I'm beginning the rebuilding of my 1919 Bradbury Artrio Angelus.  This
has the original Wilcox & White diaphragm pouch, double primary action.
The initial primary pouch board is covered with continuous strips of
pouch leather rather than individual pouches.  After much examination
and contemplation I've come to the conclusion that these pouches were
formed after the leather strips were glued down by stretching the
leather in each well to form the pouch.  There is no indication of any
kind of special pouching jig being used.

About two years ago I releathered a small section of one of these
continuous pouch boards as a trial and formed the pouches (after the
glue dried) by stretching.  (By the way, when I removed the old leather
from this sample pouchboard, there was no indication of any glue being
drawn onto the working surface of the pouch itself, which leads me to
believe the leather was glued down first before the pouches were
formed.)

The pouches have retained virtually all of their dip.  It would be very
easy to slightly over-stretch the pouch to allow for any subsequent
shrinkage.  I would think that sealing the pouch would also help to
"lock in" the stretch.  I don't feel that this minimal stretching will
cause enough micro-tears to cause any problems with the longevity or
function of the pouch.

Does anyone have any experience doing these very small hole pouchboards
in this fashion?  Does anyone have any knowledge of how the companies
did these continuous strips back in the day?

Dave Krall