CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRESSING OR SHAPING HATS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Augustus Cowell, of the State of Massachusetts,
of the Republic of the United States of America, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRESSING
OR SHAPING HATS." A communication from Daniel Brown, of the State
aforesaid.
Sealed the 5th December 1876, and dated the 11th October 1876.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Hiram Augustus Cowell at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th October 1876.
HIRAM AUGUSTUS COWELL, of the State of Massachusetts, of the Republic of the
United States of America. * CERTAIN NEW AND USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR PRESSING OR SHAPING HATS. A communication from Daniel
Brown, of the State aforesaid.
Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2, a side view; and Figure 3, a transverse
section of a machine embodying my Invention.
The machine is automatic, and requires for its operation to have a hat applied to
it by an attendant. After being pressed or shaped the hat is also to be removed
from the machine by such attendant. In such Drawings A denotes the mold carrier
and heater, the cap a of which is removable from the body part b. The said body
portion b has ears c, c, extending from it in opposite directions and through vertical
guide slots d, d, of the frame B, such cars constituting journals for two connection
rods C, C, to work upon. These rods project downward from two cranked gears D, D,
supported on stationary journals E, E, and arranged, as shown, on opposite sides of
a hydraulic press F. The said press consists not only of a hollow dome e, having
an elastic diaphragm f extending across its base, but of a piston or plunger g to
play through the dome at its crown. The plunger is jointed to a pitman h extending
from and embracing an eccentric i fixed upon a horizontal shaft k. The said shaft k,
arranged as shown, has its bearings in two standards 1, 1, erected on the dome, and
is provided with a spur gear m which engages with a pinion n fixed upon another
or driving shaft o, arranged as represented. Besides the gear m there are two
others p, p, fixed upon the shaft k, cach of which has teeth extending only over a
little more than half its circumference; these gears engage with the cranked
gears D, D; each of such gears D, D, has a recess q made in its side to receive a

page_text: bolts applied to the press or dome, and provided with a retractile lever t pivoted to
the dome.
Figuro 4 is a sectional view of the bolt, it being furnished with a spring u for
projecting it forward. There extends from each gear p a cam v which, during each
revolution of the gear, is moved into contact with the lever t, and moves it in a
manner to cause it to draw back the bolts out of the cranked gear, in order to
admit of the latter being revolved. The bolting apparatuses are to hold the clamp
gears from revolving while disengaged from the gears directly over them; or, in
other words, while the plunger of the hydraulic press is being forced downward
within the dome. The said dome is to contain water, which, when the plunger
descends into it, will be so pressed against the elastic diaphragm as to force it upon
the hat when in the die placed on the cap of the heater A.
In the operation of the machine the heater with the die or hat form will first be
raised up to the press and be locked in position, after which the piston will be
forced downward, and after having descended the necessary extent the piston will
rise, the cranked gear will be unlocked, and revolved so as to cause the die carrier
or heater to descend to its lowest position, in order that the pressed hat may be
removed from the press and another or unpressed hat be substituted.
The mechanism for holding the cap a in place upon the body b of the mold
carrier may now be described. Pivoted to the lower part of the said body b is a
screw which screws into and through a circular plate y, upon which is a flat ring z,
the said ring encompassing a cylindrical projection a¹ of the plate. From the ring
(a top view of which is shown in Figure 5, which is a top view of the plate y, the
said ring, and the arms extending over the latter) a series of studs a² extends
upward into slots in a series of arms b', b¹, that project from a series of vertical
shafts c¹, c, c¹, arranged as shown, and pivoted to the ring and in a flange d¹
projecting from the mold carrier. Each of such shafts has a claw c¹, or is booked
or bent at a right angle near its upper part, in order that by turning the shaft in
one direction the bent part or claw may be caused to project over and upon the cap a.
When the claw is over the cap, if the screw x be revolved in the proper direction
by an attendant by his hand applied to the head f¹ of the screw, the several claws
may be drawn down upon the cap, so as to hold it firmly in place. A handle g¹
projects from the ring z; by taking hold of such handle and moving the ring around
all the hooked shafts will be simultaneously revolved, so as either to turu the claws
off or upon the cap, as occasion may require. The mechanism for locking the cap
is one by which such may be expeditiously effected.
I claim as my Invention as follows, viz. :-
In a hat press, as described, the mold carrier A, the hollow dome e, and its
diaphragm fand piston g, arranged together, and combined with the connecting
rods C, C, cranked gears, D, D, partially toothed gears P, P, pitman h, and
eccentric i, and with the locking apparatuses or mechanisms 9, 8, t, u, v, all sub-
stantially as specified.
2. The combination of the system of clawed shafts c', their slotted arms b¹, the
ring 2, and studs a², applied to the support plate y provided with the screw x.
3. The arrangement and combination of the system of clawed shafts c', slitted
arms b¹, ring z, studs a², applied to the support plate y, provided with the screw x,
with the mold carrier A, arranged with the hydraulic press F, as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hiram Augustus Cowell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, 1876.
HIRAM AUGUSTUS COWELL. (L.S.)