IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLLEGE CAPS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Houghton, of 74, High Street,
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLLEGE CAPS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Houghton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th November 1852.
I, GEORGE HOUGHTON, of 74, High Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COLLEGE CAPS"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the means of rendering the edges
of such caps clastic, and also of improved means of making the upper
part of wood. The first part of the Invention consists of forming
the edges with vulcanized india rubber or other elastic material, the
cloth or covering used being applied outside of such clastic
material.
The second part of the Invention consists of employing two or
more thin sheets of wood cemented together, the grain of the differ-
ent sheets crossing each other, to obtain the property of strengtlı.
ening the upper part of the cap, and keeping the whole in shape.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Houghton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE HOUGHTON, of 74, High Street, Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November,
in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Houghton, Her
special licence that I, the said George Houghton, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Houghton, 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 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 MANUFACTURE OF COLLEGE CAPS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Hough-
ton, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar.
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Houghton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statenient thereof, (that is to say):
This Invention has for its object the rendering the edges of such
caps elastic, and also of improved incans of making the upper part
of wood. The first part of the Invention consists of forming the
edges with vulcanized india rubber, or other clastic materials, the

page_text: cloth or covering used being applied outside of such elastic material.
The second part of the Invention consists of employing two or
more thin sheets of wood cemented together, the grain of the differ-
ent sheets crossing each other, to obtain the property of strengthen-
ing the upper part of the cap, and keeping the whole in shape. And
in order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by
me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, shows a plan, and Figure 2, an edge view, of the upper
part of a college cap, the four edges of which are composed of
vulcanized india rubber, though other or natural india rubber may
be employed; these edges are fixed by india rubber or other cement,
and combined with these india rubber edges, I sometimes make the
upper parts of college caps with a series of thin layers of wood,
with their grains crossed, or the upper part of the caps may be of
pasteboard, or other suitable material, combined with clastic
edges. The upper parts of caps being thus made, they are covered
and finished as heretofore.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood, that what I
claim is the manufacture of the upper parts of college caps with
edges of vulcanized india rubber, or elastic material, and combined
therewith, the employment of several thicknesses of thin wood.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Houghton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
GEORGE HOUGHTON. (L.S.)