science · 20 September 1819 · 205 years ago
In 1819, the first patent leather manufactured in the U.S. was produced in Newark, N.J., by Seth Boyden (17 Nov 1788-31 Mar 1870) at the tannery he had established in 1813. At first, the varnish was dried in the heat of the sun, but was later dried in a wam room. In 1820, Boyden made an oven able to hold 16 skins. This leather, treated with a coating based on linseed-oil to give it a high gloss finish, was mostly used for fancy work and for shoes. Boyden is remembered for a variety of other inventions, including malleable cast iron, a nail-making machine, a cut-off switch for steam engines, a method for producing zinc from its ore and developed a hybrid strawberry.
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