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Natural grain leatherNatural grain leather description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20090130429, Natural grain leather. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/682,689, filed Oct. 9, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/418,785, filed Oct. 15, 2002, the entire contents of all of said applications is hereby incorporated by reference. 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a new leather manufacturing process which gives an enhanced natural feel to automotive leather without sacrificing wear, abrasion-resistance, adhesion or other qualities essential to satisfying rigorous automotive leather specifications. 2. Description of Related Art Leather manufacturing is a technology which has developed over many centuries using cattle, goat, kid, sheep and lamb hides, and even horse, pig, kangaroo, deer, reptile, seal and walrus, among others. The properties of the leather end-product vary depending upon the type of hide as well as the method used to tan and otherwise to treat and to finish the hide used to make it. Leather production normally consists of three processes, namely, the “beamhouse” processing; tanning; and finishing. The “beamhouse” process removes dirt and unwanted constituents of the hide, such as hair. Tanning includes the physical and chemical processes whereby the collagen of the leather is crosslinked to stabilize the leather into a permanent material which will not putrefy and decompose. Finishing gives the leather the properties essential for its ultimate use. Leather is used in an enormous variety of applications, including but not limited to furniture upholstery, clothing, shoes including athletic shoes, luggage, handbag and accessories and automotive applications, including automotive seating, and instrument panels, door panels and other interior components. Of all the uses of leather, virtually the most difficult durability specifications to meet are those in the automotive industry, because the life of the leather must be extremely long in the automotive application while at the same time the leather must be able to withstand excesses of physical stress, temperature extremes and sunlight. Traditionally, therefore, automotive leather has required intensive manufacturing treatment, usually with repeated polymer coatings during the finishing process, in order to meet the applicable strength and durability standards. Unfortunately, the traditional addition of heavy polymer coatings to the surface of the leather has also altered the natural hand and feel of the leather, so that the most durable leathers for automotive applications heretofore also had the poorest aesthetic qualities. Ironically, these traditional, heavily coated leathers often resembled, to the discerning touch, the very vinyl or other leather-substitute materials for which satisfactory natural leather replacements were sought. Reducing the number of polymer coatings and/or the amounts of polymer applied per layer can restore natural feel to the leather but then in turn reduces wear-resistance and other strength properties. In view of the aesthetic reasons for incorporating leather into automotive interiors in the first place, rendering the leather into a seemingly polymeric product is counterproductive. Therefore, a need remains for a leather manufacturing method which can meet strict automotive standards and still retain the hand and feel characteristics of “natural” leather such as aniline and semi-aniline leather; leather types which heretofore have not had sufficient light and stain resistance to be used in automotive applications. In order to meet this need, the present invention is a leather finishing process in which, in pertinent part, a warm water milling step is added after the base coat is applied to “crust” leather. The warm water contains at least one acid fixation agent such as, without limitation, formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid or hydrochloric acid. The base coat itself is an aqueous base coat containing at least two polymers such as aliphatic polyurethane and acrylic. Ordinarily, in order to obtain an aqueous polymer, such as polyacrylic acid or, for example, a dimethylolpropionic acid-containing polyurethane, an amine group is admixed into the aqueous polymer solution in order to form a salt with the carboxylic acid group on the polymer molecule. The amine complexes with the carboxylic acid to form a carboxylic acid salt, thus increasing the solubility of the associated polymer. In view of the nature of the solubility of the polymers, it is believed that upon the addition of the acid fixation agent, the carboxyl groups are competitively reassociated with hydrogen, due to the excess of hydrogen ions provided by the acid. It is believed, without any intention to be bound by this theory, that this competitive reassociation, sometimes called “salting out,” causes the polymer base coat to precipitate within the crevices of the leather, thus fixing the polymer well within the grain. In view of the polymeric constituents of the base coat, the use of the acid fixation agent, and the use of the warm water milling step after the base coat has been applied and dried, even after subsequent top coating, a surprisingly natural feel to the leather is attained without loss of excellent adhesion or wear-resistance. Continue reading about Natural grain leather... Full patent description for Natural grain leather Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Natural grain leather patent application. Patent Applications in related categories: 20090291293 - Film with transparent electroconductive membrane and its use - This invention provides a film with a transparent electroconductive membrane, which can provide a display having a good surface flatness and possessing a high luminescence brightness, and a substrate for a display, a display, a liquid crystal display device, and an organic EL element using the film with a transparent ... 20090291292 - Optically active elements including multiple bead layers - The present application relates to optically active elements and the methods of making these elements. The optically active elements include multiple layers of optically active beads positioned adjacent to a core particle. The methods of making these optically active elements involve applying multiple layers of optically active beads around a ... ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Natural grain leather or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Nanomaterial facilitated laser transfer Next Patent Application: Transparent optical substrate with elements distributed therein, method of producing and application of the same Industry Class: Stock material or miscellaneous articles ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Natural grain leather patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 1.97183 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Accenture , Agouron Pharmaceuticals , Amgen , AT&T , Bausch & Lomb , Callaway Golf paws |
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