US25045A - Apparatus for - Google Patents

Description

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JOHN B. READ, OF COLD SPRING, NE\V YORK.

APPARATUS FOR TANNING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,045, dated August 9, 18159.

VTo all 'whom 'it may concern Be it known that I, Jol-rx B. BEAD, now of Cold Spring, in the county of Putnam and in the State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for Tanning, &c.; and do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in providing an improved apparatus for tanning and other purposes by mechanical pressure; the hides, skins or substances to be operated on to be first extended upon single smooth perforated or porous surfaces; or upon pairs of such surfaces, in the form of flattened cases of wood or other material (with a cavity in the interior of the cases) provided with pipes or other means of escape for the tan ooze or other liquors, as well as air, gases, &c., after being forced through the skins or other substances by atmospheric or other pressure; or a series of porous surfaces, &c., may be permeated in succession.

To enable others skilled in the arts to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

My improved process can be carried on by means of a single surface or a series of such; by a single case or by a number of them combined and arranged in a framework as represented in .Figure l, capable of being raised separately or all together from a vat of ordinary construction.

Fig. l, represents the whole apparatus inclosed in an ordinary vat delineated by the dotted outline V, V, V, V; a number of the Hattened hollow and porous cases A, A, A, A are shown, each with a skin (s) or other substance to be operated on, stretched and fastened upon it, the cases arranged so as to slide up and down by grooves in the framework B, B, and the cavity in the interior of each connected at the bottom or end by a short tube (t) with a pipe C, C, ruiming along the bottom or side of the framework or vat and united with the pump D, D.

At E, E, are represented coarse woolen or hair cloth, matting, straw or other porous material that may be interposed between the skins, &c., and the sides of the cases to prevent the possibility of the pores or perforations being closed so as to prevent the passage of liquids; butit is not believed that they will be found indispensable. All parts of the perforated cases not covered by skins, &c., will be best guarded as at F by tarpauling sheet metal or other water proof substances so as to leave no access to the interior except by percolation through the substances operated upon.

Fig. 2, represents one of the hollow porous cases A, separately formed as already stated of wood or other material; the por-es or small openings are distinctly shown while at a., a, a, are seen braces or supports, themselves porous, and placed at such intervals within the interior cavity as to prevent the sides of the cases from collapsing on the application of pressure; one of the perforated sides removed to exhibit the cavity c, c, c in the interior of A is shown in Fig. 3.

At t, in Fig. 2, is the tube for conducting away the liquids &c., after passing through the skins &c., into the cavity c, c, c; if no pump pipe should be connected with the tube t an opening would have to be provided from the upper part of A for the ready escape of air gases &c. For constructing the sides of these cases, porous wood cut across the grain may be used, or wire cloth or strips of wood or metal placed very near together, or, what is believed better smooth perforated surfaces of plank or plates of metal or other material as already mentioned.

The flattened form is preferred for the cases because occupying less space in the vats and affording greater strength fr m counterbalancing the pressure.

It is very obvious that the cases instead of being made with two sides and an internal cavity might be made single as for instance the bottom or sides of a box or as a series of partitions in any inclosed space and after having a skin or other substance stretched upon it or them, the liquid used could be forced or allowed to "percolate through all from without or from within. A series of such surfaces as Fig. 3, each with a skin &c., upon the same side of it and placed in any tight vessel the same liquid might be forced through each in succession; but from the progressive weakening of the liquid in permeating the series of skins &c., the double flattened cases are preferred. Each of the cases A, A, A, A, Fig. l, then having been formed and fitted up as described is placed in the framework B, B;

the whole is then lowered to its place in the vat V, V, V, and the vat filled with the tanl ooze or other liquors to be used.

The interior cavity of each case is at first occupied only by air, but as soon as the pump D is put in operation a partial vacuum is formed and the pressure of the atmosphere immediately forces the contents of the vats through the skins, &c., into the cavities of the cases whence it is removed as fast as collected by the pump and returned by the pump spout or a pipe lower down to avoid exposure to the air, to the vat, to go through the same process until a new supply becomes necessary.

The above described process may be kept up continuously until the desired effects are produced or it may be carried on at intervals.

It is very obvious that the above processes may be conducted by hydraulic or other pressure, either in open or closed vats or vessels whether with single surfaces, or a series of such, or hollow cases, only allowing escape upward or outward for air and gases, and an escape downward or outward for running off the liquors after having passed through the skins &c. The cases are arranged vertically in the framework but of course might be placed horizontally or in any other position with the same result. In getting up a new tannery or other works for the application of my improved apparatus for saturating skins or other substances as cloths, &c., with tan ooze or any other liquors, whether for tanning, washing, sizing water proofing, &c., it might be found advantageous to construct vats above ground without the framing B, B, which I have represented; each hollow case to slide in grooves in the interior of the vat; the tube or cock connecting each hollow case with the pump and the pump itself and its pipes would in that case, be more conveniently placed on the outside and at the end of the vats and one pump operated by steam or other power might serve a number of vats, asmany as could be conveniently connected with it. Substances operated upon by this apparatus may be steamed or colored by it; they may also be dried by passing through them hot or cold air &c., instead of liquids. In regard to tanning by my improved apparatus I desire to state distinctly that it may be made use of in all the processes where liquors or solutions of any kind are used; not only for saturating with tan ooze but for using lime mixtures, or acid or alkaline solutions, bates &c.; also for washing the skins for the purpose of softening them or removing the above or other substances preparatory to tanning proper; also for oiling waterproofing &c. Tan ooze and other liquors may also be dried out of skins by passing air through them, as intimated before, for using stronger or fresher liquids afterward.

I do not claim the application of hydrol static or other pressure totanning processes as such has long been known. I am aware that skins have before been stretched upon frameworks for tanning purposes, but in such cases they have been pinched by clamps or held by the edges so as to keep the skins in a more or less crumpled condition and not smoothly and evenly extended and supported as in my application: I therefore do not claim such mode. Nor do I claim the use of a simple framework of wood smaller than the skins to be operated on, in which the open space surrounded by the frame is filled with tan, and the skin then attached; neither do I claim the use of fatty llutes to prevent the passage of tanning liquors by the edges of skins undergoing that process.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. An improved apparatus for tanning and other purposes; said apparatus consisting of one, or a number of smooth porous or perforated surfaces of wood or other fixed material, placed singly or in succession, in open or closed vats or vessels, or arranged in pairs so as to form closed hollow cases, upon which skins or other substances to be operated upon, are to be smoothly stretched, and then the tanning or other fluids forced through them'by hydrostatic or other pressure into the interior, whence means of escape are provided as described within.

2. I claim also the use of tarpauling, sheet metal or other waterproof substances in form of sheets, to cover over the perforated parts of the cases not overlaid by the skins, &'c., that the fluids used may be afforded no passage except by percolating through the skins, &c.

JOHN B. READ.

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