US2105894A - Method of preparing fur for felting - Google Patents

Description

Patented Jan. lit,

lJNiTED STATES PATET QFFiC E 2,105,894 METHOD OF PREPARING FUR FOR FELTING Jack D. Sartakoff, Elmliurst, Long island, N. Y., assignor to NQJVIERQHTY Felt Corporation, a corporation of New York No Drawing. Application December 8, 1936, Serial No. 114,778

4 Claims. (01. (E -21.)

The natural furs of rabbits, hares, nutria, were obtained, however, when a carro-ting solulilllfiklat, beaver, and other similar animals have tion was employed, although a relatively weak well defined hairs, individually terminating in carrot, as compared to prior usage, was found to sharp points of a hard and. horny character. give excellent felts.

In the preparat' .n of such furs for felting, it Thus the singeing operation as described, has 5 is the common practice to cut off these sharp been found to produce the dual result: it effipoints by a so-called pulling or clipping opciently and economically disposes of the hard oration which has heretofore been carried out by points of the fur and also has a very definite manually presenting the for to the cutting action efiect upon the character of remainder of rapidly rotating knives, in such manner that thereof to render it more feltable. 10

the hard, pointed ends are out off. After the fur In other tests which I made the fur was first has been clipped as stated, the conventional clipped by the conventional mechanical clipping procedure is to carrot the fur by applying thereoperation and the thus clipped fur was subjected to an appropnate carroting solution which is to singeing operation. In these tests apprepermitted to haul in contact with the fur for ciably less singeing was required so as not to 15 a sufficient period to bring about certain pl.ysi-- unduly burn away the fur body. It was found cal and chemical reactions, to the end that the that the fur thus singed produced a better felt fur will properly felt. than like furs that had been clipped in the same Tests which I have made in connection with way and felted without singeing. This clearly the preparation of fur for felting, demonstrated demonstrated that the singeing operation has a 20 that if natural fur was subjected to a singeing definite effect upon the fur to render it more treatment without preliminary clipping, unusual feltablc. and wholly unexpected results were obtainable. in practically carrying out the method of this In certain of such tests, the singeing referred to "lvention on unclipped fur, the skins may be was carried out upon natural unclipped fur and conveniently caused to travel along a predeter- 25 was effected by moving an incandescent source mined path on an endless belt or other appro of heat or a flame in proximity to the fur, or priate conveyor or be fed along such path vice versa, and in such relation thereto that the by appropriate feeding devices. As thus fed they undesirable tips of the individual hairs were are caused to pass in proximity to one or more burned away, to remove the sharp hard points flat. es or a source of incandescent heat which 30 which have heretofore been cut off by revolving acts upon the fur to sings away the hard points knives, as stated. I found that these points were of the individual hairs. A group of gas flames, efficiently removed with practical uniformity fed from a suitable burner, has afforded a conand that the fur thus treated gave very satisvenient medium for singeing the fur and the factory results in felting. In some cases I was amount of such singeing has been satisfactorily 5 able to felt such for without the use of any carcontrolled by moving the flame closer to or furroting solution whatever. ther away from the path of travel of the fur and While the theoretical reasons for these pheby varying the speed at which the fur passes nomena have not been fully formulated, it is sugthrough or in proximity to the flame. The adgested, nevertheless, that inasmuch as singeing justment may be such and. the flame area so 40 involves burning, i. e., rapid oxidation, and chemconstituted as to result in uniform singeing and ical carroting also involves an oxidation operato such extent that the hard points of the fur tion, this may give some indication of the reasons are burned away without undesirable burning of for the results attained. In other words, the the fur. At the conclusion of the singeing opera,-

singeing of the fur brings about, through burntion, the charred ends of the hair and other 45 ing, a rapid oxidation of the ends of the indiwaste products of combustion which remain on vidual hairs, and an oxidizing effect is communithe fur may be conveniently removed by brushcated through attendant thermal treatment, at ing or blowing them off or in any other suitable least to some extent, to the remaining sound fur, way.

so as to have an oxidizing and partial. carroting After the fur has been singed as described and 50 effect upon the latter. Be that as it may, I have the waste products of combustion removed theredemonstrated that, when the ends of the hairs from, it is thereafter further prepared for feltare burned away, as stated, I have been able to ing in any appropriate way and, as hereinbefore felt the resulting fur, in some cases, without stated, in some cases it be merely cut from further carroting of the same. The best results the skin and felted. However, if circumstances 55 require or it is desired to do so for any reason whatsoever, a supplemental carroting solution may be employed before cutting the fur from the skin and felting it. Any approved carroting solution may be used in this connection and I have employed the carroting solution of my Patent No. 2,070,927, dated Feb. 16, 1937, to give highly satisfactory results. My tests have shown that in most cases a supplemental carroting is required to give the best felts, although I find that I may use a considerably weaker chemical carroting solution than is required with corresponding furs which have been subjected merely to mechanical clipping before carroting.

The method of this invention should not be confused with so-called depilating processes heretofore suggested for the preparation of fur for use on wearing apparel. This prior procedure sought to selectively remove a certain type of hair from skins while leaving unchanged thereon another kind of hair on the same skin. According to such prior practice attempts were made to remove the so-called water-hairs or master hairs by burning, plucking or the like without burning, cutting or otherwise changing the remaining finer hairs of the pelt which were to be left on the pelt to be used as fur pieces by garment makers.

The present invention seeks to do nothing of the kind, but, as hereinbefore described, the hairs of the pelt are clipped, Without discrimination and in a non-selective manner. The hard, horny ends common to both the master hairs and the finer hairs are removed indiscriminately by the singeing operation which I have described, to be followed by felting, or by carroting and felting. In other words, the purpose of this invention is to produce an entirely different product in an entirely different art. The results sought by this invention are unimportant in the preparation of pelts by singeing as exemplified by the prior art.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having hus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. The herein described method which comprises singeing the fur hairs indiscriminately while on the skin to remove the horny tips thereof, thereafter cutting the fur from the skin, and thereafter felting the fur.

2. The herein described method which comprises singeing the fur hairs indiscriminately While on the skin to remove the horny tips thereof, thereafter chemically carroting the fur, thereafter cutting t fur from the skin, and thereafter felting the 3. The herein described method which comprises singeing the fur hairs indiscriminately while on the skin, thereafter cutting the fur from the skin, and thereafter felting the fur.

4. The herein described method which comprises singeing the fur hairs in iscriminately While on the skin, thereafter chemically carroting the fur, thereafter cutting the fur from the skin, and thereafter felting the fur.

J ACK D. SAR'I'AKOFF.