GB1016191A - Improvements in and relating to softening, plasticizing and stretching leather - Google Patents

Abstract

In continuously softening, plasticizing and stretching leather, a sheet of leather 15, Fig. 1, is carried, from a table 13 to a table 14, between the upper run of an endless, elastic conveyer 2 and the lower run of a similar conveyer 3 and subjected to action on both surfaces, by projections 7 secured to slats 5 and 6 oscillated, e.g. at a frequency between 5 and 60 oscillations per second, towards and away from each other by coupled mechanisms (each including a cam, a cam follower and a return spring) actuated by a motor 9, through a belt 11 and pulley wheel 10, so that portions of the elastic belts with the leather sheet sandwiched between them are forced, by the projections 7 on one slat, into gaps between projections 7 on the other slat, when the slats approach and interengage each other. The endless belts carry the leather sheet through the apparatus, e.g. at a speed between 5 and 60 cm. per second, when the slats are moved apart and the belts are substantially disengaged from the projections 7. In a modification, Fig. 6, each slat comprises a plurality of independently oscillated portions 27, 28 and 29 each connected, by an adjustable tappet 34, to a piston 32 which is reciprocated, in a cylinder 33, by a rod 30 connected to a <PICT:1016191/C6-C7/1> <PICT:1016191/C6-C7/2> rotating crank shaft 37 coupled, by a sprocket 38 and chain 39, to mechanism reciprocating portions of a similarly divided upper slat (not shown).