US54587A - Improvement in the preparation of leather - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICEQ MOSES W. PAGE, OF FRANKLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,587, dated May 8, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, MosEs W. PAGE, of Franklin, in the county of Merrimack and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain Improvements in the Preparation of Leather; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the ordinary process of carrying leather, after the usual skiving operation has been performed, the leather has been shaved off,

. chiefly on the flesh side of the butt, in order to reduce it to the uniform thickness required. As, however, the flesh side of the leather is much stronger than the grain side, the quality of the stock is thereby depreciated, and for the purposes of lacin g, picker, or harness straps for looms, and where very thin and narrow machine-belting isrcquired, this process of currying is particularly objectionable on account of the leather being weakened.

My invention consists in buffing or shaving chiefly the grain side instead of shaving the flesh side of the butt of the leather, whereby it may be brought more nearly to a uniform thickness without impairing its strength, and requiring but little leveling on the flesh side, while its softness and pliability are very much increased.

To enable others skilled in the art to underderstand and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

The leather to be curried, after having been properly tanned, is skived in a well-known manner, when it is buffed or shaved very lightly entirely over the grain side, and then the butt or thick part is shaved nearly through the grain by taking off several more cuts or clips, so as to reduce its thickness very considerably, by which means the leather is brought more nearly to a uniform thickness, thereby requiring but little leveling or shaving 011 the flesh side of the butt.

While the operations of skiving and buffin g are proceeding great care should be taken that the stock does notdry, thus avoiding the use of water, which, if applied before the oil or stuffing, would occasion considerable dam-,

age to the leather. I

The leather is now ready for the stuffing, which is composed of the following ingredients in about the following proportions, viz: Eight pounds of tallow; eight quarts of cooked cod-liver oil, (rejected medicine oil;) eight quarts refined petroleum, such as is used by carriers; four quarts neats -foot oil, mixed and applied as usual. Theleat-her should now be dried in the shade and packed down for a few days, when it is pin-blocked, boarded, or otherwise softened, as most convenient, and glassed sufficiently to give it a smooth and finished appearance.

' Wax-leather, calf-skins, and leather for harness and heavy belting should be buffed very lightly over the grain, and the wax-leather and calf-skins are blacked in the following manner: Soap blacking, after being made about a month, is used in small quantities, and the stock being well cleaned is left to dry for fifteen or twenty minutes, when the cooked cod-liver is applied, and after the oil has struck in or out ofsight the leather is immediately glassed, giving it the appearance of a French finish.

The leather used for harness is blacked in the ordinary way.

By buffin g the leather to be used for lacing, &c., in the manner and on the grain side, as above described, the hardness of the grain is removed and the butt or thick portion reduced to a uniform thickness with the remaining portion without impairing the strength. of the leather.

In the preparation of the above-described stuffing I find the cooked cod-liver oil to be a valuable ingredient, as it renders the leather exceedingly soft and pliable, which, on this account, is especially adapted for lacing, picker, or harness straps for looms and for thin. and narrow machine-belting, while it answers well for all other descriptions of leather in common use, such cooked oil containing less sediment, and being therefore less liable to gum up or fry out of the leather than the oil now in general use, and preventing the leather from becoming hard and husky when worn.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Buffing the grain side instead of shaving the flesh side of the butt or thick portion of the leather, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

MOSES W. PAGE.

Witnesses P. E. TEscH imcHER, N. W. STEARNS.