Various kinds of imitative leather have engaged the ingenuity of manufacturers. One, patented many years ago, consists of an elastic coating or varnish of glue-size, boiled linseed-oil, lampblack, white lead, and pipeclay, varying in proportions according to the degree of elasticity required, and spread upon cotton, linen, woollen cloth, or felt. Hancock's substitute for leather consists of a felted fabric of flax, cotton, or other material, covered with several coats of liquid caout chouc. Gunby's substitute is chiefly intended for the manufacture of patten-ties, but is suitable also for covering coach-tops, and for some other purposes. Crockett's leather cloth, and other kinds made in the United States, are very useful products. A clever imitation of Morocco leather is produced by applying a layer of India-rubber or gutta-percha to a surface of cotton-cloth ; the surface is corrugated, stained, and varnished; it is elastic and durable, costs only one-third of Morocco leather, and cuts to advantage through being made in great widths. Messrs. Spill & Co., of Stepney, are now manufacturing a remarkable substance under the name of rege!abk leather. It resembles leather-cloth in being an application of caoutchouc to a woven ground work or back ; but naphtha also takes part in its preparation, and it has other peculiarities. It is producible in pieces 50 yards long by 1 4 yards wide, thereby being rendered applicable to many purposes for which hides or akin* of real loather would be too small. Its thickness may be varied to any degree by varying the number of cemented layers. Many of the good qualities of leather are presented by it, at one-third the cost. The vegetable leather is used in making carriage and horse aprons, soldiers' belts, buckets, harness, book covers, and other articles.
Various modes of decorating leather are adopted, of which three or four may be briefly noticed. East's embossed leather is prepared with the flesh side outwards, instead of the grain side, as in ordinary leather. Sumached sheep-skin is found to be best ; it requires many processes, but when completed, the leather presents a very smooth surface, which will receive an embossing by means of heated engraved rollers. Pegg's corrugated leather consists of two thin pieces of leather cemented to strips of vulcanised caoutchouc placed between them, then passed between heated grooved or fluted rollers, and finally rendered soft and pliable by soaking in warm water. Wood's metalled leather has n metallic ornamental device applied, either by printing with a paste or ink formed by mixing metal powder with starch, bees'-wax, and water, or by printing with a glaire or varnish, and sprinkling with metal powder while the surface is wet. In either case the leather is dried by steam-heated cylinders, and .the brilliancy of the metal brought out by passing the leather between calendering-rollers. Leake's relieve leather is produced by pressing the leather while moist into mould,.
Some of the specimens almost equal wood carving or plaster casts in the fineness of detail of the flowers, foliage, fruits, &c., imitated. Relieve) medallions have been produced with a relief of more than two inches, and much undercut. The saloon of the Queen's state steamer ' Victoria and Albert' is decorated with this relieve leather. We may here state that the stamped leather, formerly much used for hangings, was made by moistening the leather, laying it on or in a mould, and pressing it into all the minute parts of the devices of the mould by means of small wooden tools ; when dry, the leather was coated with silver-leaf, or varnished with lacquer to produce the colour of gold. After this, the proper colouring was laid on by hand, and certain parts of the leather were stamped by a hand-punch to produce various small devices. The French revived this art about twenty years ago, employing hydraulic pressure in stamping. The production of loather ornaments has recently been made n sort of industrial pastime for ladies.
Leather Trade.—Tlaa leather manufacture is one of great importance in this kingdom, giving employment in all its various branches to a very great number of persons. The Census of 1851 showed that, tilting into the account tanners, curriers, leather dressers, shoemakers, glove-makers, harness-makers, saddlers, and other branches of the leather manufacture, there were 350,000 persons professedly employed in those trades, besides those who were indirectly supported thereby. Our tanners, besides using up nearly all our own oak bark, require annually from abroad 250,000 cwt.& of oak bark, 120,000 cwts, of other bark, and 750,000ms-tit. of terra japonica, sumach, each, valonia, and other substances containing tannic acid. It has been computed that the manufactured articles are worth from three to four times as much as the leather itself, and that the total annual value must be at least 20,000,0001. Most of the leather made in this kingdom, and of the articles formed with it, are used at home. The importations of bides, skins, and articles of leather in 1859 were as follow :— Hides, untanned, dry • 250,296 cwt.
set . . . . . 611,991 „ tanned, timed, or dressed . . . 4,962,192 lbs.
• Leather boots and shoes . . . . 713,274 pairs Leather gloves 4,590,261 „ The actual number of hides and skins imported for conversion into leather is not stated in the official returns ; but persons in the trade estimated them a few years ago as follows :— The exports of leather, except manufactured articles, are very small : they amounted only to 42,136 cwt. in 1859. The leather goods (excluding saddlery) exported were 6,669,210 lbs., with a declared value of 1,359,1891., or about 4s. per lb. on an average. The saddlery and harness were estimated only by value, 289,6311. The Australian colonies are the great purchasers of all these articles.