Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/282

 276 LEATHER er board," made of leather skivings and old rope, is manufactured for use in heels, stiffen- ings, and counters of the cheapest boots and shoes. Japanned leather, generally called pat- ent leather, was first made in America by Seth Boyden of Newark, N. J., 1818-'20. A smooth, glazed finish was first given to calf skins in France, which were sold to a considerable extent in the American market ; but the manufacture of japanned leather has now grown to be a large business in Newark, and the amount of these goods imported is very light. The japanning of calf leather for boots and shoes is most suc- cessfully conducted by the French. They fur- nish the best of the highly glazed brilliant ma- terial known as patent leather, and large quan- tities were formerly produced in the United States. Of late the demand for the finer kinds of calf patent leather has largely fallen off, and its place is in some measure filled by a cheaper article manufactured mostly of kips or larger hides, split or skived down to proper thick- ness. It is curried expressly for this purpose, and particular care is taken to keep it as free as possible from grease. The skins,, are then tacked on frames and coated with a com- position of linseed oil and umber, in the pro- portion of 18 gallons of the former to 5 oz. of the latter, boiled till nearly solid, and then mixed with spirits of turpentine to the proper consistency ; lampblack is also added when the composition is applied, in order to give color and body. From three to four coats of this are neces- sary to form a surface to receive the varnish ; they are laid on with a sort of knife or scra- per. To render the goods soft and pliant, each coat must be very light and thoroughly dried between each application. A thin coat is af- terward applied of the same composition, of proper consistence to be put on with a brush, and with sufiicient lampblack boiled in it to make it a perfect black. When thoroughly dry it is cut down with a scraper having a turned edge, when it is ready to varnish. The principal varnish used is made from linseed oil and Prussian blue, boiled to the thickness of printers' ink. It is reduced with spirits of tur- pentine to a suitable consistence to work with a brush, and is then applied in two or three separate coats, which are scraped and pumiced until the leather is perfectly filled and smooth. The finishing coat is put on with especial care in a room kept closed and with the floor wet to prevent dust. The frames are then run into ovens heated to about 175. In preparing this kind of leather the manufacturer must give the skins as high a heat as they can bear in order to dry the composition upon the surface as rapidly as possible without absorption, and cautiously so as not to injure the fibre of the leather. Enamelled leather, now used for car- riage tops, was first manufactured by David Crockett of Newark ; previous to this, oil- dressed leather, presenting all the appearance of harness leather, was used for this purpose. This leather is all split by machine, and only large hides are used. By the use of the leather- splitting machine, a hide is split in three or four parts, and what in the old process of shaving would have produced but 50 ft. of leather, is increased to about 125 ft. suitable for glazing, besides a first split that is used for covering trunks. Patent leather differs from enamelled leather in the fact that the former has a smooth surface, and the latter is finished with less composition, leaving the irregular surface given by the natural grain of the skin where the hair has been removed. In enamelled leather American manufacturers take the lead of all others, but they also make much poor stock. The principal cause of complaint against Amer- ican enamelled leather has arisen from the in- troduction of powerful stretching machines, by which the size of the hide can be increased from 3 to 7 sq. ft. (The leather is sold by measure, not by weight.) The wet leather is thrown over a bar which is attached to up- rights and can be raised or lowered at will ; the edges of the hides are attached to a fixed bar, and by the use of two jack screws the movable frame is raised until the leather is stretched to its utmost. The whole frame is then wheeled into a dry room, where it remains until the leather is perfectly dry, after which it passes through the usual process of blacking and var- nishing. Hides treated in this way will shrink more rapidly than those stretched in the usual manner ; they will even contract if spread out in the wareroom. Smaller hides are now used for this purpose than formerly, as they retain the enamel surface better owing to their finer grain, and do not shrink so much when ex- posed to the weather. Alligator leather was first made about 1855 in New Orleans. In 1870 a much better article was made in Massa- chusetts, the tanning process occupying about eight months, and a number of firms then en- gaged in the business. The leather thus made was very costly, and while it was not imper- vious to water, as was asserted, it had not sufii- cient firmness to retain its shape when made up into boots and shoes, but would spread out, in ordinary wear, as would be the case with a buckskin upper of a boot or shoe. The irreg- ular and conspicuous checkered pattern of their surfaces made them popular for a brief period ; but nearly all of the durable boots of this kind were made with a lining of calfskin, thus ren- dering them extremely heavy. In preparing the skins for tanning, great care is necessary to prevent the rotting of the tender crevices be- tween the scales ; and, as they must be very carefully treated, twice as much time is re- quired for the tanning and finishing as with calf skins. The skins of the young animals only are fitted for making leather, as the hide of a full-grown alligator is too hard and horny to be of any value. The tanning of alligator* skins is, in other respects than those mentioned, similar to that of calf skins. The back of the skin, which is always hard and horny, is gen^ erally cut out before shipment, leaving only"