OUR INDUSTRIES

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 18

OUR INDUSTRIES

VII. THE GLENDERMID TANNERY.

When Messrs Michaelis, Hallenstein, and Farquhar determined, some 14 years ago, upon the establishment of the tannery, which is still carried on by them, the choice of a suitable site was a matter of some difficulty. Fully a month was spent in inspecting various sites in the vicinity of Dunedin which had been suggested before one was discovered that seemed to possess the natural advantages they looked for. That site had a creek of pure water, which had its source in the hills behind, running right through it, and the drainage was all that could be desired, and it being secured the tanning business was as speedily as possible thereafter commenced by the firm. The site, embracing 10 acres of land, is at Sawyers' Bay, immediately alongside the railway station at that suburb, and the tannery buildings, which ara substantially built of brick and cement, stand within 100 yards of the main trunk line. The arrangement of the buildings has been ordered with an eye to convenience, and the machinery is of the most approved type. As an instance of the "up-to-date" description of the appliances in connection with the tannery, it need only be mentioned that the furnace, which has been in use at the tannery for the past two years, was invented by Messrs Cleghorn, Farquhar, and Collins, and is protected by letters patent throughout the world. An exhaustive test of the furnace has justified the inventors in claiming for it that its use results in a more complete, and therefore more economic, combustion of fuel and consequently great saving of expense, an almost entire annihilation of smoke — a consideration of no small importance, — and the longer life of the boilers. All the machinery in the tannery— with the exception of the ventilating fans — are driven by a Tangye horizontal steam engine of about 17 h.p. The hides which are used up in the tannery are purchased from various quarters — from the North Island, from Queensland, and (in a more limited quantity) from South America. They are received into a hide shed, where they are kept until required to undergo the series of processes which is to convert them into leather, dressed or undressed. As a first step, the hides, upon being brought into the tanning building, are washed and cleaned, three " soaks " containing the fluid in which they are dipped. Almost side by side with. these "soaks" is a row of lime pits, like so many dams, which are separated by narrow footways, and immersion in a lime pit is the next process to which the hide is subjected, the effect of it being to swell the hide itself and loosen the hair. The skins are turned over several times in the lime pits, in which they remain for days, until the coat is so loosened that its removal is easily accomplished, and the next process is that of "unhairing," the hairs being simply dragged out by an implement resembling a knife. This done, the skins are thrown into pure water, in which they remain for a day or two, and they then pass into the hands of the flesher, who with a sharp knife shaves off the flesh and fat from the under surface, and, when this has been accom-plishedrtlieiiMnß'Bse'Kgirititiao'WTiiat&-?its oL water, while the "fleshings" are treated with steam and all fat and tallow extracted. Having been thus stripped of the flesh and fat and subsequently dipped, the skins next pass to the hands of the "scudder," who clears the face of the grain— removes the dirt and the oozy matter which is found in the skin. Up to this point the hides are treated alike, whether they are to become dressed or undressed leather, and it is now that a difference' is begun to be made in the mode of treatment. The hides for sole, or undressed leather, are thrown by the "scudder" into a water pit— there is a succession of pits in rows through the beam shed — whence they pass into a colouring pit. There are, it may be stated, 16 colouring pits in all, those in which the hides are first placed containing a weak tan liquid. Here the hides are left for a fortnight or three weeks, after which they are lifted and laid away in tan pits. After lying there for some time the hides are again lifted and laid away with bark, and subsequently the heavier ones once more undergo the process of being lifted and laid away in bark, the end of all these devices being that the hides become thoroughly tanned. When the tanning has been completed, the hides are put into pits for cleaning, after which they, leave the tanyard and undergo the process of "samming," the plain English of which is that they are hung in a tunnel, and are partially dried by warm air drawn through by a fan. They are then taken to the " striking " room, where the grain is struck, after which they are scoured by hand. They are next placed in trucks and thus conveyed to turrets which are warmed by hot steam pipes, huge fans at the top of the building, driven by a small engine, drawing the air from below. In the turrets the hides are dried, ready to pass on, after further preparation, to the roller, in which they are rolled till they are smooth on the grain and are folded, and then they -are stamped with the stamp of the tannery. Finally they are sorted into different grades and baled by means of a screw press. |&Tbe hides which are being converted into what are called dressed goods undergo the same process as the sole-leather hides until they pass through the hands of the "scudder," from whom they go to men who " round " them — that is to say, remove the rough, loose edges— after which they go into the " bate wheel," and are there prepared for the colouring wheel. After being tanned, the kips pass into the scouring room, in which they are passed through a Burgon scourer. They ate next put in a " tumbler wheel" with currier's greaso, which is to be absorbed prior to their going to the currier's, or FhaviDg t-hop, where the hides are "split" by a finely -adjusted machine while the "shaving" process 16 performed by the currier's knife. The upper portion of the main building of two storeys is devoted solely to currying, and here the kips go from the shaving shop. They are laid out on a slate table, and Lockwood's "setting" machine — a very complicated looking and wonderful piece of mechanism — prepares them for the grease, with which they are next covered. Having been dried in a -tunnel, they are placed on a table and the hard tallow on the surface of the hides is removed by hand. The next process is that of whitening, a "slicker" giving a smooth surface to the skin, which is thereafter softened and has a gram put on it by being passed through the " boarding "or " graining " machine. The hides are then stained, after which they go to the waxing room and are smeared with blacking, and, after being dried, are waxed and given a oft finish.

The bark which is principally used in the tannery is that of the mimosa, and supplies of it are kept in a separate building. The tan is extracted from the bark in a series of " spenders," comprising two large tanks and several pits, the latter connected one with another by an elaborate network of pipes, and

the whole of them connected by underground drainage with two wells from which the tan liquor is pumped up. The exhauated tan from the pits is fed direct into the furnace, and is consumed as fuel, an economic use being thus found for what would otherwise accumulate to a troublesome degree. The manufacture of leather belting is carried on at the tannery, the heavier class of oxhides being used up in this branch of the business. The belting room is supplied with machinery of the best quality and most approved type. A machine, which is adjustable to any width, is used for cutting the belts to any desired size ; another machine prepares the joints by tapering them off; a third presses the joints together ; and a fourth rounds the edges of the belt ; another coils the belt when it is finished ; and there is a lace machine also in this room the use of which is to cut laces. An oil shed is a necessary adjunct to the tannery, and stables and the manager's cottage also stand in the grounds, while on the upper portion of the land many weeks' supply of water is contained in two dams, from which, by a 6in main, water is conveyed over the whole works, as nearly complete a protection from fire as can be devised being thus provided.

At the New Zealand International Exhibition, held at Christchurch, 1882, Messrs Michaelis, Hallenstein, and Farquhar received a gold medal and first order of merit for leather shown by them. They were also successful at the Indian and Colonial Exhibition of London in 1886 for sole leather ; and at New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90, in Dunedin, they received first-class awards for crop sole leather, waxed and grained kips, kip tracks and butts, calfskins, waxed crop butts and splits, satin hides, legging leather, stained and unstained bridle butts, belt butts, and boot uppers, carrying, in addition, the only collective first-class award for any New Zealand exhibit of these goods ; while belting and belt lace had special drawn to their excellent qualities by the jury. We understand further that their crop has always been the most favourite of New Zealand brands in the London market, realising top prices, the yearly export of this leather by the firm running from 8000 to 10,000 hides. It has also met buyers in China ; bub that trade is very limited at present.