Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
2 2061~2
for f;sh skin use with thi~ s-tep MOU~T~rlG(~F FlS}I'U$II`,G'~'THE~N~'TU~ L
having the temperature o~ the soak SKIN AND JAWS
maintained at ~O degrees for thi~
solution.
A further poisioning will be BACKGROUND
brushed on Formaldehyde at t~e ~in
bases~ gills and on the fins.
A Paper mache type filler will 'rhe pre~ent invention relates
be blended with ~hite Glue, a small to a new process for treating and
amount of Arsenic and Formaldehyde ~dealing Y~ith oily fish skins for
as poison and preser,vative, for use further use of most relevance to
for fil~er use application to, Fin artists such as Taxidermists to
bases, voids, cheek pouches, and use 100 ~O of the skin for mounting
beneath the }leadskin during the !~ as a taxidermy display specimen.
fish mounting as a good method of A successful process it now permits
workable ingredients, with water. the said use of 100 % of the skin
Application of a very heavy including the headskin, all skin
White Glue to pre roughened area~ fins and protruberences, boned fins
of the inside of the fishe~ skin to with minimal or no damage ideal
the mathing areas on a ridgid form for taxidermy or museum work in the
Taxidermy Manniquen, to hold skin processing of any oily fish.
natural looXing precarved indenta~l When mounting a fish for display
tions of said manniquen. purposes, a practitioner desires to
Drying of the fish mount, then construct a mount, that looks most
application of a epoxy liqui~ ( more rea1istic, has a very minimum of
or less ) to the skin covering the malntenance, and is long lasting
said indentations, after a first light ;n both its structural elements as
application of a fish oil reactive well as lts artistic elements. It
sealant, application of aforesaid has been extremely difficult to
epoxy~method, and a covering applica~ chleve this w1th various present
tion of the fish oil reactive e0a~er~ls~lmethods~of skin treatment an almost
with a heavier coat overall. A good lmposslble problem being fish oils
sealer is the Rustoleum Clear F~nish, ln many flsh. These oils are also
an~ a 50/50 Devecon Epoxy for this ln the f1shes skin being very hard
method to remove and being left perculate
A paint for the apllication of through the finished, mounted skin
colors to the fish mount of the same rulnlng many specimens,
basic fish oil reactive formula as l`he fish oils are extremely
the clear sealant. difficùlt to deal with being often
A final overcoat of the clear thick at 29 degrees farenhight, the
fish oil reactive sealer to the dry t ~temPeratUre of fish in many native
painted fish mount, lightly on -the environments. Fish oils are also
bellyr heavier on the sides, and the somewhat further nlinceble with blood
top recieving a good heavy gloss and tend to adhere very tightly in
coat, forming a single unit of oil fish skin. At warm display temper~
bonding coumpounds ~rom within the atures a portion of the still present
skin of the treated fish trough to olls will expand through the fish
the finish coat. skin perculatlng thus at said warm
As a f;nal methodlthe applica~ temperatures. The fish oils will be
tion of a good Silicone based cauk further noxious eminating a st~ong
as thel~Dow corh~ng brand to glue the fish oder, and will upon con-tact
fins to backing materials, or use a8 with air, dry somewhat forming an
a fexible backing I objectionalble greasy substance. This
will of course nessesitate~a great
deal of observation and maintenance
on the part of ;the owner or curator
and may well ruln the ~lsplay speclmer
. 3 4 2~61~2
`~r cause it to be stripped down ',orne ~ish have been persistant
and be repainted at intervals. even with my own very successful
This is time consuming and ~a]monid processing methods delaying
expensiYe and many museums and my processing times to the point
public displays, and even the that a faster process had to be
taxidermy client are refusing invented. Carps as a family of
to accept natural skin mounts. fish, in sporting sizes have been
The switching over to artificial a terrible problem again causing
moulded fish both serves to extremely long processing times
lose taxidermy as a viable art klrnost any large fish can be an oil
form of business and to many `problem~ Sharks, Lake trout, big
observers look fake~ or not as Sa~monids, Catfish among a few oily
natural as the real fish. problems, with heavy oils and fats
A further problem with fish in heavy skins large scales and thick
oils are that in frustration skins an oil removal problem. Skins
taxidermists are cutting off have in the past cracked with too
and disposing of various skin harsh of a formula for oil removal
parts, fins, a-nd gills in the as others have held too much residual
attempt to get rid of fi~h oil oil both conditions rendering the
problems. These parts are then skins unusable for display. A strong
replaced with plastic modeled yet kind to the skins process had to
replacements in general, but be developed that would dissolve and
since the oil removal is still remove the trapped oil pockets and
insefficent putties to not excess residual from both s~ales,
well adhere to bond the arti- bone 7 and fish skin. ~rhe failure
ficial part to the natural skin~ to do this has in past meant these
of the finished specimen. The oils by volume can reduce the very
resulting cracks allow insectæ effectiveness of the solutions in
to enter and feed on the mount removing further oils from the fish
unseen, eventually destroying be;ng processed. Means had to be
the specimen moreover a problem developed to overcome these problems
with the trend today away fD~m as vast numbers of fish are disposed
poison in insect control. Many cf or ruined every year. The pas~
fishmounts are being left very failure to successfully process these
vulnera~le to such insect entry fish leaves any attempt feeling
attacks. This again leads to somewhat greasy feeling at best with
frustration for display purposes known oil retention problems.
and the removal of countless Research is both time consuming
specimens from both public as and expensive and it takes artist
well as private displays. away from their work, so such problen
Many people prefer the use still exist today. ~Iy own experience
of the ~eal skin, fins such as with dry sausage meat processing on
the Adipose, real fins and gill a commercial basis has given me an
arches, as the way a fish is edge in conducting research, leading
to be mounted, bein~ their fish eventually to a commercially workable
perhaps, the way it will look new process to deal with extremely
the most naturalias the ~ants o;ly fish for display purposes. The
of the consumer. desired result has been achieved wit~
Past methods have not granted 1~0 % of the skin parts now available
insured success with meeting for preservation, taxidermy or other
these needs and the widespread display purposes. This serves the
practice of cutting of~-~parts of public for private and public displa~
the fish skin for disposal that and saving of desirable fish specimer
was developed as a short cut to for asthetic and artistic endevours.
proper oil processing is having
a devestating effect on the art
much less the result of fish
taxidermy.
6 206~5~2
SUMMERY
Removlng the oils from a fatty, l~ processed skin is then placed
~,r greasy s1cinned fish specimen i~ into a solution for tanning to help
highly desireable and leads to the prescrve, condition, and help its
using of lOO % of the needed parts ~trechine.ss. A good solution may
to r~o a taxidermic recrea~ion as a ~/ell include water, ~lith Chrome Tan
faithful finished mounted specirnen. by the Elwood Company, Ohmaha Neb
The removal of the sk;n in this added to form a saturate of Chrome
manner may require certain access 'Pan, an~ a small amount of Oxalic
insitions which varies from species Aç.id~and Acetone.
an~l may include a top heaA3kin l'inaly aft?r the oil rernoval
incision for catfish, a part;al treltrnents, and tanninClr steps a
headskin insicion for sharks, the ~ishskin is treated to a roughening
ei~1e head3kin incision for salmonids of important areas for proper skin
or a tube skining to provide said adhesion to a form, as well as a
l00 % fish skin removal. paper towel as a good use for this
The removal of the skin in this applied to the inside of pinholed
nanner allows for a maximum of skin areas tha~ might leak glues.
techniques to be used, a good one The fish is allowed to dry by
being a penetration of the skin in a prefferred means afterwords it
said oily occurances with a pinholer. is lightly coated with an fish oil
rhis will facilitate the oil removal reactive, penetrating sealant. A
solutions to access these problem thin penetrating epoxy is then spread
areas allowing the removal of oils over the sXin indentation areas, and
from the skin. a second coat of the oil reactive,
Submerging the fish skin as a penetrating sealant applied. A
:;eries of next steps in the group good product may well be Rustoleum
of solutions that have ~ minscibi]ity C]ear Finnish to bond with and react
with both the fish oils and water, with any minor traces of fish oils
comprized of varlous strengths and that may be pre~ent in the fish skin.
solvent weights, may ~ell serve the ~l~he colors are then applied with
ils removal function. Such blends the colorant formulas being very clos~
~)f solutions may well contain ~ectcl~c, to the sealant in ingredients, havingA~b~ r~hd~wh~t~xGabL~dG~ u~A 1;he fish oil reactive formula and
r~'h~ner as solvents, with ~lchohol, col1la;nincsJ an Alkyd Resin to form a
Gasoline, and water as solutes, the bon~1 with the sealant, followed by
~;asoline also acting as a fish oil the final fisninh coat which is a
~olvent yet not as wetting, vlth hcclvier application of the sealant,
Further solutes o~ Machalite Green, containing the correct properties and
and Isotox, as an oil removal compleating the single unit bond
~olution. Some if not all of the from deep within~the fish skin at
ingredients variable in amoun-ts, the glue level, through the colorants
:;tregnth or presence variable due to the final finish coating. A good
~o skin co~dition dif~erences. means to achieve this single unit
In addition by maintaining of bonding m~y-well be with the use of
these oil remoYal formulas afore- Rustoleum Paints and Finishes, the
mentioned at certain temperatures ~'aints may be thinned for use.
differring per step, yet having a
~referred range of 60 degrees
t'arenhite for cleansing, with the
more elevated ranges of ~0 to lOO
clegrees preferred for oil removal
'ormulas. This greatly facilitates
the ability of a solution to remove ~
cils by expanding them into solvent
of proper volume and strenths as
well as types.
7 ~ 2~6~2
~IEF DESCRIP~ION OF THE FIGURES
FIG. 1. shows-the access 24b . These incisions are very
incision for sharks, cat~ish, and good mean~ to access the skulls
sal~onids. of the afore exampled fishes to
reach fats, oils, and flesh very
FIG. 2. shows a cross section difficult to ~each with mere ~
o~ a thick, yet treated fish skin ~,oaking~ in oil removal solution.
show~ng central oils remaining. ~ot all fish will require ~ncision
e~1~, some Salmonids, etc
FIG. 3. shows a cross section 'rhe head is skinned for the
of a problem fish skin with access Salmonids as to save everything
means to the residin~ oils by use exept -the inner cartilegenous skull
o~ alternate pinholing. which is carefully removed for
either reuse, or as a sculpture
FIG. 4. shows a top view of a model for an artificial replacement.
sXinned, treated fish skin with The skull of a shark is best left
appropriate roughehing. at~ached to the skin, as shrinkage
can occur with total removal, though
FIG. 5. gives an elevational even total removal has worked well
cross section of an accessed oily for this process. A catEish can
fish skin, paper towel blocker, again be used either ~ay, with the
glue, and taxidermy mannequen. skull left attached being a good
way to ease accurate reconstruction
FIG 6. gives an elevational of the head in the final fish
cross section of the compleated remounting. All oils, fats, and
single unit bonding paint finishes. flesh must be cleaned regardless,
for the process to affect the desired
oil free results.
Compeating the skinning process
DETAILED DESCRIPTION should be carefully done with a
100~ skin removal 15, the headskin
Referring to Fig. 1, the fish 16, attached to the body skin 25,
taxidermic process starts with an all bony fins 17, the tail 19, all
analysis of the fish to determine s}cin fins or pro-truberences such as
its condition. Such things as torn Adipose fin 18, the resultant skin
skin, soft spots, abrations, or 1~ being a full one. This skin 15,
other damage should be considered is cleaned of all flesh prior to
~s to chosing an appropriate pose immersion in a solution comprizing
so as to show the best of that aproximately 70~ H20, ~cetone 1 qt.,
fishes features. Only a sound fish Alchohos 1 pint, ~ cup of ~hite Gas,
specimen should be chosen for this 1 cup Laquer Thinner, ~ teaspoon of
process. Elevated processing temp- a l~lachalite Green held at a solution
eratures can be a problem with any temperature of 60 degrees farenhite.
seriously deteriorating fish, though This immersion should be for 1 to
good success has been achieved even 2 hours, less if the skin has any
with moderately deterioating fish. Aeterioration, and the skin 15, shoul
A process starts with an incision come out free of bloods or stains,
21, Fig. 1, starting at a point on and should look clean. Only this
the front of the nose 24, and runs clean skin should go on to a 2nd
generally to a point at the imagin- Solution as the cleanlyness will
ary line of the eyes 22, or along aid to not clog the solvents with
the top of the head comprizing an blood or fish slimes a110wing the
incision 24a for Shark and Salmonid solvents to function.
as an example. An incision for ~rior to su~mersion in a 2nd-
Catfishes would start at the line ;olut;on, the fish skin 1~, should
imaginary of the eyes 22, incision be further anylized as to its oil
. 9 10
'~ 0 ~ 2
thin ~,kin 15, probably ~ill be !;ile rnrrllulac; held in tightly lidded
.ine just being submerged in the 5 ~ra1lon plastic buckets One such
.2nd solution, for example an average b~lcket will treat an avera~e fish
spring Coho salmon. As the fish sk;.n of avera~e legnth of up to 40
ro~s, or heads towards -the end of inches though more volume of a said
its life cycle the thick skin, even forrnllla would ease the ~ucket from
after a process may well be left aG ~eing crowded.
shown in Fig. 2, with an unreachable ~olvent solutions should be of
oil layer 2, that will. cause future ~cour(,e replaced from fis'n to fish
~roblem3~ o.r ~ ,tilled c].ean for reuse by a
Referring to Fig. 3, all oily ,pccialized equiytment that can
~reas should be pinholed 5, through handl.e them as distilling is very
both the external skin layer 1, and dangerous,
the inside skin layer 3, to reach Fig. ~, reviewing the skin 15,
l~roblem middle s,kin layer 2. The wil.l determine when to immerse it
i'inholes can be made tYith a needle in a 3rd solution, for cleaning and
or a home built pinholer styled on preperation towards a still further
a cylender, to be lightly pressed tanning step. However upon the
so that it penetrates layers 1 and ins~ec-tion of the gkin 15, said 2nd
3, reaching layer 2 without punc- ,olution should appear to be from a
turing all layers so causing future ye].lowi,h to almost brown this being
,~lue leaks~ Pinholer not used on scales. large amounts of fish oil being
A sharkskin ~Jill respond well to removed and in the oil removal liqui~
a short immersion in a solution of 'rhis is desirable with the skin 15,
one gallon H20~ with O~alic Acid as t~king on a grcyish appearance i5
1 solute to a saturation point. A pretty clean with brown oily areas
few minutes soak will serve to being subdued or more whitish. If a
so~ten flesh and tendons to aid a p;ckled oder is slightly present a
carefu~l, pretested removal. The proces~or should not worry, its a
~nd solution in this step has l)een bit overdone but wi~h a lit-tle more
one gallon H20, with Baking ~cda as cau-tion excellent fish mounts stil]
a solute to a saturation point, will result. Any sk;n 15, coming through
return the skin back to its original thc 2nd ;olution can be mounted, somc
condition, Sharks accessed layer 3. ~orgotten ones held 10 months and
The cle~ned, accessed fishskin looking pretty washed still having
15, is submersed in a 2nd solution produced excellent fish mounts.
for oil removal. A good solution As again we review Fig. 4, a 3rd
has compri~ed 1 gallon Acetone, 1 immersion is now used, a good formula
quart alchohol, 2/3 cup ~hite Gas may well comprize; ~ gallon J~cetone,
or Coleman Lantern Fuel, 1 pint ;i gallon H20, 1 pint Alchohol, 1 tsp.
'~Jthyl Glycol, ~ cup Laquer Thinner, o.f ~ Machalite Green, 1 ~ye Dropper
1 Cup Casoline, 1 cup H20,L tsp.a ~ormaldehyde; maintained at an 80
~achalite Green. The fish skin 15, clegree Farenheigth ( de~rees F ).
is submerged ac~ careful.ly as possible ~`hc skin of the fish 15, s}lould be
in this mixture, said 2nd solu-tion, immerc,ed in this solution for about
taking care to gently unfold the an hour after the processor gently
skin 1~. A 2nd solution is now opens -the fish skin 15, to allow the
~n~intained between 90 -to 100 degrees sol.ution to soften it equal~y.
l~arenhie~h ( degrees F ) to improve Any fins 17, and tail 19, should :
oil removal. The s)cin can be held be treated very gently as they are
by these means for a long titne, a q~ite stiff and can easily be damaged
good average being 3 days for heavy by handleing. Large scaled fish have
skins, longer if needed. Again the a thin skin between the body skin 25,
heat wi.ll expand the fish oils into and the head or headskin 16, a place
contact with the solvents in the vcry easi.ly torn leaving -the person
solution, or formula. ~n easy ~lay processin~ with 2 pieces; the ~ody
ror me to maintain the heat was in s~;rl 2~, seperated irom ~he head or
an attic with fans and thermometor,
11 12 2 ~ fil~ S2
headskin 16, which though should be fin bases 26, and other voi~s, gill
prevented is normal if it happens, pouches 27, or perhaps under the
an~ can be easily repaired later in headskin or skull voids 16, Thia
the process. serves to smooth Ollt the compleate
Referring to Fig. 3, even if a mount and bond skin to odd area~ of
small amount of residual oils were to the ri~d taxidermy maniquen, ~ig.6
still be left in the skin 4, more 5, said manequen 6. Further the
particularly in layer 2, a middle a ~ s~id filler is an insect control a~s
layer, a 4th immersion ln a -tanning well a~ drying too hard Eor inC~s
formula will enable the tan to reach to`chew up, dying if they try.
through access means 5, Pnholesl to Refferring a~ain to Figure 4~ a~
tan all leve~ 1,2,3, of the ~k;n 4, a next step the skin areas 2~ t~at
the tan solids absorbing the oils and normally indent into the fishes ~dy
rendering them harmless. Tanned skins should be roughened with a very good
are dry and ge~t~ oiled anyway in other course sandpaper, or other item,
types of taxidermy as they are stiff. to provide a good glue bond 7, ~
Fishskins 4, have not neeAed oil to 6, in the final finished mount, ~o
date as I mount them when still wet the taxidermy manniquen 6, areas
letting them dry on the form . The corresponding on said fort; 6,to be
wet fishskin 4, is very pliable after also roughened. A heavy white ~lue
the absorption of the tan which does 7, will be applied to roughene~ in
facilitate mounting on a taxidermy 28, to complete this bond 7.
maniquen Fig. 5, number 6,and F1~, 7. Referring to Fig. 5, it can b~
A good said 4th solution has comprizedl shown that a piece oE paper tow~l
2 gallons of ~ater, with as a solute 8, is excellent to use between th~
dissolved to saturation state, Chrome form 6, and accessed processed ~kin
Tan Powder from the J.W. ~lwood Co. 4, to stop glue 7, from leaking
Ohmaha, Neb. USA, and 1/8 cup or less through the pinholes 5, said -to~l
of powdered Oxalic Acid7 also as a being wet from glue 7, s~in ov~r it
solute, and 1 drop of a water minceble 4, and pinned in place,29.
insecticide. Tanning is an art and Drying the mount by a prefer~
good results have been achieved by means produces a desired fish s~
maintaining said 4th solution at 70 Fig. 4, Number 15, in mounted
degrees farenhig~h ( degrees F ) for condition ( not shown ) the skin h5
one to three hours on the average, again produces a dry, oll free ~hich
longer if needed. Using Rubber gloves has rendered the skin 15 porous.
the skin may be gently opened to allow The application~Fig~ 6, of a light
said 4th solution to reach all areas coat of sealant over the new dry t
easily. Great caution should be taken fish mount said sealant 9, fol~ow~d
to insure that no fishskin Fig. 4, when dry by a thin soaking appli~tio
number 15, is left too long in thi~ tion of a liquid epoxy 10, to now
solution as the skin 15, will con- penetrate i-hto the skin 4, in ~h@
tinue to ~bsorbe tan solids as long indentation areas 28, of the mount
as its immersed urltill its as stiff ( not shown ) drying to prevent the
as cardboard and presumed worthless skin 28, from lifting away from the
as reversal is difficult. form 6. This is next followed b~
Referring again to FIG. 4t after an overspray of the entire fish
removal from the tann~ng solution, a mount with an overspray consistln~
fish skin 15 is patted dry with paper of the same sealer 9, becoming a~
towels and a further poisoning may overall sealer 11. ~ good produ~t
be applied with a brush to fins 17,19, is a plastic fish oil reactive
inside fin bases 26, and gills ( not compound that may well find use ~s
shown ), with a weak dillution of H2~ been Rustoleum clear finish. rrhi~
and a water minceble insecticide. contains an alkyd resin which wi~l
A good ~aper mache type pulp will react with trace fish oils bonding
be mixed wlth white glue,la sllçht them within the drying compound,
amount of arsenic; for apylicatlon to
..
5 ~ 2
13 ` 14
A study of Fig. 6, shows that a
paint 12, of sim;lar ingredicnts as
the sealant 7, 11, will act a~ the
colorant 12, to the fish skin 4,
formulated to bond as a single unit
14, to the sealant 7,11, will be
used which may well also con-tain the
alkyd resin reactive with trace fish
oils Rustoleum has proven effective
as paints~12. In Fig. 6, a clear
overspray 13, will be applied over ~^
the colorants 12, being the same
clear finish 9,11, used as the sea-
lent 9,11 forming a single chemical
unit 14, from the level of ~lue 7,
penetration 3, in the skin 4, said
unit 14 forming a portlon of~ said
~enetration 3, and comprizin~ also
9,10,11,12,13, ~gain penetrat;ng skin
at ~, the light penetrating sealer
9, Epoxy 10, Oversealer 11, Colorants
12, Finish coat 13, Single Chemical
Unit Formed 14. Said unit 14, bonded
with any remaining trace fish oil
being absorbed into the compound 14,
rendèring the skin 4, ~oi~ of free
fish oils, thus eliminating problems.
As a final look at l~ig. 4, a fish
skin 1~, will dry on tile finished
mount ( not shown ) closed pored and
adhesives will not adhere well to fin
backing materials, ( not Shown ). ~ .
Fins 17, and tail 19 can still be
glued to fin backing materials a good
product that may well find use to
cure this is Dow Corning,~Silicone
Cauks also serves as a thickly applied
flexible fin material on the back of
a fin 17, 19.
The specimen shown in part, in Fig.
6, constitutes a dramatic improvement
over prior art, retaining the natural
features of a fish, natural contours
and 100% skin use. Done as a very ~ ;
long lasting oil free, bonded unit,
suitable for the finest displays.
Accordingly what is claimed is:
