Improvements Applicable to the Whipped or the Upper Edge of Hat Leathers.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Dec., 1886
Complete Left, 22nd June, 1887
Complete Accepted, 29th Nov., 1887
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements Applicable to the Whipped or the Upper Edge of
Hat Leathers.
We, JOSEPH DRABBLE, of No. 55 Castle Street, Edgeley, Stockport, in the County
of Chester, Post Master and Dealer in Hat Trimmings, and JAMES HALL, of No. 16
Heron Street, Edgeley, Stockport, in the County of Chester, Mechanician, do hereby
declare the nature of our said invention to be as follows:-
The object of our invention is so to prepare bend or form the whipped or the upper.
edge of the leather linings of hats, that when one of such leathers is placed round:
inside a hat, it will at once adjust itself and fit to the curve formed at that part
where the material of the body of the hat commences to bend outwards to form the
brim.
To effect this we in most cases apply all along the back or underside of the whipped
or the upper edge of these leathers, any suitable composition, preferably one that will
soften more or less by the application of heat, will resist moisture, and when cool will
maintain any required bent or set form given to the edge of the leather or the lining
material to which the composition has been previously applied.
The operating apparatus consists of two parts respectively herein termed a mould,
and a holder, both of which are oval or hat shaped.
The leathers one or more at a time, are so placed round the inside of the mould,
that the whipped or the upper edge of the leather projects slightly above it, just about
level with the top or curved surface of a small metallic pipe which is fixed round
upon the top edge or rim of the mould, the curve of the circumference of the pipe in
size and form corresponding with the curve of that inner part of the brim of the hat,
to which the whipped or the upper edge of the leather is usually sewn. The bottom
of the mould whereon the lower or plain edge of the leather rests, is in some moulds
made adjustable to suit leathers of different widths and by this means the height of
the upper edge of the leather is regulated. In some of our moulds we regulate the
height of the leather by movable resting pieces.
The holder is made to slide freely down into the mould and fits and operates inside,
for which purpose it is formed by four or more segmental sections made collectively

page_text: capable by suitable mechanical appliances of moving simultaneously to or from a
common centre. Placed round its upper rim which is formed by the sections, is
an annular band of vulcanized india rubber, and a second band of varying thickness
is lapped round outside upon the first.
A hat leather having been properly placed in the mould is held in position by the
combined diverging pressure of the several sections of the holder which is now
introduced. By further expanding the sections, the outer vulcanized india rubber
band is caused to press upon the whipped or upper edge of the leather and bend it
outwards, and lay it all round down upon the pipe, which is, by passing through it a
constant stream of steam or hot water, kept in a moderately heated state. By this
means the edge of the leather is thoroughly stretched, the heat of the pipe softens
the composition on the leather and its upper edge is found to be turned or curved
outwards all round this altered form of its edge it will afterwards permanently
maintain. The same effect as regards the turning outwards and stretching the edge
of the leather may be temporarily produced by the process without first using the
composition, but such prepared leathers should be used as soon as possible afterwards,
as the edge has a tendency to recover its original form.
The whipped or upper edge of a hat leather thus prepared, stretched and curved
outwards as described will, when placed round inside a hat, readily adjust itself to the
curve of the brim, and will keep its position whilst being sewn thereto without that
constant attention to its proper adjustment on the part of the work women that hereto-
fore has always been required. The sewing-in may be either continuous all round the
hat, or done only at regular intervals.
In some cases and especially in the lower qualities of felt hats, the whipping cord
on the upper edge of the leather and also the sewing-in may be dispensed with, as the
edge of the leather having been prepared and stretched according to the method of
our invention, we are afterwards enabled to fasten such prepared leathers into hats by
means of a strong cement.
In the better qualities and especially in silk hats we find it advantageous to apply
a greater breadth of the composition along the back of hat leathers, as it effectually
prevents perspiration passing through to the front or outside of the hat.
The whipping cord is generally sewn on to the edge of the leather by machine and
we consider it advantageous to be able to perform this part of the process after the
edge of the leather has been stretched and turned outwards according to the manner
and for the purpose herein described.
Dated 18th December 1886

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements Applicable to the Whipped or the Upper Edge of
Hat Leathers.
We JOSEPH DRABBLE of No. 55 Castle Street, Edgeley, Stockport, in the County
of Chester, Post Master and Dealer in Hat Trimmings, and JAMES HALL of No. 16
Heron Street, Stockport, in the County of Chester, Mechanician, do hereby declare
the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to he
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of our invention is so to prepare, bend or form the whipped or upper
edge of hat leather linings of hats, that when one of such leathers is placed round
inside a hat, it will at once adjust itself and fit to the curve formed at that part
where the material of the body of the hat commences to bend outwards to form the
brim.
In the preparation of these leather linings we generally, but not always before
curving outwards the whipped edge, apply to the back of it any suitable viscous com-
position, preferably one that will soften more or less by the application of heat, will
resist moisture and when cool will maintain any bent or set form giving to the edge
of the leather or to any other lining material to which the composition has been
previously applied.
The first and principal feature of our invention relates to the preparation by bending
or curving outwards in set form the upper edge of hat leathers, and the second part
relates to apparatus employed for carrying out the invention.
In the usual course of the trade, the hat leather manufacturer cuts the sheets of
leather into strips of the requisite form from 20 to 24 inches long, and from 2 to 3
inches broad, according to the size and style of hat for which they are required; the
lower edge is perforated for the draw ribbon and when the whipping cord is used, it
is sewn on the upper edge of the leathers, and in this state they are sold to the hat
manufacturers or hatters who employ girls and women to sew them in the hats, which
is a tedious and laborious operation, because constant straining and stretching of the
upper edge of the leather is required to prevent puckering and causes the upper
edge of the leather to lay smoothly round the curve of the brim. Now, by our
system of curving outwards in set form the upper edge of the leathers, all the
objectionable difficulties heretofore existing in the work of fixing and sewing them in
hats are entirely avoided by our preparatory process.
After the composition has been applied with a brush or otherwise to the back of the
upper edge of the leather and has been absorbed and dried, we cut the strip of leather
to the exact length required to fit round the inside of the hat about to be lined, and
in some cases the two ends are fastened together without lapping by means of S, which
marks a short piece of adhesive tape. We have now an annular band or hat leather A
as shown by Fig. 1, on Sheet 1, of the drawings hereto annexed. The next and most
important part of the process consists in forming or curving outwards that portion
of the upper edge of the leather that is intended to rest upon the inner edge of the
altered form of the upper edge of the leather is shown at A Fig. 2.
which is a section of Fig. 1, the upper edge of the leather having been curved out-
wards in set form, and Fig. 3 represents a hat lined with a hat leather of our
improved form, and prepared according to the method of our invention.
Second. This part relates to means employed for carrying out the invention, and

page_text: consists of two kinds of apparatus No. 1, and No. 2, which although differing con-
siderably in constructive detail have been devised for effecting precisely the same
operation (viz.) forming or curving outwards the upper edge of hat leathers as shown
by Figs. 2 and 3 on Sheet 1.
Fig. 4 on Sheet 2 represents a section of No. 1 apparatus. Fig. 5 shows the
position of the edge of the leather before it is bent outwards, Fig. 6 is a side view of
this apparatus, and Fig. 7 on Sheet 3, is a plan of the same.
No. 1 apparatus consists of two parts (viz.) a mould and a holder. The mould,
marked (a) consists of an oval or hat shaped open box or receptacle, and has (fixed all
round its upper rim) a small pipe marked B, through which is generally passing a
constant current of steam or hot water, whereby it is kept at a uniform heat-b¹ marks
the steam or water supply, and the exhaust-The mould is fitted with a solid
bottom through which are formed four radial slots marked C. The holder is also hat
shaped, and is placed inside the mould. It is composed of four segmental divisions
marked respectively G¹, G³, G³, and G. These segments are caused to diverge by
means of a conical wedge marked E, which is moved up and down by F, that marks a
triple threaded nut fixed in its upper end, and capable of engaging with a corre-
sponding triple threaded vertical screw D, that is centrally fastened inside to the bottom
of the mould. By this means the diverging movement of the segments is effected, and
they are caused to converge by M, which marks a strong india-rubber vulcanized
belt or band that embraces the four segments with constant convergent pressure. Each
of the segments has fixed through it vertically, a thin brass tube marked I, corre-
sponding in length with the thickness of the segments, and passing freely through these
tubes are the plain stems of four screws marked H, the lower ends whereof are
screwed into the radial slides J, which traverse to and from the common centre, in
the radial slots C. The screws H are regulated by set nuts ¹, and are for the
purpose of adjusting to a nicety the height of the bending rim K, so as to secure an
equable pressure of the rim on the hat leathers, the quality of leather used being for the
lower kinds of hats much thicker than for the bettermost. The rim K, is made up
of four parts screwed on and respectively adapted, one to cach of the divisional seg
ments G1, G2, G3, G4, so as to forin when the latter are in place, a rim projecting
horizontally all round the top of the holder, the end k₁ of each of the four
parts of the rim, respectively overlapping the other ends, see Fig. 7, on
Sheet 3. Fig. 5 Sheet 2, shows the position of the upper edge of the leather A and
of the belt M, before the conical wedge E is screwed down to cause the divergent
movement of the segments, and the edge of the leather when turned down by the
rim K upon the heated pipe R is seen in Figs. 4 and 6. The peculiar undulating form
given to the top of the apparatus is necessary in order to adapt the leathers to the rise
and fall of the brim of the hat which curves downwards at the front and back, and
rises at the sides, the configuration of the top edge of the hat leathers being corre-
spondingly cut to suit this peculiarity. N marks the pins whereon the lower edge of
the leather rests. These pins are adjustable, made so to suit leathers of different
widths.
No. 2 apparatus, is shown in plan by Fig. 8. on Sheet 3, and on Sheet 4, Fig. 9
represents a section, and Fig. 11, a side view. Fig. 10 shows a side and an edge
view of a hand tool used in this apparatus to curve in the improved form the upper
edge of hat leathers. The apparatus combines a curving mould and a holder belt
or band. It consists of an oval or hat shaped moulding block P, mounted upon a
foundation block O, and free to turn upon a vertical axis Q fixed at its lower end to
the upper surface of the block O. This apparatus is more suited and probably will be
more generally employed to curve or bend outwards to the improved form the upper
edge of hat leathers for hats of the commoner kinds, the necessary pressure for
reducing the edge of the leather to the improved form being effected by a hand tool.
The moulding block P, contains a central vertical bush marked R, which is introduced
at the underside to receive the axis Q, on which it will freely turn when the hand
tool V, is applied. A marks the hat leather, which is lapped close round the moulding
block, and by means of the vulcanized rubber ring or belt T is held in position, and

page_text: by the aid of the ring is easily pressed or slid downwards upon p², which marks
the curved projecting rim of the moulding block P, and which has the same undulating
configuration as the mould and parts described in the No. 1 apparatus. This curved
projecting rimp¹ may when required be heated by a constant current of steam or hot
water flowing through a small pipe fixed round it. When the hat leather A is in
position with its upper edge forced downwards upon the projecting rim of the moulding
block, so that the edge of the leather becomes stretched and is made to curve outwards
by the form of the rim p', as shown in Fig. 11 Sheet 4, the hand tool V, is applied by
the workman. This tool consists of a small metallic disc or roller free to revolve on
a central axis between the cheeks of a carrier frame o, its edge or periphery being
rounded to fit to the hollow curve of the projecting rim. The carrier is fixed in a
suitable handle and the application of this hand tool V is shown in Fig. 11.
The composition which by preference consists of gum shellac dissolved in
methylated or other spirit may be applied to the edge of the leather and dried
before the latter is placed round the moulding block, or may be applied afterward
by an apparatus similar in form to the hand tool which carries the curving roller, but
having a hollow handle and tubular stem, so that the composition may gradually drain
down upon the roller, which for this purpose may be made of wood, and clothed with
a soft material, the supply from the handle being regulated by a vent hole conveniently
placed. The hand tool with curving roller V, may be applied either in a heated or cold
state, and a considerable amount of pressure on the edge of the leather by the roller
must be used by the operator.
The upper edge of a hat leather curved outwards and treated according to the
method of our invention will, when placed round inside a hat, at once adjust itself to
the curve of the brim, and will keep its position whilst being sewn thereto, without
that constant attention to proper adjustment always heretofore required. In some
cases and especially in hats of low quality, the sewing in may be entirely dispensed
with, and our prepared hat leathers may be made fast in such kind of hats, by means
of a strong cement.
In the better qualities and especially in silk hats, we find it advantageous to apply
a greater breadth of the composition to the back of the upper edge of hat leathers,
as it effectually prevents perspiration passing through to the front or outside of the hat.
The whipping cord is generally sewn on the edge of the leather by machine, and we
are enabled to perform this part of the process after the edge of the leather has been
curved outwards in set form.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1st. We claim as our invention hat leathers having their upper edges curved out-
wards in set form to correspond with and rest upon the curve of the inner edge of
the brims of hats, as shown by the Figs. 2, and 3, on Sheet 1 of the drawings hereto
annexed.
2nd. We claim the use and application to hats of such hat leathers as have their
upper edge curved outwards in the set form, and for the purposes herein described.
3rd. We claim the operating appliances herein described as No. 1 apparatus, and
No. 2 apparatus, and shown by Figures on the drawings numbered respectively 2. 3
and 4. as applicable and capable of curving outwards in set form the upper edge of
hat leathers.
4th. We claim the application to the backside of hat leathers, of a suitable
composition, for the purposes herein described.