GB656848A - Improvements in and relating to a method in the tanning of the hides of large whales - Google Patents

Abstract

656,848. Leather from whale hides. BEN. DIXEN, K. Dec. 16, 1947, No. 33154. Convention date, Nov. 19, 1938. [Class 76] Tanned hides of large whales, especially true whales, black whales, and finback whales e.g. the common finback whale or the blue whale, are prepared from hides including the fat-yielding tissues, so-called blubber, which contains leather-forming fibres, by removing the epidermis and, before or after tanning, subjecting the hide to a compression at right angles to the surface at a moderate temperature preferably a temperature not exceeding 30‹ C., whereby the fatty substance or part thereof is pressed out without detrimentally influencing the hide fibres and the glue tissue, thus forming a raw hide or leather, the raw hide being afterwards converted into leather by tanning. The epidermis is removed by scraping the moist hide, which may have been preserved in salt. If the hide so scraped is then salted, the salt is removed before tanning. If desired, the tanned leather may be treated with a solvent, e.g. petrol to remove contingently remaining fatty substances. For chamois leather, compression is carried out during the fulling process.