IMPROVE- MENTS IN HATS, CAPS, OR COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Simon Levy, of the City of Manchester, in the.
County of Lancaster, Cap Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HATS, CAPS, OR COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD."
Sealed the 27th October 1859, and dated the 16th June 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left. by the said Simon Levy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
June 1859.
I, SIMON LEVY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cap
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS, CAPS, OR COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct a covering for the head, which
can be made to assume either the form of a hat, or a form somewhat similar
to a travelling cap; and my Invention consists in the combination of a flexible
fabric with an elastic frame of metal or other suitable material together with.
pieces of elastic or spring fabric, so arranged as to give to the "covering" the
cap form when allowed to act, the elastic metallic frame being sufficiently rigid
to retain the "covering" in the hat form when required; this metallic frame,
is made with joints, and with one or more spring fasteners, which keep the
frame straight and rigid when the hat form is required, but when released
they permit the metallic frame to contract, and by the operation of the con-

page_text: tractile force of the pieces of elastic give the cap form. The elastic metallic
frame is applied to that part of the "covering" which forms the "brim" of
the hat, and it is in this part only in which the change of shape occurs by the.
operation of the metallic frame and the pieces of elastic.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Simon Levy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SIMON
LEVY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cap Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Simon Levy, Her especial license that I, the said Simon
Levy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Simon Levy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
HATS, CAPS, OR COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," upon the condition (amongst others)
that 1, the said Simon Levy, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 Simon Levy, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formied, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to construct a covering for the head, which
can be made to assume either the hat form, or a form somewhat similar to a
travelling cap; and my Invention consists in arrangements which can be best
described by reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawing.
Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 a top view, and Fig. 3 an inside or under side

page_text: view of the hat form; and Figs. 4, 5, and 6, are respectively corresponding views
to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, of the cap form. The hat or cap shewn is supposed to be
imade of cloth, but may be made of other materials. The hat may be made of
a stiff material, except that the brim part must be sufficiently flexible to bend,
as herein-after described. a is the body of the hat, and b the brim part. The
brim part is attached to the body on the right of the dotted line c, shown in
Figs. 1 and 2, but on the left of that line it is attached to a loose lining, which
forms that half of the lining when in the hat form on the left of the dotted
line c being stitched or otherwise secured to the body of the hat along the
dotted line (c) shewn in Fig. 3. The other half of the lining on the right of
the dotted line c is secured to the body of the hat, or to that part where the body
and brim are united. The loose half of the brim is secured to the body of the
hat when in the hat form by means of three metallic hooks or catches fastened
to the body part and a piece of elastic cord d, which passes through four holes
in the brim part. These holes are at e and f. The elastic cord is on the under
side of the brim, as shewn in Fig. 3, between the holes e and f, but on the top
side between the two holes e. The hook (g) in front is of the ordinary
description; the other two (h) are that kind of holder formed by a short tube
or ring with a narrow slit in front, through which the elastic cord (d) will
pass, but the ring will not allow the button (i) at the end of the elastic cord
(one being at each end), to pass through it. When the elastic cord dis
hooked on the hook (9) in front, and the buttons are fixed in the slit rings h,
the brim part is held properly in its place for the hat form, but when the
change in form is required, the elastic cord d is unfastened, and the brim is
brought to the front, as shewn in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, and passed under a cover
on the under side of the brim, which is stitched or secured to the front edge of
the brim, the part of the cover being kept in its place, when in the lat form,
by a hook upon the cover and an eye on the brim part, the hook on the brim
part being made to take hold of the elastic cord between the two holes (e)
when in the cap form, so that the brim part is retained under the cover. On
each side of the hat (as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2), a loop (7) of elastic cord is
secured on the brim (6) and a button (m) on the body of the hat. When the
loops (7) are secured to the buttons (m), (the loose part of the brim being
first brought to the front, as before described), the brim will be properly held
up at the sides in the cap form, as shewn in Figs. 4, 5, and 6. When the
loose half of the brim is turned to the front, the loose lining will only require
to be pushed towards the front of the body of the hat, and will then form the
front half of the lining, a fixed lining being secured on the back half of the
hat to correspond to the front half. The lining for the hat form and that for

page_text: the cap form may be of different colours or pattern, but in this case the loose
half lining secured to the loose half of the brim must be double, or the loose
lining must have on one side the required design for the cap lining, and on the
other side the required design for the hat lining. For cloth and other flexible
materials a metallic wire ring or hoop should be secured to the lower part of
the body at n, Fig. 4; and a frame of metal or other material should be placed
on the edge of the brim of the hat to keep it in form, but it must be jointed at
the points p (see Fig. 2), so that the brim may be turned to the front or
back.
I have now particularly described the nature of my Invention, and the mode
in which it may be carried into effect, and claim as my Invention the system
or mode of constructing a covering for the head, which can be made to assume
the bat or cap form, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Simon Levy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December,, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
SIMON LEVY. (L.S.)