The genius of the inventor has
produced machinery which gives to paper, linen, and other stuffs the
appearance of the genuine article, whereas it does not contain one
particle of it. At one time, when a hide of leather was required to be
of the same thickness all over it, the currier would work at the flesh
of the skin with a shaving knife, gradually scraping the thick parts
away until it was reduced to the required substance. Now it is done
in a few minutes. The hide is passed whole between the rollers of a
splitting machine against the sharp edge of a knife, which reaches
from one side of the machine to the other, a distance of 10 or 12
feet. This knife is so gauged that any thickness can be taken off at
one operation, the part taken off resembling the hide in size and
shape. The top or grain of the hide is then dressed and finished off
brown, if for brown hides; or, if to be used for enameled hides, they
are dyed and japanned. These are called either brown or enameled
cow-hides, according as they are finished off, and are used for all
the best class of Gladstone, brief, and other bags. The bottom or
fleshing of the hide is also dyed and japanned, and when finished,
exactly resembles in appearance the hide itself, and is very difficult
for the novice to tell when made up into bags or any other article.
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