100 



LEATHER SPLITTING 



and when folded [or doubled appear as jig. 13755. 1' 1', 1 1, is a strong frame- 

 work ; 2, represents a pair of cheeks, strongly fastened in the frame, and regulated as 

 to distance by a screw ; these cheeks are lined with zinc ; 3 is a strong plate of metal, 

 the angle at 3 corresponding exactly with the angle of the cheeks ; the ends of this 

 plate are fixed in moveable plates passing down the columns 1' 1' ; 4 is a handle by 

 which the instrument is worked, and which, by cog-wheels acting on the moveable 

 plates, brings 3 downwards. The front, a, is laid, after a thorough soaking in water, 

 over the cheeks 2, the handle being turned, 3 comes down upon the front, and 



1376 



1377 



forces it through the small opening between the cheeks, and when brought out below 

 the cheeks, it has the appearance given in fig. 1375<?. The plate 3 haying carried 



the front between the cheeks, is 

 removed (below], and the weight 

 5 assists in bringing the perpen- 

 dicular moveable plates to their 

 place, when 3 is again put in 

 position ; and thus the opera- 

 tion is rapidly carried on. After 

 this, the fronts are regularly 

 placed on a block, being forced 

 into position by an instrument 

 called the flounder (fig. 1376), 

 and tacked to their place ; after 

 this, they are slightly oiled and 

 dried. Some ingenious methods 

 have been adopted for softening 

 the fronts, so as not to disturb 

 the Mocking. They are whitened 

 on a very sloping beam (fig. 1377)i 

 which enables the workman to 

 hold them better than he could 

 on the common beam. They aro 

 again blocked by the waxer, and 

 when these processes are care- 

 fully performed, much trouble 

 is saved to the bootmaker. Of 

 course, in a manufactory many 

 appliances are found which are not here mentioned ; the general idea, however, may 

 be easily gathered from this description. The work is dirty and very laborious, re- 

 quiring great skill and experience, and consequently good workmen have generally 

 commanded better wages than other mechanics. 



Hides intended for covering coaches are shaved as thin as shoe hides, and blacked on 

 the grain. H. M. 



XiEATHira SPLITTING. This operation is employed sometimes upon certain 

 orts of leather for glovers, for bookbinders, sheath-makers, and always to give a 

 uniform thickness to the leather destined for the cotton and wool card-makers. 

 , Figs. 1378, 1379, 1380, 1381 represent a well-contrived machine for that purpose ; of 



