The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-10-24
'VERINGS FOR THE HEAD.
INTERESTING DIES cRIPTIoN OF
HOW HATS ARE MADE.
burious Process and One That Calls
For Great Authorizations stages
OF Hat-Making.

For Great LabOr-NartOus stages
OF Hat-Making.
n the first place the whole material Of
ich good felt hat is made with the
eption of the bands, binding and lin
lis fur. For this purpose the furs
the beaver, the Russian hare, the rab-
the French coney and the South
lerican rutria are used. Every reader
be familiar with all but the last
ned animal, which is soft coated,
lutifully marked rodent, about as large
cat. Several Of these furs are mixed
make the felt, and the mixtures for
hats are secrets carefully guarded by
men who have discovered the right
bportions for the constituents.
he forming process is most curious
;. 1t consists of a copper cone six
hes broad across the top, about twelve
bad across the bottom and three feet
H. This cone is full of holes; in fact,
is a sieve. A workman takes it and
npens it, Then he sets it SO that the
at the bottom is caught in the
nd groove of wooden plate. This
tie is raised foot above the floor in
center of semi circular wooden fence
ng six feet above the floor. On one
c of this particular Enclosure and
ng above it are the rollers of a big
chine, at which boy is standing. The
sets the machine going and it begins
fill the air above it with hair. The
n with the cone has also started some
chinery, apparently, for the cone is
Pidly revolving horizontally, and some
ng beneath it which cannot be seen is
kzing busily. Then the man takes the
doors which are folded back from
sides of the semi-circular fence and
ses them. They form another complete
hi circle and the cone is thereupon shut
in kind of wooden well six feet in
meter. Hair is raining down all this
be from the machine above this well.
fore a minute is over the machine has
sed all the fur for one hat into the air.
G boy rings bell, the machine stops,
man opens the doors of the well, the
pc is stopped, and then the visitor
ks at what seems miracle. All the
which has been seen lately falling
tly like rain into the wooden we'll is
ng evenly distributed upon the top and
es of the cone.
This loose fur covering of the copper
pc is the felt hat as it first begins to
Re shape. The man who is attending
it throws wet cloths about it and car
cone and all away to a tank, where
plunges it in boiling water. Then he
rries the cone to a table and carefully
Ups the hat form off it. 1t needs an
perienced hand to do this; a tyro at
business would break the loose lying
m all to bits. The man performs the
Grafton with ease, though, and turns
over and over, looking for flaws and
ak parts. Whenever he perceives one
takes some wet fur and sticks it there.
hen he has patched the form before
n he wraps wet cloth about it and
refully wrings it out. When the
inging process is complete he rolls it
tn wooden rolling pin, just as woman
Is pastry. He rolls it from the top
wnward and its height diminishes
cry minute. At first it was about
rec feet high and the same in other
mansions as the cone, but in a little
lille it is contracted, with the rolling
and continued dipping in hot water,
two feet high, about. Then it is taken
what is called the sizing shop. In
is place are round tables, the centers
which are low, while the boards slope
to the outer edges; in the low, cen
il part boiling water is bubbling. A
IN stands at each of these tables and
side him lies a pile of hat forms. He
les one and beats it and dips it in the
ling water and rolls it from the top
wnward till it becomes not more than
ne inches high.
When it has reached the required size
this process the hat is SHAVED" by a
IN who takes it on his knee and goes
err its surface rapidly with very sharp
life. Then it is second sized" or rolled
ain to make it smaller, and after
at stitfened with shellac dissolved in
cohol, laid on with brush, then it is
cared, the surface being washed with &
luton of soda. The next process is
eng, which is very carefully done, the
act proportions of dyewood to water
ing preserved and the hats kept con
hually stirred as, if they were allowed
rest on each other, there would bC
me very extraordinary coloring effects
|oduced.
After being dyed the hat goes to the
blocker out This man-who is one
many-has a hand on him like
brse's hoof; the palm is one great cal
us as white as a water blister and al
I'D as sole leather, and the palm side o
s finger and thumb show similar cal
usness. These are produced by tn,
ans work, which is especially hard
e has by strength and considerable skill
ID much perseverance to pull the ha
to the shape of the block. There arr
artificial aids. He dips the hat into
billing water, pulls it out again, dips hi
and into cask of cold water which
ands by his side, and then graspin(
me portion of the hat between hi
md he braces himself and pulls.
When the "blocker out" has 90
trough with it the hat is ready for fin
hing. A man now pulls it over blocl
pd irons it into the ina! shape Thel
nooth sand paper is used to pounce o
nooth it. After being thorough,
bunced the hat is then creased with hot
Fude oil to make the color even; then
rounded and the brim cut to any de
red width. After this cutting, whicl
han1