IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR STAKING AND GROUNDING LEATHER
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Staniland Stocks and Benjamin Stocks,
of Buslingthorpe, Leeds, in the County of York, Leather Dressers,
for the Invention of " IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR STAKING AND
GROUNDING LEATHER.”
Sealed the 26th September 1871, and dated the 28th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Staniland
Stocks and Benjamin Stocks at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 28th March 1871.
We, JAMES STANILAND STOCKS and BENJAMIN STOCKS, of Busling-
thorpe, Leeds, in the County of York, Leather Dressers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS OB
APPARATUS FOR STAKING AND GROUNDING LEATHER," to be as follows:-
Heretofore the staking or stretching of leather or skins in the
manufacture of leather has been effected by means of a stake or post
fixed in the floor, and in the top end of which a blade or knife with a
curved or convex edge projects, and the workman has had to draw or

page_text: drag the leather or skin over the edge of the said blade a suitable
number of times untill the whole of the said skin was sufficiently
operated upon. And the grounding of such leather or skins has been
effected by the skin being temporarily fixed on a rail, and by means of a
curved blade or knife held in the hand of the workman, which he draws
over the same untill the whole surface has been operated upon.
Now our improved means or apparatus consists of a rotary roller in
which we fix one or a series of such curved edged blades or knives
projecting out above the surface thereof. We give rotary motion
to this roller and the skin is fixed temporarily to another roller or
beam capable of being turned as required, and held in any desirable.
position by catch and ratchet wheel or other equivalent means. This
roller is placed parallel with and near to the rotary roller, and a portion
of the skin passes over the said roller, the blades or knives operating
thereon, the workman holding it over or pressing it to the blades or
knives with his hands as the roller rotates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Staniland Stocks and Benjamin Stocks in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
STANILAND STOCKS and BENJAMIN STOCKS, of Buslingthorpe, Leeds, in
the County of York, Leather Dressers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said James Staniland Stocks and
Benjamin Stocks, Her special licence that we, the said James Staniland
Stocks and Benjamin Stocks, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said James Staniland Stocks and Benjamin
Stocks, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great

page_text: "
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVED MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR STAKING AND GROUNDING LEATHER,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Staniland
Stocks and Benjamin Stocks, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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 we, the said James Staniland Stocks and
Benjamin Stocks, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 Sheet of Drawings (that is to say) :-
Heretofore the staking or stretching of leather or skins in the
manufacture of leather has been effected by means of a stake or post
fixed in the floor, and in the top end of which a blade or knife with a
curved or convex edge projects, and the workman has had to draw or
drag the leather or skin over the edge of the said blade a suitable
number of times until the whole of the said skin was sufficiently
operated upon. And the grounding of such leather or skins has been
effected by the skin being temporarily fixed on a rail, and by means of a
curved blade or knife held in the hand of the workman, which he draws
over the same until the whole surface has been operated upon.
'
Now our improved means or apparatus consists of a rotary roller in
which we fix one or a series of such curved edged blades or knives
projecting out above the surface thereof. We give rotary motion to this
roller, and the skin is fixed temporarily to another roller or beam capable
of being turned as required, and held in any desirable position by catch
and ratchet wheel or other equivalent means.
This roller is placed
parallel with and near to the rotary roller, and portion of the skin
passed over the said roller, the blades or knives operating thereon, the
workman holding it over or pressing it to the blades or knives with his
hands as the roller rotates.
In order that our said Invention may be clearly understood, we
herein give reference to an accompanying Sheet of Drawings of a

page_text: machine or apparatus constructed in accordance therewith, wherein.
Fig. 1 is the front elevation and Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same.
A is the rotary roller in which are fixed three series or rows of curved
or convexe edged knives B₁, B³, and B³. These knives are arranged by
preference to cross each other as shewn, so that they will operate upon
different parts of the skin. Rotary motion is communicated to this
roller by the gear wheels C and D from the driving pulley E, which runs
loose on a stud fixed to the frame F. "The pinion wheel D also runs
loose on the said stud and forms one part of a catch box or coupling box
capable of sliding on the shaft into gear with a corresponding part on
the pulley.
It is placed in gear by the forked arm of the weighted
lever G and removed out of gear or unto the position shewn by the
attendant pressing with the foot on the other end G of the said lever.
H is the roller or beam to which the skin is to be temporarily fixed
while under operation of the knives, which is by means of a cord I, the
skin being passed around it or betwixt it and the roller, then partly
around the said roller and over the knives. This roller H is held in
position by the catch J, taking into a ratchet wheel K fixed on the said
roller, and the said catch is lifted out of the ratchet by means of the
rod L, attached to a lever M, which is pressed by the foot of the
attendant,
.
It will now be readily seen that when a skin is attached to the
roller by one side or one end and the other side or end placed over
or upon the knives B of the roller A, and when rotary motion is
given to the roller A the attendant presses the skin with his hands upon
the knives, which operate thereon in a similar manner, producing the
the same or better effects than the ordinary or usual process of staking
or stretching, and with much greater facility.
It will also be evident that this machine is equally applicable for
"grounding skins" with great facility.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and shewn
by Drawings in what manner the same is performed, we would have
it understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details in
the construction of the machine as illustrated; but what we claim as of
our Invention is, the construction and use of a machine or apparatus for
staking and grounding leather or skins, wherein a rotary roller having

page_text: one or more curved edged knives is employed in manner substantially as
herein described and shewn by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Stocks, for and on behalf
of myself and the said James Staniland Stocks, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
BENJAMIN STOCKS. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named Benjamin
Stocks, in the presence of
WALTER BRIERLEY,
Tasker & Brierley,
Patent Agents,
Halifax & Bradford.