358 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



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screws regulates the thickness of the side, and by sectional tubes 

 or rings serves as a friction-roller. When it is desired to split 



wholehides,a stillmore 

 complicated machine 

 is employed. This is 

 known as the belt-knife 

 splitting machine, and 

 was invented in 1854 

 by Joseph F. Flanders 

 and Jere. A. Marden, 

 of Newburyport, Mass. 

 The knife in this ma- 

 chine consists of an 

 endless band of steel, 

 which revolves at a 

 high speed, with its 

 cutting edges close to 

 the sides of a pair of 

 rollers. Through these 

 latter the leather is fed 

 and pressed closely 

 against the knife. The 

 lower roller is made up 

 of a series of rings 

 which are capable of 

 yielding so as to ac- 

 commodate themselves 

 to the varying thick- 

 ness of the hides. The 

 thickness of the splits 

 is determined by a 

 small hand-screw, by 

 which the upper roller 

 is raised or depressed 

 as the case may re- 

 quire. The knife itself 

 in its course of revolu- 

 tion comes in contact 

 with an emery-wheel 

 and thus is kept keen. 

 These machines pre- 

 sent a blade varying 

 between fifty - seven 

 and seventy-two inches 

 in length, and by them an ordinary cow-hide can be split into 

 three or four distinct parts with the utmost precision. 



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