Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-10-24
COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD.
II INTERESTING DIS JsIPT ON OF
2Ow EALS AR ; MA )g.

In the first place the whole material Of
which a good felt hat is made with the
exception of the bands, binding and lin
ing-is fur. For this purpose the furs
If the beaver, the Russian hare, the rab-
bit, the French cOney aud the South
American rutria are used Every reader
will be familiar with all but the last
named animal, which is soft-coated,
beautifully marked rodent, about as large
as a cat. Several of these furs are mixed
to make the felt, and the mixtures for
fine hats are secrets carefully guarded by
the men who have, discovered the right
proportions for the constituents.
The forming process is most curious
one. 1t consists of a copper cone six
inches broad across the top about twelve
broad across the bottom and three feet
high. This cone is full Of holes; in fact,
it is a sieve. A workman takes it and
dampens it. Then he sets it SO that the
rim at the bottom is caught in the
round groove of wooden plate. This
plate is raised foot above The floor in
the center OF semi circular wooden fence
rising six feet above the floor. On one
side of this particular inclosure and
rising above it are the rollers of big
machine, at which boy is standing. The
boy sets the machine going and it begins
to fill the air above it with hair. The
man with the cone has also started some
machinery, apparently, for the conc is
rapidly revolving horizontally, and some
thing beneath it which cannot be seen is
buzzing busily. Then the man takes the
two doors which are folded back from
the sides of the semi circular fence and
closes them. They form another complete
semi circle and the cone is thereupon shut
up in kind of wooden we'll six feet in
diameter. Hair is raining down all this
time from the machine above this well.
Before a minute is over the machine has
tossed all the fur for one hat into the air.
The boy rings bell, the machine stops,
the man opens the doors Of the VEL the
cone is stopped, and then the visitor
looks at what seems miracle. Ali the
fur which has been seen lately falling
softly like rain into the wooden well is
lying evenly distributed upon the top and
sides of the cone.
This loose fur covering of the copper
cone is the felt hat as it first begins to
take shape. The man who is attending
to it throws wet cloths about it and car
ries cone and all away to tank, where
he plunges it in boiling water. Then he
carries the cone to table and carefully
strips the hat form off it. 1t needs an
experienced hand to do this; tyro at
the business would break the loose lying
form all to bits The man performs the
operation with ease, though, and turns
it over and over, looking for flaws and
weak parts. Win never he perceives one
he takes some wet fur and sticks it there.
When he has patched the form before
him he wraps wet cloth about it and
carefully wrings it out. When the
wringing process is complete he rolls it
with wooden rolling pin, just as woman
rolls pastry. He rolls it from the top
downward and its height diminishes
every minute. At first it was about
three feet high and the same in other
dimensions as the cone, but in o little
while it is contracted, with the relling
pin and continued dipping in hot water,
to two feet high, about. Then it is taken
to what is called the sizing shop. In
this place are round tables, the centers
of which are low, while the boards slope
up to the outer edges; in the low, cen
trail part boiling water is bubbling. A
man stands at each of these tables and
beside him lies pile of hat forms. He
takes one and beats it and dips it in the
boiling water and rolls it from the top
downward till it becomes not more than
uine inches high.
When it has reached the required size
for this process the hat is "shaved" by a
man who takes it on his knee and goes
over its surface rapidly with very sharp
knife. Then it is "second sized" or rolled
again to make it smaller, and after
that stiifened with shellac dissolved in
alcohol, laid on with brush, then it is
cleared, the surface being washed with a
solution of soda. The next process is
dyeing, which is very carefully done, the
e!slct proportions of dyewood to water
being preserved and the hats kept con-
tinually stirred as, if they were allowed
to rest on each other, there would be
some very extraordinary coloring effects
produced.
After being dyed the hat goes to the
"blocker out" This man who is one
of many-has hand on him like a
horses hoof; the palm is one great cal
lous as white as water blister and as
bard as sole leather, and the palm side of
his finger and thumb show similar cal,
| lousness, These are produced by the
mans work, which is especially hard.
He has by strength and considerable skill
and much perseverance to pull the hat
into the shape of the block. There are
no artificial aids. He dips the hat into
boiling water, pulls it out again, dips his
hand into cask of cold water which
stands by his side, and then grasping
some portion of the hat between his
hand he braces himself and pulls.
When the "blockcr out" has got
through with it the hat is ready for fin
ishing. A man now pulls it over a block
and irons it into the tina! shape. Then
smooth sand paper is used to pounce OF
smooth it. After being thoroughly
pounced the hat is then creased with hot,
crude oil to make the color even; then il
is rounded and the brim cut to any de-
sired width. After this cutting, which
is done with a gauged hand-machine,
the hat goes away to the curriers', who
curl the brim. These men must be very
Bkillful and have good eyes for size and
shape. They take a curved iron blade
with a wooden handle and turn up the
sides of the brim little at time till
they get it to the required shape One
of these men frequently makes as much
MS $75 per week, and one week he made
S110. After the hats have passed through
the curriers' hands they go to the trim
mers, who ere all girls. These put or
The silk binding and the sweat bands and
lew in the lining, and the hats are ther
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