AN IMPROVED MODE OF ORNAMENTING HATS AND BONNETS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, Widow, of No. 119,
Cheapside, in the City of London, and No. 39, Rue du Caire, Paris,
France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF ORNAMENTING HATS
AND BONNETS." -A communication from Valentin Chevy, Jun'., of Paris,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Anne Catherine Durst-
Wild at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition,
on the 11th November 1863.
I, ANNE CATHERINE DURST-WILD, Widow, of No. 119, Cheapside, in the
City of London, and No. 39, Rue du Caire, Paris, France, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF ORNAMENTING
HATS AND BONNETS," a communication from Valentin Chevy, Jun., of Paris,
France, to be as follows:-
This improved mode of ornamenting hats and bonnets relates more especially
to the ornamentation of the class of hats and bonnets belonging to what is
in general called the straw hat trade, viz., hats or bonnets made of every
description of straw, of the fibres of aloes or other plants, of wood chips,
espartum, jute, palm or other leaves, horsehair, or other similar light materials.
The same consists in ornamenting the said hats and bonnets by giving them a
metallic lustre or gloss by means of gold, silver, bronze, or other similar
metallic powders or imitations of the same. For this purpose the hat
or bonnet is brushed over, dipped into, or provided in any other suitable

page_text: manner with one or more coatings or layers of a solution of glue, isinglass,
varnish, or any other suitable sticking or adhesive material, and whilst the
coated surface is still wet or sticky, gold, silver, bronze, or other suitable
metal powder, or imitation of the same, is strewed or applied on it by a caster
or other suitable means. The hat or bonnet is then left to dry, and if
wished a burnishing of the entire surface or of suitable parts thereof may take
place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Anne Catherine Durst-Wild in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANNE
CATHERINE DURST-WILD, Widow, of No. 119, Cheapside, in the City of
London, and No. 39, Rue du Caire, Paris, France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, Her special licence that I, the
said Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF ORNAMENTING
HATS AND BONNETS," a communication from Valentin Chevy, Jun., of
Paris, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, 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 :--

page_text: This improved mode of ornamenting hats and bonnets relates more
especially to the ornamentation of the class of hats and bonnets belonging to
what in general is called the straw hat trade, viz., hats and bonnets made
of every description of straw, of the fibres of aloes or other plants, of wood
chips, espartum, jute, palm or other leaves, horsehair, or other similar light
materials or combinations of the same.
The Invention consists in ornamenting the said hats and bonnets by giving
them a metallic lustre or gloss by means of gold, silver, bronze, or other
suitable metallic powder or powders, or imitations or mixtures thereof. For
this purpose the hat or bonnet is brushed over, dipped into, or provided in any
other suitable manner with one or more coatings or layers of a suitable solu-
tion of glue, isinglass, varnish, or other suitable sticking or adhesive substance,
and whilst the coated surface is still wet or sticky, gold, silver, bronze, or other
suitable metallic powder, an imitation or mixture thereof, is strewed or applied
on the said surface by a caster, or any other suitable means.
It will be understood that if wished any other suitable powder or finely
pulverized substance or substances, such as powdered wood, cork, isinglass,
stone, mica, or others, might be mixed with the metallic powder or powders.
The hat or bonnet is now left to dry, and if wished a burnishing of either the
entire surface or of suitable parts thereof may take place, or the entire or
suitable parts of the surface of the hat or bonnet be coated with any suitable
varnish, or any suitable dyeing liquid, such as parmeline or others, be applied
thereto for imparting to the hat a suitable chatoyant lustre, or causing the
colours to play. Or after the metallic powder or powders have been applied
to the hat or bonnet, these latter may be submitted to the action of any
suitable gas or gasses, by which a very thin film of oxyde is formed on the
metal and thereby a peculiar reflecting effect imparted to the surface of the
hat or bonnet.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of the Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is or may be put into effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not intend to restrain or restrict myself to the precise details
above described, viz., to any particular metallic powder or powders, combina-
tion or mixture of the same, nor to any particular non-metallic powder or
powders, which if wished may be mixed therewith, neither to the use of any
particular glue or liquid for causing the powders to adhere to the surface of the
hat or bonnet, or to any particular mode or method for burnishing or giving
lustre to the metallic powder or powders applied on the hat or bonnet, as
many variations may be made therefrom without departing from the main
features of the Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and

page_text: therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent, is, ornamenting hats or bonnets of the class belonging
to what in general is called the straw hat trade, by imparting to them a
metallic lustre or gloss, by applying and suitably fixing to the surface of the
said. hats or bonnets any suitable metallic powder or powders and burnishing
them, substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anne Catherine Durst-Wild, have here-
I unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
A. C. DURST-WILD. (L.S.)