Structure and

Character of
Hides and Skins

The hides and skins of domesticated animals are cattle, Buffalo,

goat and sheep and these are converted into various type of
leather.
The supply of hides and skins from these animals are regularly in
commercial quantities. Hides and skins of other domestic
animals e.g. horse and pig are also tanned in as much quantity
as they are available. The supply of hides and skins from nondomestic animals skins of deer, kangaroo, are also tanned but as
a limited amount.
Camel and Yak hides are also tanned in small quantities in
certain part of the world. Yak is available in Himalayan belt, Tibet
and Mangolia. Only one variety of bird skin is tanned that is
Ostrich skins. Ostrich is found in South Africa.
Among fish skin those are shark, salmon are tanned as for as
they are available.
Skins of snake, crocodiles and lizards are also tanned. Dressing
of fur like deer, rabbit, tiger and lions are also tanned.
The animals which supply most of hides and skins for the
manufacture of leather are classed as Mammalia. The chief
characteristics of this class is that its members have all hairy
skins and suckle their babies. The hides and skins of cattle,
horse, buffalo, goat and sheep all belongs to the class
mammalian but their anatomical structure and leather making
properties differ.

Structure of Hides and Skins are classified into two

parts:
Structure of Hides and Skins

Anatomical structure

Chemical structure

ANATOMICAL STRUCTURE:The hides and skins mainly consist of three layers:(1)Epidermis or Outer layer
(2)Dermis or Corium layer
(3)Hypodermis or Flesh layer

(1) Epidermis or Outer layer:It is comparatively thinner than Corium. Its thickness is only 12% of the total thickness of the entire skin. It has divided itself
into two layer of cells
the Outer or Horny layer and
inner or Soft layer
The inner layer takes their food in the form of blood with corium
layer.

(2) Dermis:This layer consists of two layers.

(a)Grain layer
(b)Corium layer
(a) Grain layer:Grain layer is also known as Corium Minor. It is at the top of the
corium and about one fifth of the total thickness. This layer has a
characteristic, grain pattern due to the presence of hair follicles.

The grain pattern depends upon the density and structure of the
hair follicles.
(b) Corium layer:This is the main layer of hides or skins constituting about 98% of
its thickness. The hair papilla contains nerves and blood vessels.
Due to the blood circulations of animal's body, a lot of cells are
produced. As new cells are formed the older ones are pushed
upward through the follicles forming the hair. The rate of growth
of the hair is determined by the rate at which the cell
surrounding the papilla reproduce. The newly formed cell of the
hair substance are soft and are slowly moving upward and
become elongated and hardened. In forming the hair they take
the shape of the follicle. At the bottom of the hair follicle the hair
root is expanded and has a bulb like shape.
The portion of the hair above the surface of the skin is called
shaft and lower portion the root.
The Hair:
The hair is also divided into three layers.
(i) Hair cuticle: - Upper hair.
(ii) Medulla: - This is surrounded by spindle-shaped cells which
contains cortex and it has pigment colour. The pigment gives
colour to the hair.
(iii)Fat Glands :- The fat glands are made of cells having nucleus
and are arranged like grapes in a bunch. The oil present can act
as a barrier to water penetration during the soaking operation.
The fat glands on the other hand, maintain the body temperature
by covering the body with a film of oils and thus regulate the
surface evaporation of water.
In structure corium is entirely different from epidermis.
Hair is the typical epidermis structure and is entirely a product
of the epidermis. The cells of the epidermis dip down into the

body of the dermis and form a hair pocket, in which the hair
grows.

(3) Hypodermis or Flesh layer:- This layer is found below

the dermis layer. It is the loose connective tissue lying between
the hide or skin and the actual body of the animal. At the time of
flaying a part of this tissue remains attached to the hide or skin.

Chemical
composition of
Hides and Skins

The chemical composition of hides and skins can be broadly

classified in 4 major groups:
Raw hides and skins have-- Water 60-70%
Protein 19-33%
Minerals and pigments 0.3-1%
Fats-Cattle, Calf 2%
Goat ---- 210%
Sheep 5 30%
The relative proportions of these materials vary from skin to
depending upon the species, age, breed, feeding and other habits
of the animals.

Proteins:Proteins are structural units of living things containing carbon,

hydrogen, oxygen and sulphates.

(a) Structural protein:This is also called Fibrous proteins. They are four:
(i) Keratin
(ii) Collagen
(iii) Elastin
(iv) Reticulin
(i) Keratin:- It is dissolved with lime liquor and Na S and
becomes loose and when we apply the mechanical operation in
pelt it will be totally removed from the pelt.
2

(ii) Collagen:- This is the most important protein in hides and

skins and occurs in them in the largest amount. It is the protein

constituent of the white fibres of the corium and forms about

30.33% of the weight of the whole fresh skins. Composition of
dried collagen is--- Carbon50.2%,
Hydrogen 6.4%,
Nitrogen 17.8%,
Oxygen and Sulphur 25.4%
Collagen is a complex protein containing various amino-acids. It
is insoluble in organic solvent, water and dilute acids and alkalis
at ordinary temp. It is collagen which combines with tanning
substances and is converted into leather.
(iii) Elastin:- The elastin is removed by enzymatic treatment in
the bating operation.
(iv) Reticuline:- Reticuline is attached by strong alkali treatment
and may be removed by sodium sulphide.

(b) Non structural protein:These are of three types:(i)Albumins:- Soluble in water (soaking)
(ii)Globulins:- When salt is added in raw skin it is present in skin
but when we wash it for removal of salt in soaking operation it is
automatically removed with skin fibres.
(iii) Protein Mucins-; It is soluble in diluted alkali and it is
removed in living process with addition of lime.

Leather is mainly composed of collagen-based animal hides.

Collagen Molecules
Collagen is a protein molecule built of sequential chains of amino
acids twisted and bound to form a strong, fibrous molecular
structure. The amino acid monomers that are the basis of the

collagen protein are composed of a carboxyl and an amino group

and a variable side chain off a central carbon.
These side chains, which give each individual amino acid its
unique chemical characteristics, can range from a simple
hydrogen to reasonably large functional groups that can be polar
or non-polar, acidic or basic, aromatic or aliphatic. Non-polar
side chains involve only carbon and hydrogen atoms, however
polar side chains frequently involve carbonyl and hydroxyl
groups, amino and amide groups, or thiols (also called
mercaptans, -SH). The different amino acids are linked together
by a covalent peptide bond formed by a condensation reaction
between the carbonyl group of one amino acid and the amino
group of another to form a polymer chain called a polypeptide.

Polypeptide Chains, Procollagen and Tropocollagen

Structure
Collagens backbone, the polypeptide strand, is formed by a
known twenty different amino acids that form a chain of about
100 units in length. In the chain, a common sequence of amino
acids is glycene-X-proline or glycene-X-hydoxyproline, where X is
a range of other commonly occurring amino acid residues.
Hydroxyproline, an amino acid found in all collagen molecules
(see Fig. 3), is rare in almost all other protein structures and its
presence used as an indicator for collagen.

Fig. 3: Hydroxyproline
The procollagen structure is formed by the twisting together of
three left-handed helical polypeptides into a triple helix with a
right handed twist with three amino acid groups per twist. From

this, the terminal extension peptide groups (found at each end of

the polypeptide chain) are removed by specific proteases to form
non-helical telopeptide regions thus finalizing the formation of
the tropocollagen structure. This final quaternary structure is
stabilized by multiple hydrogen bonds between the amino and
carboxyl groups of adjacent helices. Due to the necessity of a
tight helical structure, all large functional groups on amino acids
are oriented to the outside of the helix.

Fibril and Fiber Structures

Collagen is a multiheirarchical structure which is further
developed from the collagen molecules, resulting in four levels of
macromolecular structure: first the molecules pack together into
an organized secondary helical structure called a fibril, then
those fibrils further organize into larger bundles called fibril
bundles, then into fascicles, and finally into fiber bundles. Fibrils
are the first level of the collagen structure that is visible via
scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
The collagen fibril is stabilized by the formation of two types of
chemical bonds: Salt links and covalent intermolecular bonds.
Salt links are formed between acidic and basic functional groups
on the amino acid side chains (see Fig. 4) whose strength is
maximized by aligning polar regions of the fibrils. Covalent
intermolecular bonds are formed by staggering the telopeptide
regions (the terminal non-helical areas of the tropocollagen
structure described above) with helical portions of adjacent
molecules, thus resulting in a long fiber structure with no weak
points.