Before the leather can be cut and sewed into the handsome articles
that are sold over the counters of the retail dry goods houses and
furnishing goods stores as gloves, the skins from which they are made
must be specially prepared. The two important points in this
preparation are the removal of the albuminous portion of the skin and
the retention and chemical changing of the gelatinous part, so that
it shall become pliable, elastic, and resist decomposition.
There are various methods which produce these results, and they are
technically known as tanning, alum dressing, oil dressing, and Indian
dressing. Each method produces a leather distinctly different from
that produced by any other. All the preliminary processes of these
various methods are alike in principle, although they vary somewhat in
detail. The object in all is to remove the hair from the hide,
separate the fleshy and albuminous matter, and leave only the
gelatinous, which alone is susceptible to the chemical action and can
be transformed by it into leather.
When the skins are received in the factory they are thoroughly soaked
to open out the texture and prepare them for the removal of the hair.
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