Improvements in Machines for Softening Leather.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1899-Accepted, 12th May, 1900
Improvements in Machines for Softening Leather.
I, JOHN ORMEROD, of the Firm of John Ormerod & Sons, of Globe Leather
Works, Castleton, near Manchester, Tanners and Curriers, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to machines for softening leather and consists in the
hereinafter described improvement therein.
Sheep, goat and other light skins after being tanned are dried by hanging and
stretching them on hooks or nailing them on straining boards, which drying
leaves them hard and unfit for use, and they must be softened by mechanical.
treatment.
For this purpose, in some cases, staking or softening machines are used in
which the skins to be softened are passed over or between rollers or straight
edges at sharp angles. This process breaks up the skins and makes them soft
and pliable, but the skins subjected to this process are generally too soft and
irregularly stretched to take the polish required for some qualities of leather;
for instance, the roller skins used for covering spinning machine rollers, nor is
the back or flesh side raised to a fluffy feel and appearance as required for these.
Skins for such purposes have heretofore hitherto been softened and raised by
hand; the skin being clamped at one side and the operator stroking the back
with a moon knife while holding the free side of the skin in his hand. This
operation requires both time and skill so as not to break the face or hair side and
obtain the exact amount of softness or pliancy required by the trade.
"
The object of my invention is to remedy the defects of the machines hitherto
used and to obtain by means of a machine the same kind of finish as has hitherto
been obtained by hand labour. This I attain by using a soft yielding bed pre-
ferably formed of a brush on which the skins rest while subjecting their back
or flesh side to the action of a flat sharp tool.
On the drawing appended hereunto Figure 1 represents a side view and
Figure 2 a plan of a machine for carrying my invention into effect.
For the purpose of my invention I use a machine similar to the glassing
machines at present in use, the drawing shewing a glassing machine as made
by Messrs. Ths. Haley & Co., of Bramley to which my improvement has been
adapted.
The machine consists of a frame a on which a slide 6 is moved forward and
backward in guides 61 and 62 by a connecting rod c actuated by a crank pin d
in the flywheel which is fixed on a shaft driven by the pulley f. On the
slide ba bellerank g is mounted the upper end of which is connected by a rod h
to the crank pin d, while the other arm of the bellcrank carries the toolholder g¹.
Upon the inclined foot a¹ of the frame a stand i can slide formed in its upper
part with a recess or box, and flanges to which a table is fixed. A treadle
lever mis hinged upon the stand at n and connected to a link o which is ful-
crummed on a stud o¹ on the frame. By pressing down the lever m the stand i
is pushed up the incline on a and the top of the table, which is inclined and
D

page_text: parallel to the guides of the slide block b, is brought nearer to the tool. On
release of the lever m a spring 2 pulls it up again and returns the stand and
table to its original position.
My improvement consists in the use of a sharp edged flat scraping knife r
fixed in the toolholder g¹ and a soft yielding bed under the same. Preferably I
form this bed of a bristle brush s let into the table so as to be about level with
the top. This brush is somewhat wider than the scraping tool and longer than
its stroke. In consequence of the arrangement of the slide b and bellcrank g,
the tool is lifted up while the slide is moved outwards by the forward rotation
of the crankpind, and brought down towards the table during the inward stroke
while the crankpin makes the lower half of its revolution.
With this arrange-
ment the edge of the tool will move in a slightly curved path, and in this or
other machines having a similar movement of the tool the brush s is curved
correspondingly by bolting it to the stand i with a curved packing piece s placed
underneath the back of the brush, or setting the bristles in a curved back. In
the case of machines having a rectilinear movement of the tool, the brush is made
plane.
The skin to be softened is placed with its hair side downwards upon the table
and held down at the top by the attendant, for which purpose a ledge at the
top end of the table is preferably covered with india rubber sheet t. By depress-
ing the treadle m, the table is moved up and inwards, while the machine is
running, the flesh side of the skin is brought against the tool during its inward
or downward stroke and shifted and turned by the attendant during the outward
stroke till the whole has been operated upon. By depressing the treadle more or less,
more or less pressure can be put upon the skin by the tool, and by this and by
using brushes having bristles of different thickness, length and closeness of
setting, any desired lightness of stroke or yield of the bed can be obtained to
suit the character of the skin and the purpose for which it is to be used.
By using the pliable bed for the skins to rest upon, a sharper tool can be used
than on a hard bed, and a stroke of lighter weight. The skins rest flat upon the
bed and are not bent or broken. The light stroke of the sharp tool raises the
back or flesh side to a fluffy appearance without disturbing the grain and when
the back is further finished on an emery wheel, gives a cloth-like or velvety feel
to the flesh side. The grain of the skins not being disturbed enables the hair
side to take a high polish while preserving a firm mellow feel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim iş:
-
1. In machines for softening leather by scraping the flesh side of skins, the
use and arrangement of a soft yielding bed, preferably formed of a brush, for
the hair side, substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In machines for softening leather the use and arrangement of a bed formed
of a brush, and of a sharp straight-edged tool, reciprocated by the machine and
lifted off the brush bed while moving in one direction and lowered upon said
bed while moving in the opposite direction, substantially as herein before
described.
041
Q
han 1900
R. J. URQUHART, C.E.,
Chartered Patent Agent, Manchester & Liverpool.