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 COM- MONLY 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 PASTE- BOARD, OF TOYS, OF ORNAMENTAL AND OTHER PICTURE FRAMES, OF MOULDINGS, ARCHITECTURAL AND SCULPTURAL ORNAMENTS, AND OTHER THINGS
Year: 1855

page_text: (This Invention received Provisional Protection, but notice to proceed with the
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Trappes at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th February
1855. A communication.
J, 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 COM-
MONLY 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 PASTE-
BOARD, 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 instead of vertically, and it must be set with blades instead
of cogs or teeth. The blades must be set or sharpened very often. The mill
will require two to three horse power to work it, according and in proportion

page_text: 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 dyed. The leather
thus prepared 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 dyed according to the ordinary process in use by wool dyers and Maroco
leather manufacturers. The leather pulp or paste must then be dried atmo
spherically, if possible, and it must then be re-passed and re-ground in a mill,
simular 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 seive.
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 purposes, instead of, and as a substitute for, wool or worsted, and
other materials hitherto employed or used in the manufactures aforesaid..