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||||||||| USOO513478A United States Patent (19) 11 Patent Number: 5,134,178 Nishibori (45) Date of Patent: Jul. 28, 1992 (54) ANIMAL PROTEIN RESIN-PLASTIC 2,257,726 10/1941 Emmitt ..............................., 264/40 COMPOSTIONS AND MANUFACTURES 2,433,727 12/1947 Arnold ..... ... 428/291 NCORPORATING ANEMAL SKINS AND/OR 3,157,524 A1964 Artandi .... ... 106/122 3,663,472 5/1972 Raymond .............................. 524/11 LEATHER AND/OR GELATIN POWDER 3,665,061 5/1972 Eberly, Jr. ............................ 264/49 THEREIN, THE POWDER THEREIN, AND 3,756,518 9/1973 Bailey .................................... 24/65 METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME 4,057,607 11/1977 Soehngen et al. .................... 264/28 75) Inventor: Sadao Nishibori, Tokyo, Japan FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 73) Assignee: EIN (America) Inc., New York, N.Y. 50-149768 12/1975 Japan. (21) Appl. No.: 515,318 586232 3/1947 United Kingdom .................. 524/11 22 Filed: Apr. 23, 1990 Primary Examiner-Allan M. Lieberman Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Shlesinger, Arkwright & Related U.S. Application Data Garvey 60 Continuation of Ser. No. 221,904, Jul. 20, 1981, aban (57) ABSTRACT doned, which is a division of Ser. No. 68,347, Jul. , The present invention relates to methods, compositions, 1987, Pat. No. 4,834,762. and articles manufactured from scrap treated skin and 30) Foreign Application Priority Data /or leather which has been finely pulverized and mixed Aug. 7, 1986 JP Japan ................................ 61-185896 with synthetic resin. It further includes a method for the Aug. 7, 1986 JP Japan ................................ 6-185900 manufacture of improved leather products made from Mar. 14, 1987 JP Japan .................................. 62-59832 animal skin and/or leather and/or animal gelatin includ ing the products derived therefrom and the method of 51 Int, Cl. ........................... ... CO8L 89/06 producing skin and/or leather powder by use of steam 52 U.S. C. ......................................... 524/11; 524/10 and pulverization for combining with a fluid plastic 58 Field of Search .................... 524/10, 11; 527/101; material or resin in which the powder is uniformally 428/516; 264/49 dispersed in the plastic resin material for molding, ex 56) References Cited truding or manufacture of sheet material or for incorpo U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS ration into coatings, paint or other plastic resinous prod 976,827 1/1910 Ostberg............................... 264/15 CS. 1,302,463 4/1919 Campbell .............................. 524/11 2,039,262 4/1936 Schulte ................................ 606/229 12 Claims, 8 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 1 of 8 5,134,178 U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 2 of 8 5,134,178 s U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 3 of 8 5,134,178 OO kx H 2OkV 506 OO u F. G. 4 - O kx 2OkW 5O7 F G. 5 U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 4 of 8 5,134,178 U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 5 of 8 5,134,178 U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 6 of 8 5,134,178 Okx 2OKV 463 F. G. 9 F. G. O U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 7 of 8 5,134,178 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE|g2=====EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE| 02 Uri00209||00106080/09070902G|0|6819.WÇ //’9/-/ U.S. Patent July 28, 1992 Sheet 8 of 8 5,134,178 MESH SIZE (NO/INCH) Cpl ) 5,134,178 1. 2 surface made of formed compositions such as vinyl ANMAL PROTEIN RESN-PLASTIC chloride, polyamides or polyurethanes treated with the COMPOSITIONS AND MANUFACTURES denatured polyamides, polyurethanes, or polyacrylic . NCORPORATING ANMAL SKINS AND/OR acid derivatives. LEATHER AND/OR GELATIN POWDER 5 Another example is an artificial leather having a po THEREIN, THE POWDER THEREIN, AND rous structure comprising a three-diminsionally entan METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME gled fiber member made of special fibers such as hol low, lotusroot-like fiber, a bundle of very fine fibers, This application is a continuation of application Ser. and a binder mainly of an elastomer(polyurethane) and No. 07/22,904, filed Jul. 20, 1988, now abandoned, 10 the like. which is a division of applin. Ser. No. 068,347, filed Jul. These synthetic or artificial leathers have characteris 1, 1987, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,762. tics very similar to those of natural leathers and have The present invention pertains to improved leather excellent insulating qualities and yet have excellent air products made from animal skin and/or leather and and moisture permeability and water repellency. How animal gelatin and methods of manufacturing the same. 15 ever, water absorption in these artificial and synthetic It also pertains to the method of reducing animal skin leathers occurs only through capillary action, and water and/or leather to a fine powder compatible with resin absorption due to swelling of tissues does not occur in and plastic compounds. them. While air permeability is controlled in natural All vertebrates, including humans have skin contain leathers as the porosity in the tissues is adjusted when ing collagen, a fibrous protein. Collagen protein is very 20 the tissues swell, synthetic or artificial leathers do not complex structure, and insoluble in water. This inven have such an action. tion also pertains to the method of pulverizing the colla Natural skins refer to untanned pelts. Natural leathers gen fibers to a fine powder form and compounding the refer to leather tanned pelts. Tanned pelts require tan powder with plastic to form a product superior to natu ning treatment with tanning or chrome. Numerous at ral leather. 25 tempts have been made to pulverize natural skin/leather Prior art artificial leather had many shortcomings as into a powder and to mix it with synthetic resins to be compared to natural leather. This invention provides a molded into sheet using the resin as a binder. If natural manmade leather including material having the desir skin or leather could be molded together with synthetic able qualities of natural leather such a feel, suppleness, resin, in a proper manner, a number of advantages texture, resistance to static electricity, and absorption. It 30 would be apparent. For one, the presence of natural is superior to natural leather because it does not have skin or leather in the molded product would improve the disadvantages such as the need for constant care or water and moisture absorption due to swelling and pro susceptibility to mold, fading, and dirt. This reconsti vide a molded product having an excellent feel without tuted leather looks and feels better the longer it is used. stickiness. Secondly, the presence of skin or leather Unlike the natural leather, it does not age as quickly. 35 powder in the molded product should provide supple ness and resillient toughness to the product not obtained BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION in other resin molded products. In the past, scrap skin and leather have been dis Thirdly, the presence of skin and leather powder carded as having no useful purpose. The pieces of scrap should reduce static build-up and eliminate the static were insufficient to utilize for leather goods of the like. discharges and the discomfort caused thereby. It would People had attempted to grind and pulverize the skin/- also reduces the adherence of dust caused by static leather and mix it with resins so that commercial articles build-up. could be made therewith. Skin and leather breathes and Further, the heat insulating property of the resin because of this it has a comfortable feeling when worn molded products containing skin and leather powder as a garment or as footwear. Synthetics generally do not 45 should be greatly improved. breath. The prior art incorporating skin/leather into the Difficulties have been experienced in pulverization, resin was unsatisfactory because the particles of skin/- since longer fibers sometimes became entangled de leather tended to clump or lump together. The failure of pending on the type of skin or leather (whether pelt of the particles to be uniform in distribution throughout a pig or cow; a particular portion of a pelt, etc. or other the synthetic resin material created undesirable charac SO properties such as whether the pelt is of a young animal teristics to the material molded therefrom. or of an adult; or the type of tanning or storage condi Natural leathers have long been used for clothing and tions under which the pelts were treated). other articles. They wear well and are supple and tough Furthermore, problems have been encountered in as well as attractive in appearance. Unfortunately, natu going from a pilot plant to actual production. ral skins and leathers are limited in supply and because 55 Other problems have been noted and it was also of troublesome tanning processes, become quite expen found that due to forced drying and impact shearing, sive when used in a manufacture of articles of clothing, grains of the skin or leather powder got entangled and accessories or the like. Because of different shapes and took on an appearance of unraveled cotton during stor sizes of the original animals, a special skill is needed to age. This powder eventually flocculated making it diffi cut and make them into clothes, etc. and scrap material cult to mix with synthetic resin. and waste is common. Flocculated skin or leather powder will not ordinar Previous attempts have been made to pulverize the ily mix evenly in the synthetic resin due to the lack of skin/leather into a powder. When used with a resin, the lubricity. This making it impossible to give the product powder tends to cake. properties specific to leather and interferes with the Recently, various artificial and synthetic leathers 65 good characteristics of the molded resin itself. have been developed as a substitute for natural leather, The presence of flocculated skin or leather powder One typical example is a synthetic leather comprising a further led to defectively high increases in resistance in substrate of woven or knitted fabric and a sponge-like the mixing cylinders, die tools used for extrusion or 5,134,178 3 4.