Chrome tanning
Curtido al cromo
- Date
- 1884 · confidence medium
- Place
- New York, United States
- Credited to
- Augustus Schultz (with Friedrich Knapp's antecedent)
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Tanning of hides with trivalent chromium salts in two baths, done in hours instead of months, giving a flexible, heat-resistant leather. It is today the process behind over 80% of the world's leather.
Friedrich Knapp (1858) described chrome mineral tanning; Schultz patented the two-bath process in 1884 and Martin Dennis the one-bath process in 1893. The date and place of the 'invention' are conventional.
What it led to
- footwear and leather goods cheap at industrial scale
- water- and heat-resistant leather for belts, gloves and harness
- chromium pollution and environmental problems of tanneries