86 LEATHER 



is poured into the bag till it be full. After a certain interval, which varies -with the 

 quality of the hides, the outer surface becomes moist, and drops begin to form at the 

 bottom of the bag. These are received in a proper vessel, and when they accumulate 

 sufficiently may be poured back into the funnel ; the bag being thus, as well as by a 

 fresh supply from above, kept constantly distended. 



When the hides are observed to feel hard and firm, while every part of them feels 

 equally damp, the air of the tanning apartment, having been always well ventilated, is 

 now to be heated by proper means to a temperature gradually increasing from 70 

 to 150 of Fahrenheit's scale. This heat is to be maintained till the hides become 

 firmer and harder in all parts. When they begin to assume a black appearance in some 

 parts, and when the tan liquor undergoes little diminution, the hides may be considered 

 to be tanned, and the bag may be emptied by cutting a few stitches at its bottom. 

 The outer edges being pared off, the hides are to be finished in the usual way. During 

 their suspension within the racks, the hides should be shifted a little sideways, to 

 prevent the formation of furrows by the bars, and to facilitate the equable action of 

 the liquor. 



By this process the patentee says, that a hide may be tanned as completely in ten 

 days as it could be in ten months by the usual method. 



Messrs. Knowlys and Duesbury obtained a patent in August 1826 for accelerating 

 the impregnation of skins with tannin, by suspending them in a close vessel, from which 

 the air is to be extracted by an air-pump, and then the tanning infusion is to be ad- 

 mitted. In this way, it is supposed to penetrate the hide so effectually as to tan it 

 uniformly in a short time. 



Banish leather is made by tanning lamb and kid skins with willow bark, whence it 

 derives an agreeable smell. It is chiefly worked up into gloves. 



Of the tawing or dressing of skins for gloves, and white sheep leather. 



The operations of this art are : 1, washing the skins ; 2, properly treating them with 

 lime ; 3, taking off the fleece ; 4, treatment in the leather steep. 



A shed erected upon the side of a stream, with a cistern of water for washing the 

 skins ; wooden horses for cleaning them with the back of the fleshing knife ; pincers 

 for removing the fibres of damaged wool ; a plunger for depressing the skins in the 

 pits ; a lime pit ; a pole with a bag tied to the end of it ; a two-handled fleshing knife ; 

 a rolling pin, from 15 to 18 inches long, thickened in the middle ; such are some of the 

 utensils of a tawing establishment. There must be provided also a table for applying 

 the oil to the skins ; a fulling mill, worked by a water-wheel or other power ; a dress- 

 ing peg ; a press for squeezing out the fatty filth ; a stove ; planks mounted upon legs, 

 for stretching the skins, &c. 



Fresh skins must be worked immediately after being washed, and then dried, other- 

 wise they ferment, and contract either indelible spots, or get tender in certain points, 

 so as to open up and tear under the tools. When received in the dry state they should 

 be steeped in water for two days, and then treated as fresh skins. They are next 

 strongly rubbed on the convex horse-beam with a round-edged knife, in order to make 

 them pliant. The rough parts are removed by the fleshing knife. One workman can 

 in this way prepare 200 skins in a day. . 



The flesh side of each being rubbed with a cold cream of lime, the skins are piled 

 together with the woolly side of each pair outermost, and the flesh sides in contact. 

 They are left in this state for a few days, till it is found that the wool may be easily 

 removed by plucking. 



They are next washed in running water, to separate the greater part of the lime, 

 stripped of the wool by small spring tweezers, and then fleeced smooth by means of the 

 rolling pin, or sometimes by rubbing with a whetstone. Unless they be fleeced soon 

 after the treatment with lime, they do not well admit of this operation subsequently, 

 as they are apt to get hard. 



They are now steeped in the milk-of-lime pit, in order to swell, soften, and cleanse 

 them ; afterwards in a weak pit of old lime-water, from which they are taken out and 

 drained. This steeping and draining upon inclined tables, are repeated frequently 

 during the space of three weeks. Only the skins of young animals, or those of inferior 

 value are tawed. Sometimes the wool is left on, as for housings, &c. 



The skins, after having been well softened in the steeps, are rubbed on the outside 

 with a whetstone set in a wooden case with two handles, in order to smoothe them 

 completely by removing any remaining filaments of wool. Lamb-skins are rubbed 

 with the pin in the direction of their breadth, to give them suppleness ; but sheep-skins 

 are fulled with water alone. They are now ready for the branning, which is done by 

 mixing 40 Ibs. of bran with 20 gallons of water, and keeping them in this fermentable 

 mixture for three weeks with the addition, if possible, of some old bran-water. Here 



