A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF LEATHER, TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW FLOCK, AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME, TO BE USED AND APPLIED IN LIEU OF FLOCK MADE FROM POUNDED OR GROUND WOOL AND WOOLLEN MATERIALS, HERETOFORE COMMONLY USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAINTED, PRINTED, AND DIED DECORATING PAPERS, CARPETS, OIL CLOTHS, AND OTHER THINGS; AND ALSO TO BE USED AS A PASTE OR PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ALL KINDS OF PAPER, PARCHMENT, AND PASTEBOARD, OF TOYS, OF ORNAMENTAL AND OTHER PICTURE FRAMES, OF MOULDINGS, ARCHITECTURAL AND SCULPTURAL ORNAMENTS, AND OTHER THINGS
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Trappes at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th September
1854. A communication.
I, HENRY TRAPPES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A PROCESS FOR THE
PREPARATION OF LEATHER, TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF A NEW FLOCK,
AND FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAME, TO BE USED AND APPLIED IN LIEU
OF FLOCK MADE FROM POUNDED OR GROUND WOOL AND WOOLLEN MATERIALS,
HERETOFORE COMMONLY USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PAINTED, PRINTED, AND
DIED DECORATING PAPERS, CARPETS, OIL CLOTHS, AND OTHER THINGS; AND ALSO
TO BE USED AS A PASTE OR PULP FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ALL KINDS OF
PAPER, PARCHMENT, AND PASTEBOARD, OF TOYS, OF ORNAMENTAL AND OTHER PICTURE
FRAMES, OF MOULDINGS, ARCHITECTURAL AND SCULPTURAL ORNAMENTS, AND OTHER
THINGS," communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, to be as
follows:-
The leather must be ground in a strongly mounted conical mill, to revolve
with great speed, otherwise the grinding or trituration of the leather will not
be effected. The mill must be constructed with great precision, and managed
and worked by a skilful workman. The mill must be constructed upon the
principle and be of the form of a large pepper mill or grinder, but it must
revolve horizontally insted of vertically, and it must be set with blades. insted

page_text: of cogs or teeth. The blades must be set or sharpened very often. The mill
will require two or three horse power to work it, according and in proportion
to the hardness or toughness of the leather to be ground, and it must make at
least 1200 evolutions in the minute. When the leather has thus been ground,
it is taken out of the mill and put into large tubs of water, where it must
remain and infuse for a day or two, after which it must undergo several
washings in plenty of water, and then it must be bleached by alkalines and
acids, in order to rid it of the tan, which if not removed might injure or destroy
the brilliancy of the colours it has to take when died. The leather thus pre-
pared must be subjected to a further grinding, by means of very hard and fine
grained millstones, until the pulp or paste shall have acquired the degree of
fineness required. The pulp or paste is then to be drained; and in order to
free it entirely from the alkaline and acidulated water, it must be replaced in
large tubs of water, and undergo one or two more washings, as above mentioned,
and then it is to be died according to the ordinary process in use by wool diers
and maroco leather manufacturers.
The leather pulp or paste must then be dried atmospherically, if possible,
and it must then be repassed and reground in a mill, similar to the one used in
the first instance for the trituration of the leather, but somewhat finer, so as to
reduce it to a powder, after which it must be sifted through a sieve. For the
purpose of manufacturing paper, parchment, and pasteboard with the said
leather pulp or paste, it must when taken from the millstones undergo several
washings, more or less, according to the quality or degree of perfection required
for the article or thing to be manufactured. The same process must be used
for making the pulp or paste for the manufacture of toys, picture frames, and
other articles and things. The Invention consists in the above-mentioned
preparation of the leather, and in its application to the above-mentioned pur-
poses, instead of and as a substitute for wool or worsted, and other materials
hitherto employed or used in the manufactures aforesaid.