The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-10-11
PRINTING HAT TIPS.
THE WORK is DONE FROM STEEL.
PLATES OR BRASS DIES.

=
to Meet the Demands or the Trade.
An Interesting business and How
1t Is Conducted.
iInttcrs' printing. which is the print
Ing of names. trademarks and other de-
signs upon hat tips and sweat feathers
In hats. AMI upon the labels used on
hat boxes. is Il business by itself The
hat tip, or crown lining OF n hat. is
sometimes made Of paper, oftcncst OF
satin. In Il silk hat AMI. in some stiff
hats the tip covers the entire interior
OF tho crown above the sweat leather;
In straw hats the tip is very often
composed of Il broad strip OF satin
upon Il lace crown lining. Many stiff
hats and most soft hats are now I'm
ishcd 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 III Il large cs-
tablishmcnt devoted to hattcrs' print
| ing there might bc found 30.OOO dies
anu 10000 steel plates. Proof impress
sions OF thiS.'.rcat number OF dies and
plates fill many huge ledger like vol
umcs. upon whose pages they are Sc
| cured rs in scrapbools.
| There are throughout the country
thousands Of retailing hattGrs. Mch
| having 4 separate die OF his own. with
which the tips of the hats he sells arc
printed; some hat johhcrs might have
many dies, including dies CT trade
marks AMI designs Tor 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 thc printer. ready for
use on occasion. The owner pays for
the engraving OF the first die. the cost
varying according to its elaboratcncss;
If die or plate becomes Worn and Il
now die is needed the printer supplies
| it.
| III the large hattcrs' printing cStab-
| lishmcnts everything pertaining To the
business is done, including, the design
ing and engraving of the dies and
plates. rs well rs the printing from
them. Some designs. the trademarks
OF old established houses. become fl.
miliar from long continued use. AS dies
AMI plates wear out they arc 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 arc destroyed; but every year
there nre produced for individual deal
crs and for general trade purposes
thousands OF new designs, SO that the
number Of dies and plates on hand ut
the printers is always great. These
| designs. aside from those made for in
diyidllal hattcrs, include Il very great
variety Of subjects. Thus there might
be seen printed OIL hat tips ships and
| locomotives and horses and nnvils
and many other things; and any name
or object Of public interest at the mo-
ment is likely to be reproduced inside
| of hats.
| Almost every hat worn bears within
1t printing In some form. If the hat
has no tip it appears OH the sweat leath-
| cr, ana 1t may also he In such q hat
upon what is called a sticker, this be-
ing piece Of paper, cloth or leather.
in outline Of the exact shape and size
Oh the die, upon which are printed the
dealers trademark ana name, the
sticker being pasted in the center of
the crown Of the hat.
The retail hat dealer, wherever lie
may be, If he desires distinctive
trademark or name design to appear III
the hats he sells, sends to some big
hatters' printing establishment for Il
! design; lie sends, perhaps, Il suggestion
of his own, or 1t may be that he relies
/ Ill x.P
| tnbliShmcnt. One or more designs are
made and submitted to him for ap-
| prOval. According rs may be required.
! such designs might eInbody in some nr-
tistic form simply the name nnu ad-
dress; often such dies or plates are
made in designs appropriate to the re-
| gion. state or locality. Such dies and
| plates are naGe In almost endless va
ricty. The plate would remain ut the
| printers, and when the retailer ordered
hats Of the jobbcr with whom lie 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 III ink
| in various cclors; sometimes they are
| printed in combinations Of colOrs. Most
commonly, however, they are printed
| in 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
| plcte for box label as we'll as for hat
tip; or he may select one from among
many box labels that nre made with a
blank space to receive n die and have
| his own die inserted In the label.
Many hat tips printed from dies er-
| graved here are exported to Canada for