TANNING - MAN'S FIRST MANUFACTURING PROCESS?

The gradual introduction of mechanical aids that appears to have taken place in many industries during the medieval and post-medieval periods seems, in general, to have by-passed the leather-working trades. One major exception was the replacement of human energy in the preparation of vegetable tanning materials. From the earliest times it was appreciated that, to obtain the optimum tanning effect from barks, nuts and dried fruits, it was first necessary to crush or grind them into a coarse powder. In many parts of the world simple pestles and mortars are still used for this purpose. The first introduction of mechanization to the actual hide working operations seems to have been the use of fulling stocks for accelerating the rehydration of dried hides, or the impregnation of skins with oils during the production of oil tanned leathers. Fulling stocks and similar devices are thought to have been used in the wool textile and mineral dressing industries since the twelfth or thirteenth centuries.