I Bloomfield g. TVloore I TVlemorial fund. rJSr-l-?-T^T=-Sr LEHTHER MllNUFICTURE, o (X Crcatise ON THE Prbctiml Workings of the Leather Msnufbcture INCLUDING OIL SHOE GRAIN, IMITATION GOAT AND CALF, BRIGHT OIL, ENGLISH AND AMERICAN BOOT GRAIN, HAND AND MACHINE SEWED WELT, GLOVE GRAIN, FLESH SPLITS, HARNESS LEATHER, THE SUL- ^ PHIDE OF SODIUM PROCESS, OAK AND HEMLOCK BARK EXTRACTS, CONSTRUCTION OF TANNERIES, . TOGETHER WITH NUMEROUS VALUABLE RECIPES AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTER SPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE LEATHER MANUFACTURE. By JOHN WT. STEVBNS, Author of "Mistakes of Tanners,'' Etc. CONTAINING ILLUSTRATIONS OF MACHINERY AND MOST APPROVED AP- PLIANCES ADAPTED FOR THE CLASS OF WORK. PUBLISHED BY THE SHOE AND LEATHER REVIEW, 182 Monroe St., Chicago, III. 1890. Knteted, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by The Review Printing ant PUBUSBC^G Co., in the ofi&ce of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. UBRARY Dc&ication. To My Grandson, John Warren Stsvens. I dedicate to you, this volume of a work now submitted to the tanning fraternity, with a diffidence and hesitation proportioned to the multiplicity of details and the practical workings connected with the I,eather Manufacture. Your grandfather, great-grandfather and uncles devoted a good portion of their lives to the now second largest manufactur- ing industry in this country. I trust that you, in your future walks, will not feel compelled to emulate the calling of your humble predecessors ; but, in whatever position your inclinations lead, to give it your undivided attention, and fill the same with credit to your- self and honor to the name. PREFACE. The aim of the following hand-book is to present to the tan- ning fraternity, and to those who may hereafter engage in it, a full and complete sketch of the art of making several of the most pop- ular and standard lines of fine shoe leather. It also contains a treatise on the sulphide of sodium process, oak and hemlock bark extracts, and the construction of tanneries. The writer has refrained from following the usual custom of combining theory with practice, or in going into an extended treatise on the chemical properties of water employed in tanning, or the anatomy and chemical analysis of the hide structure. Science and chemistry are not to be ignored, however, by tanners endeavoring to produce good, serviceable leather at a lessened cost in the production. And, as they are now receiving more light through those channels than formerly, and also directly through Practical chemistry, it would appear rather egotistical for "an old Bnner" to treat of arts and sciences with which he is not practi- pBlly familiar. Besides, it would tend to weary older tanners and cbler students in technical literature. The writer has, therefore, confined himself to the practical workings of leather manufacture, giving, in fact, his own personal experience in the making of several styles. It has been his special aim to use the plainest and simplest language, so that he who runs may read, and he who reads and follows the instructions given may profit thereby, whether he be an amateur or a professional tanner. C^\0 i —— CONTENTS. Paob. Introduction iii CHAPTER I. Manufacture of Oil Shoe Grains. Class of Hides Most Desirable—Yield of Leather and Splits From Ex- treme Light Hides—Heavy Cows—Soaking and Liming—Dimensions of Tann'^ry Pits i Uniform Weights of Hides Per Pack—Trimming the Hides—Glue Stock —Washing Hides in the Wheel—Water Supply—Splitting the Hides and Soaking in Cold Water 2 Tanner's Hide Trim 3 Fleshing the Hides—Removing the Nerves—Wash Wheel 4 Lime Reel—Liming 5 Reeling the Hides From One Pit to Another—Amount of Lime Re- quired—Key to Pin the Hides Together—Float Attachment to First and Last Hide Going Into the Limes—Changing the Hides in the Limes Daily—High and Low Liming—Capacity of Lime Pits—Fre- quent Cleaning Out of the Lime Pits 6 Accumulation of Blood and Ammonia in the Limes—Slacking the Lime — "Dead and Live" Lime Pits—Openings in Top Center of Lime Pits For An Equal Distribution of the Liquor—Strengthening the Limes Removing the Keys and Throwing the Hides Into a Hot Water Bath Temperature of Bath—Unhairing—Removing the Lime and Epidermis —Washing in the Wheel . 7 Bating—Condition of Hides and Water—Amount of Chicken Manure Used for One Hundred Hides—Difference in the Quality of Manures Used—Lime and Tannic Acid—The Bate Wheel—Temperature of the Bate—How to Test the Condition of Hides When Bated 8 "Bate Paicks"—To Prevent Putrefaction —Working out the Bate, or Fine Hairing—How Done—Condition of the Knife—Hot and Cold Limes Bate Wheels 9 CHAPTER II. Coloring or Setting the Grain. Coloring Wheels, Similar in Construction to the Bate Wheels—The Eng- land Wheel, how Made and Number of Revolutions—Density of Liquor in the First Stages 10 First Impressions—Time Necessary to Color the Pack—Suspending the Hides on Sticks—Dimensions of Sticks—Brass Screws for Connecting the Hides to Sticks—How Done 11 Arrangement of Pits—Daily Changeof the Packs—Increasing the Strength of Liquors as Changes Occur 12 Over-feeding and Starving— " Black Rot"—Temperature of Liquors, and Density—Ripening Up Process— Gallic and Tannic Acid 13 The Long and Short Time Process—The Relief Corps—Time Required in Carrying the Hides through the Beam-house and Tannery—Spready Cows, Steers and Bulls 14 Hides Most Desirable—The Barb Wire Fence—The Change of Packs . 15 Agitating the Liquors Frequently—Ample Space for the Hides to Feed Taking out Packs for Sammieing—Steam Force Pump with Hose At- tachment for Washing the Leather, Sticks and Pits—Running over the I/iquors 16 — CONTENTS. Preparation of Bark and Amount Required—Bark Crushing Mill—Re- tanning the Splits 17 Grinding and I^eaching the Bark—Bark Shaving Mill—The Bark Con- veyer 18 Conveying the Bark from Mills to Leaches, and the Spent Bark to Boiler Room—The Press System of Leaching Bark—Pure Liquors and Mod- erate Heat Required—Comparisons Between a High and Low Temper- ature in Extracting the Tannic Acid from the Bark—Exhaust Steam Box—The Last Run ou Old Leaches 19 CHAPTER III. Preparing for Skiving. Sammieing and Dampening the Leather—Trimming and Scarring Grain Imperfections—Oiling the Grain —Wheeling in Drum-Wheel—Skiving by Hand and Machine 20 Belt Knife Machine and Capacity of Same 21 Union Splitting Machine and Friction-Gear Attachment—Splitting the Leather 22 Shaving—Re-tanning in Drum-Wheel with Gambier and Sumac—The Amounts Required for a Given Number of Sides—Cost of Same—Scour- ing and Oiling 23 "Sammieing," or Hardening—Dampening—The Condition of the Leather for StufiBng—How to make a Suitable Test—Ripening the Leather for Stuffing 24 The Stuffing Wheel—When First Introduced—How Built and Diameter of Wheel 25 Amount and Nature of the Greases Used—Temperature of Grease and Wheel—Brown Grease, How Made—English Degras 27 Liquor Pumps—Adulteration in Oils 28 Stuffing by Wheel—Time Required—The Percentage of Greases Employed —Cooling Off the Leather—Setting^—Giving Character to the Sides . 29 CHAPTER IV. Si,iCKiNG Off and Buffing. Buffing Off the Grain—Object and Advantages Derived—Plain Square Liquor Pipes 30 The Origin of Oil Shoe Grain and Its Great Popularity—Barb Wire Scratches—Buffing or Snuffing—Unsight and Unseen 31 Tanners should Demand Redress for the Damage by Barb Wire Fences Blacking and Finishing—Preparing the Logwood—Amount of Logwood and Sal-soda 32 Blacking the Leather and Preparing it for Pebbling—The Pebbling Jack. 33 Pebbling—The Figure of Roller and Uniformity Required—The Staking and Perching Machine 34 Graining with Cork-Board—Number of Angles on Grain and Flesh Sides —Soit Boarding 35 Dressing with Blacking and Beef Blood—Recipe for Making the Dressing —How Put On—Cleanliness—Drying and Oiling Off 36 Nature of Oils Used in the Final Finish—Brown Grease vs. Tallow—The Proportions of Oil and Grease—Temperature of the Room and Oil . - 37 Assorting and the Several Classifications—Measuring the Leather—How Put Up—The Ripening Process— " Levant " a Substitute for Beef Blood 38 Recipe for Making Grain Blacking, and Cost per Gallon 39 CHAPTER V. Fr,ESH Split Finishing. Assorting and Trimming—The Percentage Obtained Suitable for Flesh Finish—Grain Splits Re-tanned and Sold in the Rough—The Several Classifications and Weights Most Desirable—Shaving and Leveling by Machine 40 — CONTENTS. iij Re-tanning in Drum Wheel with Gambier—Amount Used per Wheel Finishing Out the Tanning in Pits, with Bark Liquor Scouring and Drying—Dampening .j Stuffing—Weight of Each Batch of Dry or Dampened Splits—Nature of Greases Used, and Quantity of Same—Temperature of Grease and Wheel—Time Required in the Wheel ^ Setting an( I Drying—Whitening—Blood Veins—Trimming—Soft-Boarding on the Grain Side—Finishing ., Glassing on Grain Side by Jack-Machine—Recipes for Making Blacking and Paste ^ Recipe for Preparing the Gum—Blacking and Glassing ........ 45 Pasting and Glassing—Oiling, Glassing and Gumming—Proportionate Parts of Gum and Paste, also Oils 46 Rain or Condensed Steam Water for Pastes and Dressings—Style of Sponges Used—A Lusterless or Bright Finish—Putting up the Splits in the Several Classifications aj CHAPTER VI. Construction of Tanneries. Ground Plan of Tannery .g An Imaginary Tannery— City and Country—Water Supply—Precautioij Against Freshets and Inundations—Preparing for the Foundation—Pits and Junk, how Built ^o Mixing of Clay and Precautions Taken in Applying—Liquor Log Convey- ers, how Set—Kind of Timber Used for the Foundations 50 The Safest and Most Economical Style of Pits—The "Box" and the "Buffalo" Pit—How Built and Connected with the Liquor Log Con- veyers CJ Claying on the Outside of Pits—When in Position Fill with Water-^The Tanner who Built on too Economic Principles— "Saving at the Spig and " Opening Wide the Bung-hole 52 Finishing Shops Connected with the Tannery not Advisable—When Sepa- rate the Tannery may be Built at Comparatively Small Expense—Sin- gle Story and of Piles Set in the Ground—The Roof Supported by Trestle Work—Constructed of Stone and Brick—Protection from Cold —Skylights c.