The biggest period of tanning machinery development was in the last thirty years of the nineteenth century. The dearth of new machine concepts is due in part to lack of research and development money, but there have been improvements in working conditions and handling. Two big developments in tanning machinery during the past fifty years were the introduction of individual electric motors in place of overhead shafting and belts, and the use of hydraulics, rather than new machines. Other improvements included humidity controls in the dry departments of the tannery, and labor saving mechanisation in the lime yards. Two basic types of machines are used in tanneries. The full-width, helical-bladed, two-pass machine is used for fleshing, unhairing, scudding, setting out, and wringing. Its basic concept dates from the last century. The second or jack type performs staking, glazing and rolling, working on a narrow strip of leather. The really new machine concepts are; trimming machines for kid and calfskins, a band-knife cheeking machine, the pasting system of drying with its skin washer, the full-width buffing machine, dust removal by air blast, and seasoning machines with conveyors.