A Text-book of Tanning A treatise on the conversion of skins into leather, both practical and theoretical.

It is assumed that the reader has an elementary knowledge of chemistry, and of the common manipulations of the laboratory; but at the risk of giving information which to many is...

=Algarobilla.=--The seed-pods of _Prosopis pallida_ and _P. Algarrobo_ are known as _algarobilla_, the two kinds being distinguished as _negro_ and _blanco_. The trees are abund...

These bodies often differ widely both in chemical constitution and reaction, but have the common property of precipitating gelatin from solution, and forming insoluble compounds...

=Skins.=--The trade in skins possesses no small importance. Many of the statistics relating to skins are collective, and not specific; these will be grouped under the heads of t...

In England, lime is the agent almost universally employed for loosening the hair, though every tanner admits its deficiencies and disadvantages. It is hard, however, to recommen...

Before speaking of actual processes of manufacture, it is necessary to devote some attention to the structure and chemical constitution of hide or skin, which forms the raw mate...

The primitive way of drying leather was to hang it on poles in the open air, but this in our uncertain climate has become quite obsolete. The oldest plan now actually in use is...

As few architects have specially studied the construction of tanneries, and in most cases much of the arrangement depends on the knowledge of the tanner himself, a short chapter...

On first coming into the yard, the butts are usually suspended by the shoulder or butt ends from sticks placed across the pits. They should be kept in almost constant movement,...

Water, as obtained from rivers, wells, or water companies, contains a variety of impurities which affect its use in tanning, but of which in most cases the precise influence is...

Before describing the management of the hides in the tan-house, it is necessary to say a few words about one or two of the principal materials used, and the methods of preparing...

In general terms, the process of currying consists in softening, levelling, and stretching the hides and skins which are required for the upper-leathers of boots, and other purp...

Hides which are intended for purposes where softness and flexibility are required, as for instance, for the upper-leathers of boots, and for saddlery purposes, are called "dress...

(I.) Market hides, from the cattle slaughtered for food in the United Kingdom. These are received by the tanner, fresh, or slightly salted, and are either bought directly from t...

The chemical composition of skin is very imperfectly understood. The bulk of the skin is, as has long been known, converted by boiling into gelatin or glue. The yellow fibres an...

This branch of leather manufacture is mainly carried on in Germany, Austria, and France. In Germany and Austria, lamb-skins are principally employed; in France, kid-skins. For f...

The invention of the earliest form of mineral tanning, that with alum and salt, dates from remote antiquity; but as it is in large measure the type of all that has been since do...

The process of manufacture of this leather, which has obtained a firm position as the most suitable material for certain classes of belting, picker-straps, &c., was discovered a...

This leather, which is remarkable for its soft felty texture, which it retains even after wetting, although perfectly porous and free from greasiness in its finished state, is p...

The butts, after being treated as above described, are frequently oiled lightly on the grain, and are taken into the drying-lofts, where they are hung on poles till about half d...

These are terms used to designate those leathers, whether of the ox, the horse, the calf, or the seal, which are finished with a waterproof and bright varnished surface, similar...

Calf-kid is used for light upper-leather, and belongs to a different class from any yet described, being "tawed" instead of tanned. In this respect, and in most details of its m...

This is tanned in Russia with, the bark of various species of willow, poplar and larch, either by laying away in pits, or handling in liquors, much like other light leathers, th...

Morocco leather is produced from goat-skins. Rough-haired or "blue-back" seal-skins are also used, and produce an excellent article; while an inferior description, called "Frenc...

Leather manufacture may be broadly divided into two stages: "tanning," in which the raw hide is converted into the imputrescible and more or less flexible material known as "lea...