IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Barber, of Stockport, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
HATS."
Sealed the 13th June 1862, and dated the 17th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Barber at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
March 1862.
I, WILLIAM BARBER, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF HATS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object "improvements in the manufacture of hats.
In the manufacture of hats it is common to give a greater exactness to the
shape of a hat by placing it in a mould and forcing it into the same, so as to
cause it to take accurately the form of the mould, by means of an elastic bag
placed in the mould over the hat, and which is then expanded by forcing into
it water or air by means of a pump or in other convenient manner.
usual, however, where the brim of the hat is stiff and curled or turned over, to
give to the brim the finished form by means of the mould, but it has after-
wards been curled and shaped, or as it is termed by hatters, "tipped off,"
after the hat has been removed from the mould.
It is not
On the 2nd day of July 1861 (No. 1675), I obtained Provisional Protection

page_text: for an Invention consisting in curling, shaping, or tipping off the brims of hats
by means of a mould of the form of the intended brim, with which the brim of
the hat is forced in contact by means of an elastic bag, into which water, air,
or other fluid is forced. I did not, however, proceed with my application for
a Patent for this Invention as I found practical difficulties in removing the
hat from the mould after the brim is curled which at that time I' was unable
A part of my present Invention consists in a method of over-
coming this difficulty. This I do by employing in combination with the bag
and fluid pressure, as before explained, a mould made in sections or parts, so
that the hat, when it is removed from the principal parts of the mould, takes
with it some of the parts of the mould representing the brim, and which, were
they not moveable, would impede the withdrawal of the hat; those parts of
the mould are afterwards readily removed from the hat. In order to set the
curl of the brim I, according to my Invention, iron it with a heated iron, the
brim being prevented at this time from spreading laterally by means of a suit-
able block or form on which the hat is placed, and which has a shallow recess
formed in it into which the brim fits. After the brim has been brought to the
desired form and set as above described, I pare the edge of the brim in order
to bring it accurately to the required form; in doing this, according to my
Invention, I make the edge of the block or form of a suitable shape to guide
the knife in paring, the knife used being fixed on a bar having on it a stop
which, when the knife is used, is made to bear against the edge of the block
or form.
1
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Barber in the Great: Seal Patent Office on the
17th September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BARBER, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of 'Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me," the
said William Barber, Her special licence that I, the said William' Barber, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I," the said William
Barber, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the

page_text: 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 THE MANUPAC-
TURE OF HATS,”. Upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Barber, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Barber, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
: This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of hats.
In the manufacture of hats it is common to give a greater. exactness to the
shape of a hat by placing it in a mould and forcing it into the same, so as to
cause it to take accurately the form of the mould by means of an elastic bag
placed in the mould over the hat, and which is then expanded by forcing into
it water or air by means of a pump or in other convenient manner. It is not
usual, however, where the brim of the hat is stiff and curled or turned over, to
give to the brim the finished form by means of the mould, but it has after-
wards been curled and; shaped, or as it is termed by batters, "tipped. off"
after the hat has been removed from the mould.
On the 2nd day of July 1861 (No. 1675), I obtained Provisional Protection
for an Invention consisting in curling, shaping, or tipping off the brims of hats
by means of a mould of the form of the intended brim, with which the brim of
the hat is forced in contact by means of an elastic bag into which water, air,
or other fluid is forced. I did not, however, proceed with my application for
a Patent for this Invention as I found practical. difficulties in removing the
hat from the mould after the brim is curled, which at that time I was unable
to overcome. A part of my present. Invention. consists in a method of over-
coming this difficulty; this I do by employing in combination with the bag
and fluid pressure, as before explained, a mould made in sections or parts, so
that the hat, when it is removed from the principal parts of the mould,.takes.
with it some of the parts of the mould representing the brim, and which, were
they not moveable, would impede the withdrawal of the hat; these parts of
the mould are afterwards readily removed from the hat...
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is a longitudinal section of the apparatus

page_text: opera-
"
I employ in curling, shaping, or tipping off the brims of hats. It is a vessel
of sufficient strength made in two parts a and a', the upper part is, for con-
venience, hinged to the lower at a³, and it has a handle a3 by which it can be
lifted or turned about its hinge a²; a' is a counterpoise to facilitate this
tion. The upper and lower parts of the vessel a, a!, can be locked together
by a cross bar 6 which is centred at 6 to the top of the vessel; this, to lock
the vessel, is turned so that its ends pass under two lugs c, c, which are
attached to the lower part of the vessel, one on each side thereof; d is a form:
to receive the hat and shape its brim; the construction of the form d is
herein-after fully described; it has an opening in the centre to receive the
hat e, the interior of which is filled by a block f, it rests on a filling piece g,
discs of felt being interposed, as may be required, to bring it to the exact
height required; h is a flexible pipe entering the vessel and having fixed at its
extremity an elastic bag i made, by preference, of vulcanized india-rubber;
into the bag the pipe supplies (when a suitable cock is turned) fluid, by
preferénce water, under pressure, say, of about 300 lbs. per square inch. The
hat is put into the apparatus whilst the brim is flat and the "proofing'
therein is in a soft state. Figure 2 is a vertical section of the hat before the.
brim is curled, the block f is put into the hat and a piece of felt laid over it,
as is shown, the vessel is then closed and locked and the water admitted to
the bag, the pressure folds the brim over as is required; the hat is kept in
the vessel until the proofing sufficiently sets, say, 1 or 2 minutes, the vessel is
then opened and the hat, together with the block and also the pieces d³ and d*,
are removed. In order that this may be done with facility the form d is made
in the manner shown on Sheet 2 of the Drawings; it consists of a base d¹
which fits into the vessel a, as is shown at Figure 1; this may be made of
wood, and on the top of it are fixed two metal strips d², one on each side;
between them are the two end moveable brim pieces d³, d³, these are kept in
their place by pins entering the base d'; d', d', are the two side brim pieces,
they rest on the strip d³ and overlap the end brim pieces d³, which are recessed
to receive them, so that the surface may be flush; the pieces d', d', have pins,
as is shown, to keep them in their places. When the hat has been removed
the moveable brim pieces come away with it and are easily removed separately.
In some cases the crown of the hat is larger than the part where it fits the
head; for hats of this description I make the base d¹ to separate into two
parts, otherwise it could not be put on or removed from the hat. In order to
set the curl of the brim I, according to my Invention, iron it with a heated
iron, the brim being prevented at this time from spreading laterally by means
of a suitable block or form, Figures 3 and 4, on which the hat is placed, and

page_text: which has a shallow recess formed in it into which the brim fits. After the
brim has been brought to the desired form and set by ironing, as above
described, I pare the edge of the brim in order to bring it accurately to the
required form; in doing this, according to my Invention, I place a ring or
template on the brim the edge of which is formed to correspond with the
desired form to be given to the inner edge of the brim, a cutter or sharp
pointed knife is then passed along the edge of the template in such manner
that the point of the knife or cutter shall penetrate partly into, but not through
the,brim, by which a mark is made which can be readily followed by another
or chisel-edged cutter, one angle of which is ground off or blunted so as to
allow it to press on the part of the brim which is under the edge which is to
be cut off. This cutter is pressed forward, the blunt angle resting on the
surface of the brim, when it will readily cut through and remove the part of
the edge previously partly cut through or marked, as before described.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim the
parts separately, but what I claim is the combined arrangement herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Barber, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM BARBER. (L.S.)