IMPROVEMENTS IN HAT BRIMS, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT BRIMS, AND IN THE APPARATUS OR MACHINERY USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oliver Hicks Hodge, of Shoreditch, in the County
of Middlesex, Hat Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HAT BRIMS, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT BRIMS, AND IN THE APPARATUS
OR MACHINERY USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 10th August 1863, and dated the 13th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oliver Hicks Hodge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th February 1868.
I, OLIVER HICKS HODGE, of Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex, Lat
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Juvention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HAT BRIMS, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT BRIMS, AND IN THE APPARATUS
OR MACHINERY USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
The hat brims I make have light and tapering edges (as hereafter referred
to) with the view to improve the appearance, and afford lightness with strength,
greater facility being afforded for forming or curling and binding the edges
of brims, and further I so manufacture hat brims that the stiffening liquid is
applied only where required, whether such brims have tapered edges or not.
Also I manufacture brims in such manner as to produce the tapering edges
aforesaid.
As an illustration of the method I would at present prefer to adopt I may
state that I take a stretching frame provided with hooks or pegs and having

page_text: pivots, to which frame I attach a mould or pattern frame of the outline of the
brim or brims. Over this I strain one or more substances of calico or other
material of which it is desired to manufacture the brim or brims, and upon this
stretched surface I proceed to place one or more layers of the material of which
the brims are manufactered of oval, circular, or other desired shape, graduated
in size to project one beyond the other, and saturated with solution or stiffening.
Afterwards I strain over the same one or more substances of the material of
which the brims are composed, and then attach to the stretching frame a mould
plate or pattern corresponding in outline with that previously applied to the
under surface of the material, when by the aid of a brush or otherwise I proceed
to saturate the upper substance or substances last applied, after which by
turning the stretching frame on the pivots by which it is held in a revolving
frame I proceed with the brush or otherwise to regulate or add to that portion
of solution or stiffening which has percolated to the under surface. To facili-
tate the preparation of the layers aforesaid I place several thicknesses of the
material employed between plates or moulds, and thus am enabled to cut
numerous layers of the material to the desired form. Afterwards I place a
number of these layers on a spring plate in a trough or reservoir containing
stiffening or solution, such spring plate being made to alternately rise and fall
at the desire of the operator (by the action of the mechanism of treddle or
otherwise), and by this means I prepare the layers for use on the strained
surface as before described.
If it should be desired to manufacture ordinary brims, or brims not graduated,
the same can be effected by simply straining any desired number of thicknesses,
then applying the solution or stiffening in the same method as herein-before
described.
I prefer the use of the revolving frame aforesaid as it will enable the operator
to manipulate all parts of the substances employed with great facility, and I
intend to claim the use of the method described, and of the apparatus or
machinery described for manufacturing all kinds of hat brims.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Oliver Hicks Hodge in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OLIVER
HIOKS HODGE, of Shoreditch, in the County of Middlesex, Hat Maker,
send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Oliver Hicks Hodge, Her special licence that I, the said Oliver
Hicks Hodge, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Oliver Hicks Hodge, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAT BRIMS, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAT BRIMS, AND IN THE
APPARATUS OR MACHINERY USED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Oliver Hicks Hodge, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Oliver Hicks Hodge, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This Invention consists of several parts:-
The first part refers to the improvements in the brim, or in forming the brim
of the hat or covering for the head, the component parts of the brim being by
my Invention so arranged that the greatest strength and thickness is placed
where required, and the edge rendered light and tapering (as will be readily
understood by referring to the following description of the accompanying
Drawings), by which great ficility is afforded for curling, shaping, and binding
the brim.
The second part refers to my improvements in the manufacture of the brims
of hats or coverings for the head, whereby I am enabled to apply the stiffening
liquid to only those parts of the material requiring stiffening, thus greatly
economising the cost of manufacture, and consists in this :-(First) I saturate
in a very weak solution of stiffening one or more pieces of calico or other
material stretched upon the ordinary stretching frame, the material requiring
to be so far stiffened as to facilitate the cutting as hereafter described.

page_text: (Secondly.) One or more pieces of the material employed are then strained
upon another streching frame, which differs from the ordinary streching frame
only in regard to its having hooks instead of having the spikes or nails
hitherto employed (and this frame and material could be used for the manu-
facture of the old kinds of brims), which frame and material is placed in
another apparatus of the following character, that is,-
The apparatus or machinery which I use in manufacturing the brims of
hats or coverings for the head is that hereafter described with reference to the
accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view shewing the upper sur-
face of the mould or pattern plate; Fig. 2, plan of the cradle or gyrating frame;
Fig. 3, elevation of the cradle or frame mounted on the stool or standards of the
cradle; Fig. 4, plan of circular cutting plate; Fig. 5, side view of the cutting
plates and frame ready for use; Fig. 6, plan of tray used for saturating the
pieces cut out for the brims; Fig. 7, sectional view thereof, shewing the plate
and spring by which the required action is obtained; Fig. 8, plan of detached
cutting plate for cutting the pointed layer of material used in producing my
improved tapering brim.
The accompanying Drawings will be found to be marked with the letters
and marks of reference hereafter referred to. A denotes an iron, metal, or
other frame capable of being turned round (upon its fixed part or stool B),
being secured to the said stool by a centre pin C. The mould or pattern plate D
is so formed as to exhibit on a flat and square or oblong surface a number
of openings or spaces E, each corresponding in outline to the brim to be manu-
factured. The pattern plates or moulds are furnished with brackets F, F, and
spindles G, G, which fit into and work in slots or bearings in the upper part of
the gyrating frame A, A, before referred to. When this mould or pattern plate is
placed in position in the frame A, A, it is ready to receive the stretching frame
secondly herein-before described with the material-in position thereon, which is
now placed upon its upper surface, and fastened in proper position by buttons
or pins. E* denotes curved rods, connecting and supporting the parts of the
mould plates. (These rods might be dispensed with by using instead of the
parts marked X one moveable piece of the same shape as those parts.) In
the manufacture of my improved brims I now proceed to cut in the ordinary
manner the material slightly stiffened as before described into forms resembling
to some degree a hat brim. For this purpose I adopt the following process and
mechanical arrangements, viz. :-I have a frame composed of an under part a
and an upper part 6, the under part being surported on four legs c, c, and
having likewise a centre stem d with screw at top for the screw nut e for
securing the parts of the frame in position. Between these two parts of the

page_text: frame I place the cutting plates, which are either circular plates for cutting out
the broadest layer of the brim, upon one of which is placed the slightly stiffened
material intended to be cut, and thereon is placed a corresponding plate
whereby the broadest layer can be cut out. After cutting out the broadest
layer I remove all these, and place the plates for cutting out the pointed layer
between the two parts as before, cutting out in the same way, the edges of the
plates serving as guides for the knife. The prepared and cut pieces of
material are now placed in the tray, Figs. 6 and 7, to be re-saturated and
impregnated with a stronger solution of the stiffening to be used in the said
tray. This pan or tray is furnished with a plate with openings H to facilitate
it up-and-down movement when submerged in the stiffening liquid. The
movement of the plate being effected by means of a spring treadle arrange-
inent, consisting of a treadle-board K, connected by a link L to a small plate M,
to which the rods N are attached, which pass into and through the cylindrical
case 0, 0, which is fixed in the middle of the tray aforesaid, and within which
case (0, 0,) are india-rubber bands or springs, one end of each of which is
secured to the top of the said case (0, 0), and the other end to the plate M.
X denotes rods secured to a crosshead Y; the lower ends of these rods (X)
being secured to the perforated plates aforesaid. The pan or tray being-sup-
plied with a quantity of the stiffening liquid, the shaped and prepared pieces
of material described are successively placed upon the perforated plates; the
plate is then caused to sink in the liquid by the means described, and thus the
pieces of material are covered and saturated; this operation is continued until.
the required sets or number are prepared. These prepared and saturated
pieces of material are now arranged upon the strained material described as
being placed upon the mould or pattern plate. These pieces may be of any
required form, and of any number according to the kind of brim required, but
supposing two or more pieces are to be used in each brim, as they differ in
size and outline, they are arranged so that the edge of one shall fall within
that of the other, and thus form the light and tapering edge desired. A piece
of the material employed is now strained over the so arranged pieces just
described, and a second mould or pattern plate is applied and affixed upon
the upper surface of the material, so that each of the strained pieces of
material has a mould or pattern plate applied thereto which covers those parts
not required to be stiffened. The exposed parts of the material are now sup-
plied with the necessary quantity of stiffening liquid required to complete the
saturation of the substances, such application being effected by means of of a
brush, flexible stamp, or otherwise. The moulds or pattern plates are now discon-
nected, and the brims placed to dry. I can vary the above process when desired

page_text: in the following manner :-I make the ordinary brims without the tapering
edge by using prepared pieces all of the same size, or by simply straining a
number of pieces of material upon a streching frame, and applying the
stiffening liquid to the necessary and required parts only by the aid of the
moulds or pattern plates described. Or, I place the material to be satu-
rated and stiffened beneath a mould or pattern plate closed at the top as
thus as to section thereof, and connected with a vessel containing
a quantity of the stiffening liquid by means of a tube or tubes furnished
with a cock or valve. This cock or valve being opened, the stiffening liquid
is allowed to enter the open ring of the mould or pattern, and to saturate those
parts of the material exposed to its action. When the saturation is completed,
the supply of liquid is stopped, and by this means the material is thus saturated
only where necessary and required, and the material being strained upon
a stretching frame as before described is allowed to dry for use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare
that I claim, in regard to the above described Invention the use of brims for
hats or coverings for the head composed of several different sized and shaped
pieces so as to produce thin or tapered edges in such brims.
Also in the process of manufacturing the same, and in the apparatus used
therein.
Also, in the process of and apparatus for applying the stiffening liquid where
required only, and this whether the precise arrangements described, or any
modification thereof, be adopted and used, including the use of the said process
of manufacture and apparatus in the manufacture of the various kinds of
ordinary brims for hats or coverings for the head.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oliver Hicks Hodge, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
GEORGE MARSHALL.
OLIVER HICKS HODGE. (L.S.)