn, and vibrates thereon.
To the centre portion of this spring is attached a plate K, and to this
plate on each side of the spring I are secured the two inclined
bearers L, L, across which are fixed three cross bars 1, 1, 1, for carrying
the burnishing bed M attached thereto, and on which the leather is laid
to undergo the burnishing action of the pieces, rollers, or cylinders D, D,
in revolving with the wheel A.
}
The bed M is composed of a centre portion 7 of lignum vitæ or other
hard wood or material, and the side bearers or portions 8, 8, of the same
wood or other substance. Through the plate K pass two bolts u, u, one
on each side of the spring I, extending to and through lugs on the sides
of the bracket or frame H, or through a plate at the back of the same,
and fitted thereat with nuts, by tightening up which nuts against the
said lugs or latter plate the tension of the spring I and the amount of
its play or motion in carrying the burnishing bed M is adjusted or
regulated.
O is a cam lever fixed on the centre of the shaft P, which is mounted
in bearings 9, 9, on the standards or frames F, F, and extends between
the same, as shewn. The outer end of the cam lever O is fitted opposite
to the back portion of the bracket or frame H for operating the same, as
hereafter described. At the outer end of the shaft P is a lever Q, con-
nected by the link R with the hand lever S, which is carried by a stud s
on the side of one of the standards or frames F, F, and works against the
outer edge of a spring guide or quadrant T, by which it is locked or
prevented from shifting at proper times.
In Figure 1 the bracket or frame H, with the spring I and burnishing
bed M is shewn out of action, videlicet, at such a distance from the bur-
nishing wheel A that on the burnishing pieces, rollers, or cylinders D, D,
passing the said bed a distance intervenes between them and the latter.
The skin or leather being now laid and adjusted on the bed M, the hand
lever S is moved from its vertical position, as seen in Figure 1, along the

page_text: spring guide or quadrant T, and acting upon the lever Q partially turns
the shaft P in its bearings, and causes the cam lever O to push forward
and slightly raise the frame or bracket H on the shaft G, with the
spring I and the bed M. towards or nearer to the axis of the burnishing
wheel A, until the upper end of the frame or bracket H is brought in
contact with and retained against the stop X, when the bed M will be
at given or fixed distance from the burnishing wheel A.; at the same
time the hand lever S in moving along the spring guide or quadrant T
springs into the notch V thereon, and the whole apparatus is thereby
locked. In the meanwhile motion is communicated to the burnishing
wheel A, as before mentioned, and the leather being moved or con-
tinually shifted on the bed M, all its parts are thereby subjected to the
burnishing action of the pieces, rollers, or cylinders D, D, on the cir-
cumference of the revolving wheel A.
1
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the In-
vention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is, the combination of an elastic or yielding and adjustable bed
with the burnishing wheel in machines for glazing and burnishing
leather, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and
illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Allen, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-sixth day of
May, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.