CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO HATS, CAPS, AND BONNETS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SIMMONS, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Hat Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Third day of July, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Simmons, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said William Simmons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said William Simmons, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and Wales
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO HATS,
CAPS, AND BONNETS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that
I, the said William Simmons, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar

page_text: months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Simmons, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
explained in and by the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists simply in the introduction of a reflector or mirror
into the crown of an ordinary hat, cap, or bonnet, which, when placed in the
interior of the "tip" or crown of the same, adds much to the beauty, utility,
and apparent lightness of character, as the speculum receives the reflection of
the person looking into the hat, or the open landscape, or other object opposed
to the interior of the crown of the hat, as may be. The "reflector I prefer to
be convex, and made of thin light glass (very similar to the glasses used
commonly before the faces of small watches), and must be silvered inside.
Or it will be evident that any polished metallic surface might be substituted,
and that such reflector might be made concave or plane; but that would
neither be so elegant nor convenient as the convex reflecting mirror which I
adopt as the best applicable to the purpose. The reflector may be applied by
pasting or glueing piece of paper with a circular aperture just extending
over the edges of the circular mirror, and thus acting as a frame, on to another
piece of paper fitting the crown of the hat as an ordinary lining, and the whole
is then to be covered with an interior lining of silk, satin, or other material,
having also an aperture or opening in it, through which the mirror is
visible.
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I am aware that several modifications of the method of preparing the
mirrors or reflectors for the above purpose may be made, and also that some
mechanical contrivances may.be usefully employed for introducing and fixing
the said mirrors or reflectors into their respective situations; but such I do
not intend to claim as any part of my Invention. But I do claim as my
Invention the introduction or application of mirrors or reflecting surfaces to
the interior of the crowns or "tips" of hats, caps, and bonnets.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simmons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and forty-six.
WILLIAM (L.S.) SIMMONS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of January,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Simmons came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.