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HIDES ARE STILL HIDES
BUT THE FINISHED PRODUCT
IS SOMETHING ELSE • •
By ROBERT H. MOULTON
fllli needs of mankind mul
tiply with amazing rapid
ity. Were it not that sci
entific discovery, creative
chemistry and the me
chanical arts have some
how managed to keep
pace with (lie enormous
demand for natural prod
ucts, or something equal
ly good or better, indus
t trial progress in many
lines would long ago have
Aeon halted for lack of raw materials
imd manufactured products of many
kinds.
Titke leather, for example. If tin
■world's requirements for leather were
*o be supplied by hide leather as it
was made a century ago, the industry
would tie paralyzed almost over night.
Production simply couldn’t keep up
with the demand. Fortunately, ways
have been found to multiply the
amount of usable leather that can be
produced from a single hide.
Probably the original process of cur
fag skins was that of simple clean
ing and drying. In contrast, the mod
ern practice, while It involves both of
thi •se operations, culls for many other
essential operations before hide stock
I r made into finished leather. Hides
•re still hides, but leather Is a prod-
HKt transformed by <he chemical and
mechanical means rather than by nal
*ral agencies. The processes now used
fa making It have been developed
through a known period of more than
4jOUO years.
For the purpose of a trade defini
tion the hide of an animal consists of
three layers: the outer, which has no
Wood vessels and Is hard and bony;
the Inner true skin, which is made up
f gelatinous fibers, and the fatty
wider tissue in which the perspiratory
*nd sebaceous glands are embedded.
The inner layer or true skin Is by far
the most valuable and serviceable to
the leather manfuaeturer. Some Idea
f fcw leather is made may be gained
.• following In sketchy detail the va
rious operations of a large tannery.
Cuter first the enormous hide house.
11-re the green, salted hides are un
loaded from cars and stored until thej
•te 1 Holy to he put through the tan
ning process. They are In their or-
condition as taken from the
■riwials except that they have been
treated with salt for thirty days to
preserve them.
The nt'xt operation takes place In
•hr beam house where the hides are
trashed in clean water to remove all
ilrt anil salt. Here they are put
through the green fleshing machine
■which removes all superfluous flesh
thr.t will not ultimately make leather.
Fallowing this operation the hides
are placed In frames and lowered by
means of an electric crane Into con
crete tanks containing a solution of
Mme and water. After a week’s Im
jnerKion in this solution the hides
•well and the hair becomes lose. They
®rv next lifted out and put through
the nnhairing machine. Then tnoy
are passed through the fleshing ma
chine again to remove any superfluous
ftit missed in the first operation. After
a final rinsing they are ready for tan
aim:.
The scene now shifts to the tan
yard, an Immense building equipped
with hundreds of huge vats. Here
the hides are placed on frames and
lowered into a mild tanning liquid,
which is strengthened every day for
a period of ten days. The tanning
jtfuocss is not completed at this time,
hut ft is sufficiently advanced to put
leather tn condition to he split.
Naturally, when the leather is tak
en out of the vats, it is thoroughly
saturated with the liquors. A coord-
"DafYjy& ''Z&477&& Far*
ingly, the next operation is to pass It
through wringers to remove all excess
moisture. This is done in a room
called the preparing room. The rough
edges are then trimmed and the hides
selected by weight for splitting.
In the splitting room the leather
manufacturer produces three or four
sheets of product from a single hide.
The operation itself Is of special in
terest because of its importance in
the Industry. Hides, because they are
variable in thickness and irregular in
shape, are difficult to split; at least,
that was true before the Ingenious
belt-knife splitting machine was de
vised. The most vital part of this
machine is the belt-knife, which trav
els hundreds of feet per minute, its
cutting edge kept stiarp by two em
ery wheels continually grinding. Flex
ible rubber rolls hold the guide at a
uniform tension under an adjustable
gauge-roll as the rapidly moving knife
slices the leather in sheets of the re
quired thickness. The ldde is passed
into the machine on one side and is
withdrawn on the other, with one full
pattern split off. Each hide is passed
through this machine three or four
times, multiplying, as it were, the
number of hides procurable from a
single animal.
After the hides are split they are
sent to a re-tan room, where they are
again placed in the tanning solution
until they are completely tanned and
also treated with oil—a process which
requires only two or three days, be
cause the splits are now much tldnner
than the original hide. The splits are
now stretched on frames and taken to
the drying loft where they remain un
til all moisture has been removed.
This requires about twenty-four hours.
It may be noted, In passing, that
from the time the stock leaves the
drying room up to the finishing point,
it is known as russet leather. The
next operation takes place in the shov
ing, softening nnd russet depart
ments, where the leather is made pli
able nnd any variations in thickness
caused by the splitting machine are
shaved oft.
When the hides are split, the top
piece, or first cut, Is known ns the grain
or hair side of the split. The next
two pieces, or cuts, are known as
splits. grains and splits vary
in size, thickness and quality and are
therefore sorted before they are sent
to the finishing shops. The means em
ployed to finish leather vary greatly
with the purpose for which It will
be used. In the factory under obser
vation practically all the grain leather,
and a very large proportion of the
split leather produced, is used by the
automobile trade for upholstery pur
poses.
The finishing of grain leather, be
cause of its smooth and uniform sur
face, is accomplished merely by the
application of a very light coating of
specially prepared and colorless tin
seed oil, and then embossed to pro
duce whatever design or “grain” may
be desired on the finished leather.
In the case of split leather, however,
a much heavier coating Is required
to cover the fibrous character of the
THE DANIELSVILLE MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE, GEORGIA.
surface. The film deposited by heavi
er coatings of linseed oil, which was
the original method of finishing split
leather, possesses neither great
strength nor durability; but perhaps
its most serious defect is the brittle
ness which develops with age or at
low temperatures, which caused the
finish produced In this manner to
crack very easily.
The first improvement over the lin
seed oil finish for split leather was the
use of a solution made by dissolving
scrap celluloid in amyl acetate and
wood alcohol, with the addition of
castor oil to render the film flexible,
and of course the pigments necessary
to produce the desired color.
It was soon found, however, that
a by-product like scrap celluloid was
subject to too wide variation to pro
duce a reliably uniform finish, and
the next step forward was the prep
aration of similar solutions from nitro
cellulose made especially for this pur
pose In place of scrap celluloid. While
this improvement overcame the most
serious defect of lack of uniformity,
objections previously overlooked soon
became prominent.
By continued experiment, however,
a solution composed of ethyl ecatate,
denatured alcohol and benzol was pro
duced and found to be entirely satis
factory. The film or coating depos
ited on the leather by this solution Is
strong, tough, durable and waterproof,
yet sufficiently flexible to meet the re
quirements of good upholstery leath
er ; it Is not subject to cracking with
age or at low temperatures, and pro
vides nn excellent medium for retain
ing the impressions of embossing
plates almost indefinitely. Splits from
hides of good quality, properly tanned,
and carefully coated with these solu
tions are even superior to grain leath
er for purposes where the finished
product is subjected to weather ex
posure nnd particularly rough usage
—as, for example, the upholstery of
automobiles.
After the leather is finally finished
It is passed through an automatic ma
chine which measures the number of
square feet in each piece. Despite Ir
regularities in shape this machine does.
Its work accurately and quickly, where
upon the leather Is rolled In tissue
paper and packed for shipment.
Commuter in Tight Place.
I am a commuter. This day of my
life, I had the previous evening been
doing some gardening and had occa
sion to take out my pocketbook and
lay it to one side. Moruing came with
the usual hurry to make the train. I
managed to get a seat, and was get
ting nicely settled, when I thought of
my pocketbook, with my ticket with
in. My predicament was no ticket,
and no money with me. The conduc
tor came arouud and I told him the
situation. He said I should try ami
borrow a ride from someone who
lived in my town. I was about to
start on this novel, but to me very
embarrassing quest, when the gentle
man next to me, from another town
very kindly rescued me.—Exchange.
HD DESIGN FOR
TWO-STORY ROUSE
Not a Single Superfluous Line to
Be Found in This Home.
ENTIRE ABSENCE OF FRILLS
Has Points Which Put Many More Ex
pensive Homes at a Disadvan
tage—ls Commodious Home
of Eight Rooms.
By WILLIAM A. RADFORD
Mr. William A. Radford will answer
questions and give advice FREE OF
C OST on all subjects pertaining to the
subject of building, for the readers of
this paper. On account of his wide
experience as Editor, Author and
Manufacturer, he is. without doubt,
the highest authority on all these sub
jects. Address all Inquiries to William
A. Radford, No. 1827 Prairie avenue,
Chicago, 111., and only inclose two-cent
stamp for reply.
In this home there is not a single
superfluous line. There is an entire
absence of frills. Yet it gives a more
pleasing Impression than many a home
costing twice as much and making
more claims to pretentiousness. What
is the secret?
Observe that the lines are pleasing.
There are patterned windows, upstairs
and down, which carry the eye along In
easy verticals and horizontals, and the
_ i 8i
'' • ~„ . ' . .' ■/* /.<■ ■•'•>'■.< ■.- . :• 'I v% 4
"' . . :■'. .fV ■ .4 ft
handling of the cornices and the wide
siding used give other lines that struc
turally and artistically are all that can
be desifed. The use of stucco for the
upper story exterior is a happy
thought, and It breaks up whatever
monotony might have come from too
severe handling of the exterior. The
overhanging cornice formed by the ex
tension of the fairly fiat mansard roof
helps out the silhouette of the house.
Inside, we find a very commodious
home of eight rooms, including sun
room. The latter leads out from tlie
Porch Dining
Jllfi
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A I c3unßm.
S jj 26'x1l '-6'
First Floor Plan.
living room, and together these two
are quite as attractive a combina
tion of the two most used rooms as
you could wish to find in a house.
The sun room could have a fireplace
also, by taking care to have the one
flue serve both it and the living room.
The glass doors which open from the
living room into the sun room ought
to be included in this house, rather
than portieres, for the placing of them
is such that the living room would be
apt to be drafty and uncomfortable
without them In some of our more
severe northern winters.
The dining room is immediately off
he reception hall and is also acces
ible from the living room. It is a
very well lighted room and ,
a compact and a^olia
kitchen equipped with wlndowdh??
outside-icing refrigerator and *
dowed pantry. a
Our stairway to the second s w,
compactly arranged and vet hS U
orative possibilities, in Hs rein, **
the reception hail it calls t S
severe handling if i t is to be made ?
most of, but a simple newel post, Via
IS '*
j 14,11 |
Mmm: r: i, J
Second Floor Plan.
white enameled spindles and a ma
hogany stair rail would serve to give
it distinction.
Upstuirs we have three bedrooms
and a sewing room which could be
made to serve as an extra bedroom.
All these upstairs rooms have fine
closet space and are on a hall which
leads conveniently to the bathroom, if
one wished, two of the bedrooms could
be furnished with outside doors to
open on the sun porch roof, and by
having this roof flat and covered with
an awning there would be fine outdoor
sleeping accommodations.
Naturally one would expect the mit
er woodwork of this attractive home
to be finished in white. The white
siding below the white stucco would
give a neat and presentable appear
ance always, and with proper land
scaping the lot upon which it was built
could be made to emphasize the beauty
of the house. The blinds, or inner
curtains, might be those which have
a white outer coating and a green in
ner coating, adding to the attractive*
ness of the exterior and mak ‘ tb#
inner rooms seem more coo
long sunshiny days of summer.
A house like this emphasizes
wisdom of building from a P laa-
trary to mistaken Ideas a
house does not just grow, like c
It must be planned careTuhy. „
proper attention given to eac l d , lder
This house follows a plan, its u
knew what he was doing am •
or-miss judgment was perm; o ■ jt
who can deny that the result
pleasing?
Thought for the Day.
Some of the hardest knocks we S
are delivered by our supposed £r>en