Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-10-06
PRINTING HAT TIPS.
THE WORK IS DONE FROM STEEL
PLATES OR BRASS DIES.

A Vnst Variety of Designs Necessary
TO Meet the Demands of the Trade.
An Interesting Business and How
Ii Is Conducted.
Hatters' printing, which is the print
hug uf names trademarks and other de-
signs upon hat tips and sweat feathers
In hats. and upon the labels used on
hat boxes, Is business by itself. Tho
hat tip, or crown lining OF hat, is
sometimes made OF paper, oftenest OF
satin. In n silk hat and in some stiff
hats the tip covers the entire interior
Of the crown above the sweat leather;
in straw hats the tip is very often
composed of broad strip of satin
upon Il lace crown lining. Many stiff
hats and most soft hats are now fin
ished without tips, in which case the
trademark or name is printed on the
sweat leather.
Tip printing is done from brass dies
and in the finest work from steel
plates. These dies and plates are made
in very great variety. In a large es-
tablishment devoted to hatters' print
Ing there might be found 10000 dies
and 10000 steel plates. Proof impress
slOns OF this great number of dies and
plates fill many huge, ledger like vol
umes, upon whose pages they are Sc
! cured as in sCrapbooks.
There are throughout the country
thousands Of retailing hatterS, each
/ having Il separate die of his own with
/ which the tips Of the hats he sells are
! printed; some hat jobbers might have
/ many dies, including dies Of trade
marks and designs for special lines of
! goods. All these dies and plates, how
ever varied and widely distributed
! their ownership may be. are kept in the
/ establishment Of the printer, ready for
use on occasion. The owner pays for
/ the engraving of the first die, the cost
/ varying according to Its claboratencss;
/ if die or plate becomes worn and a
new die is needed the printer supplies
/ ii.
In the large hatters' printing estab-
lishncnts everything pertaining to the
business is done, including the design
/ ing and engraving of the dies and
plates, as we'll as the printing from
them Some designs, the trademarks
of old established houses, become IA
mliar from long continued use. AS dies
and plates wear out they are simply
/ replaced, the design continuing the
| same.
! On the other hand, every year, for
| one reason and another, many designs
| go out of use, and finally the dies and
| plates are destroyed; but every year
/ there are produced for individual deal
erS and for general trade purposes
thousands of new designs, SO that the
number of dies and plates on hand at
the printers is always great. These
designs, aside from those made for in
dividual hatters, include very great
variety of subjects. Thus there might
be seen printed on hat tips ships and
| locomotives and horses and anvils
/ and many other things; and any name
or object of public interest at the mo-
mcnt is likely to be reproduced inside
of hats.
Almost every hat worn bears within
it printing in some form. II the hat
has no tip it appears on the sweat leatn-
er, and it may also be in such q hat
upon what is called a sticker, this be-
ing a piece of paper. cloth or leather,
in outline of the exact shape and size
OF the die. upon which are printed the
Il 10. a rl-
sticker being pasted in the center Of
the crown of the hat
The retail hat dealer, wherever lie
may be, II he desires n distinctive
trademark or name design to appear in
the hats he sells, sends to some big
| hatterS' printing establishment for a
design; he sends, perhaps, a suggestion
of his own. or it may be that he relies
/ upon the designer of the printing es-
taOliShment One or more designs are
made and submitted to him for ap-
proval. According as may be required,
such designs might embody in some ar
tiStiC form simply the name and ad-
dress; often such dies or plates are
made in designs appropriate to the re-
glOn, state or locality. Such dies and
plates are made in almost endless va
riety. The plate would remain at the
printers, and when the retailer ordered
hats of the jobber with whom he dealt
the jobber would have the tips and
sweat feathers with which the hats
thus ordered We're finished printed
from the customers own dies.
Tips are printed in gold leaf, in silver
leaf and in aluminium leaf and in ink
In various ColorS; sometimes they are
printed In combinations of colors. Most
commonly, however, they are printed
in a single metal or color. All sweat
feathers are printed in one or another
of the metals.
Box labels for hat boxes are made
both plain and embossed in a very
great variety of styles, and these are
printed In variety as to color. A hat
dealer might have his own design COM
plete for box label as we'll as for hat
tip: or he may select one from among
many box labels that are made with
| blank space to receive Il die and have
his own die inserted in the label.
Many hat tips printed from dies en-
graved here are exported to Canada for
use In hats that are finished there; and
there are also made here suitable dies
from which are printed hat tips for
hats exported to South America.
York Sun.
Fol