The Huttig news., 1912-07-13
HOW FELT HATS ARE MADE.
Inc Hair of Rabbits and Other Small Animals
Is Used.

Hats were first manufactured in
England about 1910 and super
8eded caps or soft headgear in The
reign Of Queen Elizabeth. Woo
Was the material first employed il
forming felt hats, but in time, >-as
European trade with America de-
veloped, the fur of the beaver be
ing finer and softer, came into use.
hence the term beaver was long
synonymous with hat.
For about three centuries fine
beaver hats dyed black and pre-
pared with much skill formed the
head covering Of the higher classes
10 Great Britain. This headgear
distinguished them from the middle
and humber classes, which contin-
ued for some time to wear the less
expensive caps and bonnets.
Political and religious differ
ences have often been marked by
the form Of hats. The Puritan of
the reign of Charles | adopted the
steeple hat, high and narrow, with a
broad brim and devoid of ornament.
The cavalier during the same era
wore lower and broader crown
with feather stuck on one side.
The Quaker hat, low in the crown.
with broad brim and plain, dates
from the origin of the sect in the
middle of the Seventeenth century.
The history of hat manufacture
in this country dates back to very
early colonial days. In 1862 the
Assembly of Virginia enacted
law offering 10 pounds of tobacco
for every good wool or fur hat
made IN the colony. Delaware, in
1858. offered prize of 40 shill-
fings for the neatest and best hat
manufactured in the lower colo
MES. Carolina, by 1867, had de-.
veloped flourishing hat industry,
with large export trade to the
Spanish islands. Soon after the
close of the revolution the manu-
facture of hats had become of great
importance in Pennsylvania. and
from that time the industry has
continued to flourish
Felt hats are made in a wide
range of qualities. The finer and
most expensive qualities are formed
entirely of fur; the commoner
qualities use a mixture of fur and
! Saxony wool. For the lowest
kinds. says the Electrical Record,
wool alone is employed. The pro-
cesses and apparatus necessary
for making hats of fur differ also
from those required in the case of
wooden bodies; and in large manu-
facturies. especially in America.
machinery is generally employed
for operations which formerly were
entirely manual.
Hatters fur consists principally
of the hair of the rabbits (techni-
cally called coneys) and hares,
with some proportion of nutria.
musquash and beavers hair, though
the latter has been for many years
extremely scarce, and generally
any parngs or cutting from furriers
are also used Fifty years ago the
halter beat his fur with bow into
triangular piece of felt which.
when laid together by two straight
edges, assumed the shape of a
cone. The felt was next shrunk
between cloths which were kept
hot and wet by frequent dipping in
to a kettle of boiling size, care be-
ing taken to preserve the triangu-
lar shape of the felt.
Having been shrunk to about
, one-thrd its original size or to
, proper dimentions for hat, the
conical bag was drawn over block
and tied tightly at the point where
the crown spreads out into brim.
The brim portion was next pulled
land stretched into shape with a
special instrument. While on the
block the hat was dyed and again
washed, stiffened and dried. If a
long nap was desired, the surface