HISTORY OF LEAHER Leather has played an important role in the development of civilization. From prehistoric times man has used the skins of animals to satisfy his basic needs. From leather man made footwear, belts, clothing, containers for liquids, boatsand even armor. The principal protective armor of the Roman soldier was a heavy leather shirt.
Primitive societies in Europe, Asia, and North America all developed the technique of turning skins into leather goods independently one of another. It included tanning, tawing and chamoising and these processes produce different kinds of leather. Tanning is the most important method in which the skins are prevented from putrefaction by the chemical properties of tannin found in vegetable matter. Many ancient peoples tanned skins by placing layers of bark, leaves and fruit over them and adding water. This process took months and in the case of thick skins even years.
As early as 800 B.C. people discovered the mineral salt alum and began using it as a tanning agent. This mineral method called tawing was widely used in ancient Egypt, India and even in the Middle Ages in Europe. Chamoising was a process using oil, which produces soft leather.

In 1809 Samuel Parker, an American inventor, patented the leather splitting machine. This machine allowed workers to make two skins outof one, thereby doubling production. Fleshing and unhairing machines were invented shortly after the splitting machine. Augustin Schultz, an American dye salesman, invented a chrome tanning process in 1884. The method was perfected about 10 years later by Martin Dennis. Chrome tanning allowed more attractive and flexible leather to be produced at a much faster rate.