A METHOD OF DRESSING AND FINISHING HATS BY MEANS OF CERTAIN MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS TO BE USED AND APPLIED THERETO
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
OLLERENSHAW, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Hat Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of May 1823, in the fourth year
of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Ollerenshaw, my exors,
adiñors, and assigns, his especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Edward Ollerenshaw, my exors, adiñiors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OF DRESSING AND FINISHING HATS BY
MEANS OF CERTAIN MACHINERY AND IMPLEMENTS TO BE USED AND APPLIED THERETO,"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said
Edward Ollerenshaw, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then
the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the
same (relation being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said
Edward Ollerenshaw, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 represents a front view of the machine which I use for dressing or
finishing the crowns or outside parts of hats. A, A, shews the section of the
hat fitted upon the hat block B, B, C, which is composed of four external
pieces B, B, and b, b, (see Fig. 2), which. fill the interior of the hat and are
jambed tight therein by a square or wedge piece C which is forced into the
centre between the other four pieces; the central piece C has a metal socket
fastened to the largest end of it, which socket is perforated and tapped to fit
a left-handed screw formed at the extremity of a spindle or horizontal axis D, D,
which is liko that of a turning lathe, and is in like manner mounted in an iron
frame E, E, and its pulley F is put in motion by an endless strap d from a
drum or pulley T on an axis G, G, which may be either situated under the
bench on which the machine is fixed, or else over the machine at the ceiling,
or in any other suitable situation; the axis G, G, is continually turned round
by the force of a horse mill, or water wheel, or steam engine, or other adequate
mechanical power, so as to cause the spindle D, D, and the hat A, A, to make
about twenty turns per minute, more or less; the motion is in a reverse direc-
tion to that of a turning lathe, in order that the upper side of the hat may
move slowly away from the workman, who stands in front of the machine and
who hold a hot iron in his right hand (similar to the form represented at H),
so as to apply its smoth face upon the outside of the hat whilst it is revolving
with a slow continuous motion; the man guides the hot iron so that every part
of the hat shall in succession pass beneath the face of it and receive the friction
and pressure thereof, which, together with the heat, raises the gloss and beauty
of the beaver; the man holds in his left hand a small cushion S covered with
plush, and this he applies to the outside of the bat on the far side thereof, and
the pressure and rubbing of this cushion assists the operation. When the
'crown of the hat is finished, the motion of the spindle D, D, is stopped by
casting the strap d to the loose pulley I which is fitted loose on the said
spindle at the side of the pulley F. Note.-To secure the block B, B, C,
upon the end of the spindle, a wooden chuck or circular block K is first
screwed on to the left-handed screw, and in this chuck is a cavity to receive
the metal socket of the square centre piece C of the hat block; a small groove
is formed round the outside of the chuck K to receive the points of two small
thumb screws e, e, which are tapped through studs projecting from the end of
two of the outside pieces B, B, of the block, and these screws prevent the
outside pieces of the block and the hat from getting off the square wedge piece C

page_text: which is fastened to the end of the spindle. When the thumb screws c, e, arc
turned back their points quit the groove round the chuck K, and then the hat
with the four outside pieces B, B, b, b, of its block may be removed from the
square centre piece C which will still remain attached to the screw at the end
of the spindle D.
The crown of the hat being finished in this machine, the hat and the four
outside pieces of its block are removed from the central piece C, on the end of
the said spindle, and are carried to a second machine, Fig. 3, which has an
upright axis L, L, supported at its lower end upon the floor, and its upper end
supported in the work bench; on the top end of this axis above the bench is a
circular iron plate or chuck with three pins projecting upwards from it; a
circular wooden chuck M is fitted on this iron plate, and its three pins enter-
ing into holes in the chuck cause it to turn round with the spindle L in the
upper side of the wood chuck M; a cavity is formed to receive the metal
socket at the end of a centre wedge C, (which is of the same dimensions as
the centre piece C, in Fig. 1); and the screws e, e, being screwed tight against
the outside of the chuck M, fastens the hat block with the hat to the axis L,
which being turned about twenty turns per minute by a strap which encom-
passes its pulley N, the workman applies the hot iron H to the tip or flat top
of the hat to finish, and give the gloss to the beaver thereof; when the tip is
finished, the hat and its block are removed from the machine, Fig. 3, and tho
block is withdrawn from the hat; the wood chuck M, Fig. 3, is also removed
from the iron plate upon the top of the axis L, and a different chuck W,
Fig. 4, is stuck upon the three pins of the said iron plate; this chuck W
Fig. 4, has an oval block w, rising from the centre of it, which block is covered
with felt, and is adapted to fit into the bat so that the brim thereof will lic
upon the top surface of the circular brim of the chuck, and which top surface
is cut to correspond to the shape of the brim of the hat, which being stuck
upon the block w, and turned round slowly with the axis L, the workman
applies the hot iron to smooth and finish the upper side of the brim; this
being done, the hat is removed to a third machine, Fig. 5, which has an
upright axis 0, 0, supported at its lower end on the floor, and near its upper
end by a bearing attached to a rail fixed between the legs of the bench; the
upper part of the spindle above this bearing is divided into three branches or
prongs p, p, which rise up, and support a circular iron ring, on which is
fastened a circular wooden ring Q, Q, and a wooden circle or divided ring R is
adapted to fit into and upon the ring Q, and also to encompass the crown of
the hat close to its brim, the upper side of the brim fitting close to the surface
of the divided ring R, which is made in two halves, united by a binger (as

page_text: represented in Fig. 6), so as to open to receive the hat, and then to close
round it, and in this state the hat and its divided ring being inverted are
dropped into the wood ring Q, at the upper end of the axis O; the crown and
tip of the hat descend into the space between the three prongs P, P, of the
axis, whilst the brim lies upon the surface of the divided ring R in a proper
position for the workman to smooth and gloss the beaver thereof by the hot
iron, which he works with a motion of drawing out from the centre of the
hat; and the spindle turning very slowly round about ten turns per minute,
every part of the circle of the brim is brought in succession beneath the iron
to receive the action thereof. After the undersido of the brim is thus finished,
the hat is again replaced upon the block or chuck W, w, Fig. 4, and the
finishing of the upper side of the brim is repeated, and then the finishing of
the under side of the brim by the machine, Fig. 5, is also repeated; to finish
the hat completely, it is picked to remove all burs and coarse hairs from the
beaver, and then is subjected a second time to all the series of operations above
described.
Now, my Invention consists in the aforesaid method of applying mechanical
power to give a continuous circular or rotary motion to the hat, at the same
time that the workman holds and applies the face of a heated iron thereupon,
with sufficient pressure to produce the finish and gloss of the beaver; but as
the workman has very little motion to give to the iron, the effect is produced
in less time and with greater ease than by the common method.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Ollerenshaw, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.
EDWARD (L.S.) OLLERENSHAW.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1823, the aforesaid Edward Ollerenshaw came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.