NEW ENGLAND FARMED 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BAURETT, NO. o2 .NORTH MARKET SIKEEI', (Aoricui.tural Warkhousk.) — T. G. FESSKNDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XIV, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 23, 1835. 



NO. 11, 



(From tiM Jourinl of llie Franklin Institute.) 

 IMPKOVEMEIVT IX TANIVIVG. 



Patented hy Eihvanl S. and T>Miw.\ KrU, Sinitli- 



field, Jeiroi-son oo. Va., July 2S, 1834. 



Tlic olijocts of the improved modes of jiroeo- 



dure for whieh tins patent is obtained, are, — 'irst, 



tlie softening the hides, or skins, and the freeing 



theui from grease. Secondly, Expanding the 



hides prei)aratory to their receiving the tan. 



[Thirdly, the procuring the tannin, or tanning 



principle, from the ooze, pure, liy filtering. — 



•'onrthly, causing the tanning lixivium more read- 



ly to enter the hides, by the use of mechanical 



ompression made upon iheni under the surface 



jf the ooze, and thereby shortening the operation. 



The claims made are to the modes, and appa- 



atus, adopted for the attainment of these ends. 



or softening the hides, twenty-one and a half lbs. 



f caustic lime, unslacked, and levigated, and si.t- 



een pounds of carbonate of potash, and one pound 



f carbonate of soda, are to be added to every two 



undred cubic feet of water. In the alkaline 



quor thus formed, the hides are to be suspended 



1 the usual way, by which means they will be 



ompletely softened, and have their grease neu- 



iilized, ,in from twenty-foar to thirty-six hours. 



The ex|)anding or raising of the hides is to be 



Tected by adding to every hundred feet of pure 



illic lixivium, one pound of tartaric and one 



Mind of sulphuric acids ; by suspending the 



des in this solution, a comjdete expansion it is 



id will take place in six or eight hours. 



To procure the tanning liquor pure, the ooze, 



ter having been obtained from the bark, is to be 



tered by putting into a vessel of the nature of 



e common hopper for obtaining ley, the bottom 



d sides of which are to be covered with about 



5ht inches of law cotton, and filled in with fine 



fuse tan, or exhausted bark. Through this, the 



re tanning liquor is to be passed, and collected 



a proper receptacle. 



The most important part of the process, howev- 



I appears to be the following, namely, the sub- 

 ting the hides or skins to mechanical pressure 

 der the surface of the ooze, or tanning liquor, 

 e apparatus employed for the jiurpose is fully 

 scribed, and well rejjresentcd in the drawing. A 

 tform is to be made, and placed upon firm sup- 

 ts which platform may be sus;iended between 

 D vats containing ooze, and in which the hides 

 re suspended. The platform stands a few in- 

 s below the level of the ooze in the vats, which 

 admitted to flow over it, there being ledges 

 ich serve to retain it upon the platform. Upon 

 i platform the hides are to be submitted to the 

 uisite degree of pressure. The tanning liquid 

 o be kept by means of heaters at a temperature 

 )8 deg, Fahrenheit. The hides ar j to be taken 

 n the vats, and spread smoothly upon the plat- 

 Ti, and then a kind of carriage, sustained upon 

 long rollers of wood or brass, is made to pass 

 r them, the carriage being loaded with such a 

 ght as may be necessary for the skins to be 

 rated upon. The guides, ways, friction rollers. 

 Jill' 



pulleys, &c., which are emi)loyed in the moving 

 of this carriage back and forth we need not de- 

 scribe. The object of this pressure is to remove 

 the watery ])articles from the pores, which are left 

 there after the ooze has become exhausted by the 

 combination of its tannin with the skin ; the pores 

 are thus closed, and the skin conden.sed, and in 

 that state it is to be slipped again into the vat, 

 without exposing it to the air, where in the course 

 of six or eight hours, it will again be expanded by 

 the refilling of the poms with fresh ooze. This 

 operation is to be repeated, em[)!(iying a stronger 

 tanning liquid after the first has produced all the 

 efiect expected from it ; and thus, in succession, 

 a stronger and stronger, until the process is com- 

 pleted, which, for heavy leather takes place in six 

 or eight weeks, and for light skins, in from six to 

 twelve days. To economize time and labor, there 

 must be a series of such vats and p'atforms as have 

 been described, thus enabling the workmen to pro- 

 ceed readily from a weaker to a stronger solution, 

 these varying according to the nature of the skin 

 and requiring to be regulated by the judgment of 

 the workmen. 



Mr Jobn Lombe, anil the RllU-Throwing Machl- 

 uery at Derby, 



The Londies were originally manufacturers at 

 Norwich, but removed to London, and became 

 silk throwsters and merchants there. There were 

 three brothers, Thomas, Henry, and John ; the 

 first was one of the sheriffs of London at the ac- 

 cession of George II. in 1727, on which occasion, 

 according to custom, the chief magistrate was cre- 

 ated a baronet, and Mr Lombe was knighted. 

 The second brother, who was of a melancholy 

 temperament, [)ut an end to his existence before 

 those plans were developed which connected the 

 name of Lombe with one of the most important 

 manufactures of the country. 



The Messrs Lombes had a house at Leghorn, 

 under the firm of Glover and Unwin, who were 

 their agents for purchasing the raw silk which the 

 Italian peasantry sold at their markets and fairs 

 to the merchants and factors. There were many 

 other English houses at Leghorn, Turin, Ancona, 

 and other parts of Italy, chiefly fur exporting silk 

 to England, in part return for whiclip numerous 

 cargoes of salt fish were and still are received from 

 our ports for the consumption of the Italians du- 

 ring their Lent and otjier fasts. It was at that 

 time custom:! ry for the English merchants engaged 

 in the Italian trade to send their apprentices and 

 sons to the Italian ports, to complete their mercan- 

 tile education, by acquainting themselves on the 

 spot with the details of their peculiar line of busi- 

 ness. It was professedly in compliance with this 

 custom, but with a deeper ulterior view, that the 

 youngest of the brothers, Mr John Lombe, who at 

 that time was little more than twenty years of age, 

 proceeded to Leghorn in the year 171.5. 



The Italians had at that time become so much 

 superior to the English in the art of throwing silk, 

 in consequence of a new invention, that it was 



impossible for the latter to bring the article into 

 the market on equal terms. This state of the trade 

 induced the Lombes to consider by what means 

 they might secure the same advantage which their 

 improveil machinery gave to the Italians; and the 

 real view of the younger brother, in proceeding to 

 Italy, was to endeavor to obtain .such an accpiain- 

 tance with the machinery as might enable him to 

 introduce it into this country. The difficulties in 

 the way of this undertaking were very great, ami 

 would have appe;u-ed insnrmoimtable to any luit 

 a ])erson of extraordinary courage and perseve- 

 rance. We find these difficulties thus stated in 

 the paper which Sir Thomas Lombe printed for 

 distribution among the members when he applied 

 to Parliament for the renewal of his jiatent. One 

 at least of these printed jiapers has been preserved, 

 and has been lent us for the i)resent occasion. It 

 is there said, that "the Italians having, by the most 

 judicious and proper rules and regulations, ad- 

 vanced and supported the credit of tlie manufac- 

 ture, have also, by the most severe laws, preserved 

 the mystery among themselves for a great nundjer 

 of years, to their inestimable advantage. As, for 

 instance, the punishment prescribed by one of 

 their laws for those who discover, or attempt to 

 discover, any thing relating to this art, is death, 

 with the forfeiture of all their goods, and to be 

 afterwards yainted on the outside of the prison 

 walls, hanging to the g.'iUows by one foot, with an 

 inscription denoting the name and crime of the 

 person ; there to be continued for a perpetual 

 mark of infamy." 



The young Lombe, liowever, was not to be de- 

 terred by the danger and difficulty of the enter- 

 prise. On his arrival, and before he became 

 known in the country, he went, accompanied bya 

 friend, to see the Italian silk works. This was 

 permitted under very rigid limitations. No per- 

 .son was admitted except when the machinery was 

 in acti(m, and even then he was hurried through 

 the rooms with the most jealous precaution. The 

 celerity of the machinery rendered it impossible 

 for Mr Lombe to comprehend all the dependencies 

 and first springs of so extensive and complicated 

 a work. He went with difl^erent persons in vari- 

 ous habits, as a gentleman, a priest, or a lady, and 

 he was very generous with his money ; but he 

 could never find an opportunity of seeing the ma- 

 chinery )iut in motion, or of giving to it that care- 

 ful attention which his object required. Despair- 

 ing of obtaining adequate information from such 

 cursory inspection as he was thus enabled to give, 

 he bethought himself of associating with the cler- 

 gy, and being a man of letters, he succeeded in 

 ingratiating himself with the priest who confessed 

 the family to which the works belonged. He 

 seems to have opened his plans, partly at least, to 

 this person, and it is certain that he found means 

 to obtain his co-operation. According to the 

 scheme which they planned between them, Mr 

 Lombe disguised himself as a poor youth in want 

 of employment. The priest then introduced him 

 to the directors of the works, and gave him a good 



