102 LEATHER SPLITTING 



The knife h(figs. 1380 and 1381) is fixed flat upon the table with screw bolts, whose 

 heads are countersunk into the table, and secured with taps beneath {Jig. 1380), the edge 

 of the knife being placed horizontally over the opening, and parallel with it. 



In Jig. 1380 the leather, k, is shown advancing against the knife, getting split, and 

 has a portion coiled round the'cylinder, which is made to revolve in proportion as the 

 leather is cleft. The upper portion of the leather is rolled upon the cylinder d, while 

 the under half, I, falls through the oblong opening upon the ground. 



In regulating the thickness of the split leather, the two supports, m, act ; they are 

 made fast to the table a (one on each side of the knife), and are mortised into the table 

 by two tenons secured beneath. These supports are furnished near their tops with 

 keyed slots, by means of which the horizontal iron rod o (figs. 1378, 1380) is secured, 

 and outside of the uprights they press upon the springs p p, which tend to raise the 

 rod, o, in its two end slots ; but the adjusting screws q, which pass down through the 

 tops of the supports into the mortise n (fig. 1380), and press upon the upper half of 

 the divided tenon, counteract the springs, and accordingly keep the rod o exactly at 

 any desired height or level. The iron rod o carries another iron bar, r, beneath it, 

 parallel and also rectangular,^. 1380. This lower bar, which is rounded at its under 

 face, lies upon and presses the leather by the action of two screws, which pass through 

 two upright pieces s (figs. 1378 and 1380) made fast to the table ; thus the iron bar r 

 may be made to press forwards the edge of the knife, and it may be adjusted in its 

 degree of pressure, according to the desired thickness of the leaf of split leather that 

 passes through under it. 



Fig. 1380 shows that the slant or obliquity of the knife is directed downwards, over 

 one of the edges of the oblong opening g ; the other edge of this opening is provided 

 with an iron plate t (figs. 1378, 1380), which serves to guide the blade in cutting the 

 leather to the proper depth. For this purpose the plate is made adjustible by means 

 of the four springs u (fig. 1381) let into the table, which press it downwards. Four 

 screws, v, pass down through the table, each belonging to its respective spring , 

 and by means of these screws the plate t may be raised in any desired degree. Each 

 of the screws u has besides a small rectangular notch through which a screw bolt x 

 passes, by which the spring is made fast to the table. Thus also the plate t may be 

 made to approach to or recede from the knife. 



y, in figs. 1378 and 1380, is a flat board, laid upon the leather a little behind the 

 edge of the plate t ; this board is pressed by the cylinder z, that lies upon it, and whose 

 tenons rest in mortises cut out in the two supports a'. The cylinder z is held in its 

 position by a wedge or pin, b (figs. 1378 and 1380), which passes through the supports. 

 When the leather has been split, these pins are removed, and the cylinder rises then by 

 means of two counter-weights, not shown in the figures. 



The operation of the machine is as follows : The edge or end of the leather being 

 eecured to the cylinder d, the leather itself having the direction upon the table shown 

 \nfig< 1380, and the bar r its proper position over the knife, the edge begins to enter 

 in this position into the leather, while the cylinder d is moved by the handle or winch, 

 and the piece gets split betwixt the blade and the roller d. When the other end of the 

 leather, k, advances to the knife, there is, consequently, one half of the leather split ; 

 the skin is to be then rolled off the cylinder d; it is turned ; the already split half, or 

 the end of the leather, k t is made fast into the wood of the cylinder, and the other half 

 is next split ; while the knife now acts from below, in an opposite direction to what 

 it did at first. 



That the unrolling of the leather from the cylinder, d, may not be obstructed by 

 the pinion t, the stop-wedge e (figs. 1378, 1379) is removed from the teeth. In the 

 process of splitting, the grain side of the leather is uppermost, and is therefore cut of 

 an uniform thickness, but the under side varies in thickness with the inequality of 

 the skin. 



Several other ingenious contrivances have been introduced for this purpose, illus- 

 trated descriptions of which have been given by Hebert, who states that a splitting- 

 machine, long used by the Messrs. Bevington, of Bermondsey, had been made to split 

 sheep-skins into three equal parts, one of which, that on the grain side, might be used 

 as leather ; the middle portion converted into parchment ; and the slice on the flesh 

 side, being unequal in thickness, and therefore unfit for any better use, being used for 

 glue-making. In this machine the skin is drawn between two revolving rollers, and 

 presented, as it emerges from their grasp, to the edge of a long and very sharp knife, 

 which is kept continually moving a little backwards and forwards with great velocity. 

 As a skin of unequal thickness could not be grasped in the proper manner between two 

 perfectly true and rigid rollers, the upper roller, instead of being solid^ is composed 

 of a number of circular discs or rings of metal, about half an inch thick, slipped on 

 to an axis rather smaller than the holes in their centres, but compelled to revolve with 

 it by means of what may be termed a planetary axis, which is a rod passing loosely 



