AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL: LEATHER
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Edmund Hardy, of Battersea, in the.
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL:
LEATHER." A communication from abroad by Henry Royall Minns,
of Chambly Canton in the Dominion of Canada.
Sealed the 21st August 1875, and dated the 25th February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Edmund Hardy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th February 1875.
I, THOMAS EDMUND HARDY, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey,.
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," a communication from abroad by Henry Royall
Minns, of Chambly Canton, in the Dominion of Canada, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in the combination of the following in-
gredients, matters, or substances to form an artificial leather to be
employed for various useful purposes, viz., Manilla, jute, leather scraps:

page_text: or skivens, tan or tan liquor, logwood, rosin size, soda ash, alum, and
Venetian red.
The proportions of the above ingredients, matters, or substances will
vary according to the quality it is desired to produce.
The Manilla and jute I propose to use either in a raw state as
imported, or old rope, sacking, old bagging will answer the purpose.
In order to manufacture artificial leather according to this Invention,
I proceed as follows:-I boil the Manilla and jute for a period varying
from twelve to eighteen hours so as to extract all grease; I also boil the
tan, and after having partly ground the leather scraps, I add Manilla,
jute, tan, logwood, and Venetian red. When sufficiently ground the rosin
size and soda ash are added, the soda ash rendering the rosin size soluble
in water and allowing it to mix with the pulp. When the alum is
added it unites chemically with alkali in the rosin compound, and leaves
the rosin insoluble, precipitating it on the fibre. The rosin size is a
compound of rosin, soda ash, and water boiled by steam until all becomes
one mass, the relative quantities being 400 lbs. rosin, 100 lbs of soda
ash, and 25 gallons of water. The pulp is then conveyed to the board
rolling machine, which is similar in construction to an English cardboard
machine but heavier. When made into a sheet or board it is carefully
dried between layers of steam pipes, and after having been calendered is
ready for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Edmund Hardy in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th August 1875.
s
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
EDMUND HARDY, of Battersea, in the County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Edmund Hardy, Her
special licence that I, the said Thomas Edmund Hardy, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Edmund

page_text: Hardy, my 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
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED ARTIFICIAL LEATHER," a communication from abroad
by Henry Royall Minns, of Chambly Canton, in the Dominion of
Canada, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Edmund Hardy, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Thomas Edmund Hardy, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :-
t
This Invention consists in the combination of the following in-
gredients, matters, or substances, to form an artificial leather to be
employed for various useful purposes, viz., Manilla, jute, leather scraps
or skivens, tan or tan liquor, logwood, rosin size, soda ash, alum, and
Venetian red.
The proportions of the above ingredients, matters, or substances will
vary according to the quality it is desired to produce.
The Manilla and jute I propose to use either in a raw state as imported,
or old rope, sacking, old bagging will answer the purpose, or any other
manufactured article consisting of either Manilla or jute.
In order to manufacture artificial leather according to this Invention,
I proceed as follows:-I boil the Manilla and jute for a period varying
from twelve to eighteen hours in lime and water so as to extract all grease,
the quantity of lime varying according to the condition of the Manilla
and jute. I also boil the tan and the logwood, and after having partly
ground the leather scraps I add thereto the Manilla, jute, tan, logwood,
as above prepared, and Venetian red. When the above is sufficiently
Hound the main aive and anda nak am
added the anda och oli il

page_text: rosin size soluble in water and allowing it to mix with the pulp. The
alum is then added which unites chemically with the alkali in the rosin
compound, and leaves the rosin insoluble, precipitating it on the fibre.
The rosin size is a compound of rosin, soda ash, and water, boiled by
steam until all becomes one mass, the relative quantities being 400 lbs.
rosin, 100 lbs. of soda ash, and 25 gallons of water. The pulp is then
conveyed to the board rolling machine, which is similar in construction
to an English cardboard machine but heavier. When made into a sheet
or board it is carefully dried between layers of steam pipes, and after
having been calendered by steam heated calenders it is ready for use.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention for "An Improved
Artificial Leather," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I hereby declare this Invention to consist in
and I claim, manufacturing artificial leather substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Edmund Hardy, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.