IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
FULTON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Hatter, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Ifer
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of
November, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Fulton, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Andrew Fulton, ny exors, adññiors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said
Andrew Fulton, my exors, admñiors, or 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, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD,"
for which Letters Patent for Scotland have been. granted to me, bearing date
the Fourteenth day of June last; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, requiring that I, the said Andrew Fulton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, shall particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
shall cause the same to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chan-
cery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said in part recited Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Andrew Fulton, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by this present Instrument in writing, as follows, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto attached, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to certain modifications of the linings and internal
fittings or details of hats, helmets, and other coverings for the head, for the
obtainment of an easy and pleasant fit or adjustment of such articles of dress to
the head, together with superior coolness and more perfect ventilation than has
been hitherto accomplished. Ordinary hats, as at present made, are naturally
stiff, hard, and unyielding in their fitting to their head, and no provision is
made for the adaptation of the usual elliptic form of the interior to the irregular
contour of the head; hence persons with very different shapes and proportions
are frequently compelled to wear hats of the same size. Now, according to my
Invention, a loose lining or internal fitting-piece is adopted. This lining is of
a size slightly less than the interior of the hat body, and it is so contrived that
it will easily and comfortably accommodate itself to the irregularities of the
head, irrespective of the discrepancies between the shape of the head and the
unyielding internal surface of the hat itself, so that the hat is as pleasant to
wear as a soft, well lined, and easy cap.
Figure 1, on my sheet of Drawings, is a vertical longitudinal section of a hat
fitted up according to one modification of my improvements, with a portion of the
lining represented as torn away. Figure 2 is a corresponding interior plan of the
same, showing a portion of the loose lining turned over inwards, to exhibit the
internal arrangements. These two Fingers are one half the real size, but Figure 3
represents a full perspective elevation of the lining with its fitting springs
detached. The lining A, which may be of the usual material, is placed within
the hat, so as to leave an annular space B all round between the exterior
of the lining and the interior of the hat body C. The inner edge D of the
lining is encircled by a light wire or whalebone ring, whilst its opposite or outer
edge is similarly fitted with a very fine whalebone ring E. It is the wire ring
1) which forms the sole means of communication between the lining and the
hat body, having attached to it, at regular intervals asunder, four or more slips
of thin metal or flat springs F, hinged by suitable eyes to the wire at G. The
other end of each of these slips is bent angularly, as at H, and pointed so as
to penetrate into the boily of the hat, being held to the hat by stitching, or
pins passed through a series of small holes in the slips. The lining is thus
freely suspended, as it were, from the body of the hat, by its encircling wire

page_text: hanging to the pillars or. metal slips F. Then, to give the lining the required
clastic supports or bearings, a second set of plain flat springs I is used. These
springs are each soldered by one end to the wire ring E, and being thus firmly
fixed to the wire they form external clastic supports for the lining. In this
way the alternated pillars F and springs I are wholly concealed between the
lining and the hat body, forming a species of barrier to prevent absolute
contact between the two; and whilst the springs I bear up the lining from
close continuous contact with the interior of the hat body, and thus permit of
the existence of a stratuni of air all round the head, between the exterior of
the lining and the interior of the hat, they yet yield to the slightest lateral
pressure, and cause the lining to bear equally and uniformly upon the head.
Thus the projections upon the head have liberty to insinuate themselves into
the yielding lining, whilst the flat or lesser projecting parts are brought into
nearer contact with the lining by the tension thus occasioned. The springs I
may be stitched to the lining, and covered as at J, the covering piece being there
shown partly detached. Figure 4 représents a side elevation of another modi-
fication of blade-spring, suitable for this elasticated action of the lining; and.
Figure 5 is an edge view at right angles to Figure 4. This spring is in effect.
a combination of the pillar F and flat spring I, delineated in Figures, 1, 2;
and 3, of my Drawings. It may be used with or without an encircling wire
for the rim of the lining. A is the pillar-piece, with its angular perforated.
end B, for attachment to the hat body in the manner which I have already
described; but instead of terminating at the other edge of the lining at C, it is
bent flatly over at that part, and returns downwards in a bi-forcated shape, the
two parallel prongs D being each perforated at top and bottom for attachment
to the outside of the lining. The entire piece of metal thus forms, as it were,
a duplex blade-spring, compressible into a very small compass laterally, for
the space between the fork D is made just equal to the breadth of the piece A,
so that on the occurrence of lateral pressure the parallel arms of the spring A, D,
may actually be pressed into nearly the same space as a single blade, the three
pieces being thus brought nearly into the same plane. The position and
attachment of this spring must be obvious; the piece A is fastened to the
body, and the two prongs to the lining. so that the latter is freely suspended
from the body, and elasticated at the same time. Figures 6 and 7 are similar
views of a slightly different modification of spring support. This form is in
effect the same as that shewn in Figures 5 and 6, with one of the prongs in
that plan removed. The end A is attached to the hat, and the single bent
over side prong B is attached to the exterior of the lining by its perforations
at C, D. With the aid of any of these arrangements the hat fits well to the
head, without injurious pressure on the one hand, or too great looseness on

page_text: the other. To assist ventilation, and the escape of the products of perspiration,
the lining may be perforated with numerous minute apertures, as at K; for
example, in Figures 2 and 3, to afford free communication between the actual
surface of the head and the annular air space outside the lining, which latter
may also have a thin layer of cork or other light soft material, outside it next
the hat. Various other means, in addition to blade or other springs, may be
adopted for the purpose of holding the loose free lining. For example, slips of
cork, vegetable pitch, or other materials, may be used for this purpose, the
object being, in all cases, the suspension of the lining free from the hat
surface. The same principle is clearly applicable to helmets, or any other
head coverings, the bodies of which are hard, unyielding, or not accurately
fitted to the contour of the head.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe
or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
First, the system or mode of constructing hats or other head coverings,
as herein-before described.
Second, the application and use of elasticated adjusting linings to hat
bodies, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of adjusting or fitting hats to the head by
means of loose free linings.
Fourth, the connections of loose linings with hat bodies by intermediate
springs or connecting pieces.
Fifth, the application and use of blade springs between the linings and
bodies of hats.
Sixth, the system or mode of causing hats to fit to the irregularities of
the head by means of free suspended linings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Fulton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Ninth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of May, in the year
of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid Andrew Fulton came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her 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 stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.