LEA THER-MAKING. 



355 



used at the present time, vary in construction according to the 

 grades of leather desired. Some of them are simply great drums, 

 the interiors of which have been stuck over with rows of oak pins. 

 In this way, when these drums are put in motion, the hides, one 

 hundred and fifty to two hundred in number, fall upon the pins 

 and are thoroughly beaten and their fibers loosened. The more 

 common form of the mill, however, consists of a reservoir into 

 which are projected a number of arms or beaters connected by 

 rods to a shaft outside, and this latter as it revolves imparts a re- 

 ciprocatory vibrating motion to the beaters. But how little ad- 

 vance even this is upon the ancient Egyptian fuller is apparent to 



Fig. 15. Stiffing- Wheel. 



one who will take the trouble to look over some of the old prints. 

 These show the rolls of cloth wetted and manipulated between a 

 block and concave inclined table, with the water passing into a 

 trough at the bottom. These all have their counterparts in the 

 modern fulling or the modern hide mill. The hide mill was in- 

 troduced among American tanners about 1830, at Salem, but it 

 did not really come into general use, especially among the hem- 

 lock tanners of New York, until 1850. Perhajjs the invention 

 best entitled to the term " epoch-making " is that of the splitting 

 machine. Indeed, it was the pioneer of the great improvements 

 in the industry, and the effect of it was no other than to revolu- 

 tionize the currying and finishing business in this country. Pre- 

 vious to its invention the tanned hides had been shaved down to 



