IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street, in
the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
TUT
TT"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th April 1854.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS" (communicated to me by a
foreigner residing abroad) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture of waterproof
hats from felt cloth. Many attempts have been made to form hats from felt
cloth by bringing the cloth into shape, by pressure within moulds aided by
steam or hot water, and afterwards drying and stiffening the same on the
block; hats so formed, although as good looking as those blocked by the old
method at the kettle, are yet unable to stand damp weather; for no sooner do
they become wet than they lose their shape, and return again to that of a
piece of cloth.
By this Invention all such inconvenience is obviated, and at the same time
the hats are made remarkably strong, very durable, and entirely waterproof

page_text: According to the Invention, each hat is composed of two thicknesses of felt
cloth, having between them a material which possesses flexibility at all times,
and which, while it is elastic and plastic under heat, also forms a stiffener for
the hat when cold. This article is gutta percha, either pure or in some of its
various compounds, wherein its peculiar properties are retained. To make a
hat according to this Invention the following plan is pursued:-In the first
place, a thin sheet of gutta percha of the proper size to form a hat is covered
on both sides with the felt cloth, the cloth being made to adhere by softening
the gutta percha in a manner well known. The piece is then softened by
steaming or by hot water, and laid upon the top of a hollow mould to form
the crown. This mould may be either a true cylinder or made oval; if made
cylindrical, the hat will require subsequent shaping on a hatters' block with the
aid of a warm iron. A flat board having a hole of the same diameter is laid
on, and the pressing block may be brought down and forced in by the aid of a
lever, or other appropriate mechanical contrivance; by this means so much
of the felt with the gutta percha between is forced within the mould, the top
board meanwhile keeping the rim down flat, and thus the crown is made.
The block may now be taken out, and the hat will be fully formed and set
solid, so soon as the gutta percha is cold. All that is to be done then to finish
the hat is to put in the usual trimmings, bindings, &c. The hat will then be
found capable of receiving the roughest possible usage without damage to its
shape, so long as it is never subjected to a greater degree of heat than 160°
Fahrenheit, which it can never experience on the head of any wearer. Such
hats will be found completely waterproof, very light and flexible, easily con-
forming to the shape of the head, and very pleasant to wear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others

page_text: as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS," (communicated to me by a
foreigner residing abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in improvements in the manufacture of waterproof
hats from felt cloth. Many attempts have been made to form hats from felt
cloth, by bringing the cloth into shape by pressure within moulds, aided by
steam or hot water, and afterwards drying and stiffening the same on the
block; hats so formed, although as good looking as those blocked by the old
method at the kettle, are yet unable to stand damp weather; for no sooner do
they become wet than they lose their shape, and return again to that of a
piece of cloth.
By this Invention all such inconvenience is obviated, and at the same time
the hats are made remarkably strong, very durable, and entirely waterproof.
According to the Invention, each hat is composed of two thicknesses of felt
cloth, having between them a material which possesses flexibility at all times,
and which, while it is elastic and plastic under heat, also forms a stiffener for the
hat when cold. This article is gutta percha, either pure or in some of its various
compounds, wherein its peculiar properties are retained. To make a hat
according to this Invention the following plan is pursued:-In the first place
a thin sheet of gutta percha of the proper size to form a hat is covered on
both sides with the felt cloth, the cloth being made to adhere by softening the
gutta percha in a manner well known. The piece is then softened by steam-
ing or by hot water, and laid upon the top of a hollow mould to form the
This mould may be either a true cylinder or made oval; if made
cylindrical, the hat will require subsequent shaping on a hatters' block with
the aid of a warm iron. A flat board having a hole of the same diameter is laid
crown.

page_text: on the material, and the pressing block may be brought down and forced into
the mould by the aid of a lever or other appropriate mechanical contrivance.
By this means so much of the felt with the gutta percha between is forced
within the mould, the top board meanwhile keeping the rim down flat, and thus
the crown is made. The block may now be taken out, and the hat will be fully
formed and set solid, so soon as the gutta percha is cold. All that is to be
done then to finish the hat is to put in the usual trimmings, bindings, &c.
The hat will then be found capable of receiving the roughest possible usage,
without damage to its,shape, so long as it is never subjected to a greater
degree of heat than 160° Fahrenheit, which it can never experience on the
head of any wearer. Such hats will be found completely waterproof, very
light and flexible, easily conforming to the shape of the head, and very pleasant
to wear.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim as the said
Invention is,
The mode of forming felt cloth hats, so that they will afterwards maintain
their shape and stiffness. under all circumstances of ordinary wear, by intro-
ducing gutta percha, either pure or in some of its combinations, between two
sheets of felt cloth, and afterwards forming the said sheets into a hat by
pressure in a mould, while the gutta percha is in a plastic state, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of October, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
PROOMANT
R. A. BROOM
ATTA
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