Leather and its production / [H.R. Proctor].

  • Proctor, H. R. (Henry Richardson), 1848-1927.
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Leather and its production / [H.R. Proctor]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    machine called “stocks,1” where it is kneaded with fish oil under powerful hammers, till quite saturated, when it is thrown into heaps, where it soon becomes very hot from a sort of fermentation, taking a yellow colour, and giving off a very pungent smell, resembling that of mustard. The superfluous oil is then washed out with soda, and the skin, after drying, is ready for use, and forms the well-known and very useful wash-leather, so called because it will bear hot water without injury. White leather, which is used for whip lashes, laces, and for capping medicine bottles, is tanned or “tawed” with a mixture of alum and salt; and the “kid” of w hich gloves and thin boots are made is done in much the same way, but with the addition of flour and egg-yolks to the mixture, to give softness and fulness. Immense numbers of eggs are used for this purpose, and though very expensive, nothing has yet been found com¬ pletely to take their place. The dyeing of kid-leather is either done by brushing on the colour on a table with a smooth zinc top, which is washed after every skin, to keep the flesh side clean, or by dipping in the dye tray. These are some few of the processes by which leather is made, but its manufacture is one of the most ancient of arts, and an extraordinary instance of the perfection and com¬ plexity to which processes may be brought by long ages of trial and experience, even in the absence of much scientific knowledge. The foregoing was written by the late Prof. H. R. Proctor, F.I.C.y F.C.S., Examiner to the City and Guilds Institute, Eecturer on Feather Industries at the Yorkshire College, Leeds, etc., and ivas published by us with the kind permission of Edw, and fas. Richardson, Elswick Leather Works, Newcastle-on- Tyne, to whom we are indebted for the following additional notes.