Manufacture of Leather

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. 1. Definition and Classification. -The term leather is applied to the product obtained by the treatment of hides or skins of animals with certain reagents that convert the animal tissues into a tough, opaque, pliable, and fibrous substance which is not subject to putrefaction.<br><br>2. The pelts of animals come to the tanner in four conditions: green or market (fresh from the animal); green salted (when salt has been rubbed on the flesh and the skins placed in piles to cure); dry salted (same as green salted but afterwards allowed to dry); flint, or dry, hides (usually stretched and allowed to dry in the sun). According to their size, these pelts are divided into three general classes, namely, hides, kips, and skins. Hides comprise the coverings of larger animals such as the cow, horse, camel, and walrus. These are used for heavy leather manufacture such as shoe soles, machinery belting, harness, and other purposes where stiffness and strength are required. They are also often split for the purpose of producing shoe leather, bag, case, strap, automobile, and furniture leather. Kips are the undersized animals of the same species.