IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKING AND SHAPING GLENGARRY BONNETS AND OTHER SCOTCH BONNETS AND CAPS, AND IN MACHINERY OR MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Ritchie, of the Firm of Peter Ritchie and
Company, Cap Manufacturers, and Alexander Wyllic, Clerk to the
said Firm, both of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North
Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKING AND SHAPING
GLENGARRY BONNETS AND OTHER SCOTCH BONNETS AND CAPS, AND IN MACHINERY
OR MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Ritchic and
Alexander Wyllie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th October 1872.
We, PETER RITCHIE, of the Firm of Peter Ritchie and Company,
Cap Manufacturers, and ALEXANDER WYLLIE, Clerk to the said Firm,
both of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLOCKING
AND SHAPING GLENGARRY BONNETS AND OTHER SCOTCH BONNETS AND CAPS, AND IN
MACHINERY OR MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
:-

page_text: with moving parts, for performing that part of the manufacture of
Glengarry and other Scotch caps or bonnets, known in the trade as the
blocking and shaping of these, each at one operation, before being
taken off the machine instead of by two long and tedious processes
as heretofore performed, both requiring very considerable time to learn
and attentive skill afterwards to perform. First, by the blockers who
pull and draw the crude bonnets into the approximate forms all round
with the fingers of both hands over a simple shaping hard wood block,
which is severe work and wears the fingers of the worker; and second,
by the shapers who draw and manipulate the approximately shaped
caps (as handed from the blockers) into the real shape wholly by their
hands and fingers over or between their knees and then on a table to
make them ready for being hung up to dry, and the other subsequent
operations required to complete these bonnets.
And the nature of this Invention consists in the new construction of
an automatic bonnet blocking and shaping machine, and mode of
shaping the said bonnets thereon, all as follows:-The block proper,
which is by preference formed of brass or iron, consists of a strong
narrow basement part in transverse section and plan, but of a length
and depth in side elevation, rounded at the ends as to suit the size
and depth of the band or body part (which fits or catches the head)
when stretched on it, or of the bonnet when shaped. This basement
part is firmly secured on to a strong frame of wood or metal below,
and to a table transversely in front of the operator, and has a longitu-
dinal groove in its upper edge, with two wings hinged on each side,
which when folded down are of the shape of the crown of the bonnet,
and when folded up have the appearance with the basement piece of a
crown, a space being left between these wings corresponding to the said
groove, into which the rounded belly part of a thin stretching blunt
sabre-shaped blade or lever is worked so as to stretch and double the
upper part of the bonnet down between the wings, after it has becu
stretched over them and fixed to the basement part by end blocks and
segmental side gripers. The stretching lever is fulcrummed at the far
end to the top of an oscillating link, jointed to the lower frame part
some little distance beyond the rounded back end of the basement part
of the block, and having the handle or near end brought over or to the
one side of a loose oscillating link jointed to the lower frame part, some
little distance beyond the rounded front end of the basement part of

page_text: "
the block, and so as to form a catch or hook to hold the lever down
when it has stretched the top of the bonnet and is sprung laterally into
the hook part. These oscillating end links have small hollow roughened
face griping blocks placed between them and the rounded ends of the
basement part of the block and the bonnet after it is stretched on the
block, as before described (in the rough form the bonnets come from
the "fulling
or "walking" machine and moist and steaming from the
hot water) all so that strong quick acting handscrews, in standards
behind the said links tighten them up, so that the hollow blocks gripe
the bonnet at the ends of the basement block and prevent it from rising
or moving while the lever is stretching the crown part; the sides of
the band part of the bonnet are also similarly held tight to the basement
block by two side segmental pieces curved towards the ends to fit the
end parts of the block and cap drawn closely down on it against two
segmental collars at the base of the curved shape; it is desired to have
the lower edges of the bonnet at the band part, which collars also
support or carry the two loose segmental gripers, which are by preference
both tightened up by one screw passed through the lower frame below the
block and bonnet, so as to screw up two vice-shaped gripers behind
the loose segmental gripers after these are inserted over the bonnet by a
hand lever on the screw at the right-hand side of the block.
But it will be understood that other equivalent mechanical actions,
such as wedges or cams, might also be used for quickly griping the
lower part of the bonnet to the block instead of these handscrews.
When the bonnet has been thus secured on the lower basement part
of the block, the rest of the body and crown is stretched by bringing
down the stretching lever, so as to stretch and double the central part
down into the recess between the vertical wings which, after the lever
has been fixed in its front hook, are then caught by the two hands of
the operator at once, and worked gradually outwards once or twice to the
horizontal position so that these wings thus shape the crown part
laterally then the lever is released from its catch and the griping
screws loosened, and griping blocks and segments removed, when the
bonnet is drawn off the block, stetched and shaped to the proper size
desired, and the block left ready for similarly blocking and shaping the
caps in succession, all by these few movements of the hands with this
machine, equally as well as by the much more elaborate hand process
heretofore employed.

page_text: Different sizes of the basement parts of the new automatic block
and wings are made to suit different sizes of bonnets or caps and their
crowns respectively; or otherwise these parts might be made in two.
parts and half checked so as to expand and be fixed at different lengths
and widths, to suit various sized bonnets, and their tops or crowns,
and either of these different sized or expanded blocks would have
correspondingly sized and shaped, or curved end and side griping
blocks, and segmental plates, all otherwise substantially as herein-before
described.
And it will also be understood that although a narrow shape of block
is preferred and has been described, the block could also be made more
approximately to the real shape of the bonnet (as the hand blocks are)
and have a stretching block piece moved by the lever either on the
outside or the inside of the bonnet and block; or have the lever to give
motion to parts of the block inside, instead of moving them by the
hands from the outside, as herein-before described in reference to the
working of the wing parts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Peter Ritchie and Alexander Wyllic in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 8th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, PETER
RITCHIE, of the Firm of Peter Ritchie and Company, Cap Manufacturers,
and ALEXANDER WYLLIE, Clerk to the said Firm, both of Kilmarnock,
in the county of Ayr, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Peter Ritchie and Alexander Wyllic, Her
special licence that we, the said Peter Ritchie and Alexander Wyllic,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Peter Ritchie and Alexander Wyllie, our exccutors, 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,

page_text: 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 BLOCKING AND SHAPING
GLENGARRY BONNETS AND OTHER SCOTCH BONNETS AND CAPS, AND IN MACHINERY
OR MECHANISM TO BE EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Peter Ritchic and Alexander Wyllie, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their or one of their hands and scals, 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 we, the said Peter Ritchie and Alexander
Wyllie, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference
being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
.
Our said Invention has reference to the construction and arrange-
ment of the parts of a new automatic machine or mechanical block with
moving parts for performing that part of the manufacture of Glengarry
and other Scotch caps or bonnets, known in the trade as the blocking
and shaping of these, cach at one operation before being taken off
the machine, instead of by two long tedious processes as heretofore
performed, both requiring very considerable time to learn and attentive
skill afterwards to perform. First, by the blockers, who pull and draw
the crudely shaped bonnets into approximate forms all round with the
fingers of both hands over a simple shaping hard wood block, which
is severe work and wears the fingers of the worker; and second, by the
shapers, who draw and manipulate the approximately shaped caps (as
handed from the blockers) into the real shape wholly by their hands
and fingers over or between the knees and then on a table to make
them ready for being hung up to dry, and the subsequent operations
required to complete these bonnets.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing our
said Invention, or the new construction of the said automatic bonnet-
blocking and shaping machine and mode of shaping the bonnets thereon

page_text: may be properly understood, we shall now proceed to describe the several
Figures on the Sheet of Drawings which we have hereunto appended
for that purpose, the same reference letters and numerals indicating the
same or like parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan; Figures 3 and 4 arc
longitudinal and transverse vertical sections respectively taken on the
lines 1-1 and 2---2, in Figure 2, but with the crown shaping wings B, B,
shown as folded down, all corresponding to each other, of ono modifica.
tion of our said new bonnet-blocking machine constructed in accordance
with our said Invention; Figures 5 to 10 arc side and edge views of the
details detached for holding the bonnet while being shaped or blocked
in the machine.
Referring then to Figures 1 to 4, the two main shaping parts of this
blocking machine, namely, the long narrow body piece A or basement
with rounded ends A' for shaping and fixing the band part of the bonnets
and the two wings B, B, for shaping their crowns, hinged to the upper
side edges of the former on cach side of the narrow central longitudinal
groove a, are all preferred to be formed of iron or brass, as indicated, and
fixed firmly to a long narrow hard wood frame piece O, O', from below
by the screws c, c'. The piece C is of the same width as the body part A
to which it is screwed all so as to carry the griping screws J, J', and
other moving and metal parts of the machine, while the lower piece C¹
is made a little broader and longer to form the solo or basement. for
firmly securing the whole machine by the screw pins C" to the top of
the table or bench in a transverse position in front of the operator.
The basement part A of the body is formed with two lateral projecting
segments A" near the frame of wood C, over which two loose portable
segment pieces D, D, (shown in side and end elevation and plan detached
in Figures 5, 6, and 7,) are made to fit and catch or hold the lower edge
of the band part of the unshaped bonnet along the sides after it has been
drawn over the wings B, B, and body A of the block. These two griping
segments D, D, are inserted over the said lower edges
being shaped, and shown in blue lines so as to rest on
and two end supports or rests A' on each side, and are tightened up by
the two outer griping plates E with a central tightening screw E' passed
through these and the wood frame C and a strong hand lever nut E"
on the right hand side below the bonnet, and its holding and shaping
body A, B, having the appearance or shape down to the segmental
of the bonnet Z,
the segments A"

page_text: basement pieces A" of a folded Glengarry bonnet or crown (as indicated
by the blue lines in Figure 1), a space a' being left between these
wings B, B, corresponding to the groove a in the basement A, into
which the lower blunt round edged belly part F' of a sabre shaped
stretching lever F is worked up and down, so as to stretch and double
the upper or crown part of the bonnet down between the wings B, B,
after it has been fixed over them by the said griping segments D, and
before or after the wings B, B, have been moved up and down several
times on their hinges B¹ by the two hands of the operator, one on cach,
working inside the bonnet so as to stretch and shape the crown part, as
indicated, stretched out horizontally in Figures 3 and 4, and dotted in at
Figure 2. The stretching lever F is fulcrummed at the far end F" to
the top G¹ of an oscillating link G jointed at G" to the lower frame
part C, some little distance beyond the rounded back end A' of the
basement part A, and having the front free end F" of the lever F
brought down by its handle F³ over the top end or hook H' at one side
of the loose oscillating vertical link H jointed to the lower frame C at
H", some little distance beyond the rounded front end A¹ of the
basement part A as a catch H¹ to hold the lever F when it has been so
pressed or sprung down into it after the central top part of the bonnet Z
has been thus stretched. These oscillating end links G and H (as
shown in side and edge views in Figures 8 and 10 respectively) have
small rough hollow faced griping blocks I and I' (as shown in side and
front views, Figures 8 and 9, the first formed on the link G and the
latter loose and detached from the link H) placed between them and
the front and back rounded ends A', A', of the basement part A of the
block, and the bonnet when stretched over it (in the rough form in
which the knitted bonnets come moist and steaming from the " fulling
or "walking" machine and hot water), all so that the strong quick acting
thumb or handscrews J and J' working in strong nut standards J", J²,
behind the said links tighten them up, so that the hollow rough faced
blocks I, I', gripe the bonnet Z at the front and back round ends A¹ to
the basement block A, and prevent it from rising or moving loosely
while the operator, through the action of the lever F and wings B, B,
stretching the crown part; the sides of the band of the bonnet are
also similarly held tightly to the basement block A by the two side
segmental plates D, curved towards the ends at D' to fit the end parts
of the block A, and cap drawn closely down on it against the two
"

page_text: segmental collars A", curved to the shape it is desired to have the
lower edges of the bonnet Z at the band parts, thus holding the
whole lower band part of the bonnet tightly and to its proper shape
and size against the block A, while the crown or upper part is being
stretched and shaped, all as described, by the action of the wings 1, B,
and lever F.
Although the two loose segmental gripers D, D, have been shown
and described as tightened up by one set of vice plates E and screws
E', E", passed through the lower frame C, it is to be understood that
this may be done with two sets, placed between the centre and the
two end bearings A², or that other equivalent mechanical actions
such as wedges or cams, might also be used for quickly griping the
segmental plates D at the lower part of the bonnet and block, instead
of these handscrews.
When the bonnet has been thus secured on the lower basement
part A of the block, as shown in the horizontal section, Figure 2ª; the
rest of the body and crown of the bonnet is stretched by working the
wings B, B, a few times up and down, from the vertical position, shown
in Figure 1, to that shown in Figures 3 and 4, and vice versa, and
then bringing down the stretching lever, so as to stretch and double
the central part of the crown down into the recess a, a', between the
vertical wings, which, after the lever has been fixed in its front hook
H', are again caught by the two hands of the operator at once, and
worked gradually outwards once or twice to the horizontal position,
and back again, as before described, so that when the wings have
thus shaped the crown part laterally and vertically as a folded cap,
then the lever F is released from its catch H', and the griping screw
E loosened, and griping blocks E, D, I, I', and segments D removed,
when the bonnet is then drawn off the block, stretched, shaped, and
folded to the proper size desired, and the block left ready for similarly
blocking or shaping other caps in succession, all by these few move-
ments of the hands with this machine, equally as well as by the more
claborate hand process heretofore employed.
Different sizes of the basement parts A of this new automatic block
and wings are made to suit different sizes of bonnets or caps, and their
crowns, respectively; or otherwise these parts A, B, might be made
in two parts, and half checked near the centre, so as to expand and be

page_text: fixed at different lengths and widths to suit various sized bonnets, and
their top or crowns, and either of these different sized or expanded
blocks would have correspondingly sized and shaped, or curved end
and side griping blocks I, I', and segmental plates D, D, all otherwise
substantially as herein-before described.
And it will also be understood that, although a narrow shape of
block A is preferred, as has herein boen shown and described, this
block might also be made approximately to the real shape of the
bonnet (as the hand blocks are at present) and have a stretching block
picce moved by the lever, either on the outside or the inside of the
bonnet and block; or have the lever made and placed to give motion
to the parts of the block inside the bonnet, instead of moving them
by the hands from the outside, as herein-before described in reference
to the working of the wing parts B, B.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may
be used or carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion, that
what we consider novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,―
«
First. The construction and arrangement of the parts of automatic
blocks or machines for the stretching, shaping, and folding (or
blocking ") of Scotch bonnets, all substantially in the new or improved
manner, and for the purposes herein described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
Second. The construction and use of "blocking" machines for Scotch
bonnets, with gripers for holding their edges while being stretched
and shaped, substantially as herein described or shown in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Third. The construction and use of "blocking" machines for Scoteli
bonnets, with movable wings or parts for stretching and shaping their
crown parts, substantially as herein described or shown in the accom-
panying Drawings.
Fourth. The construction and use of "blocking " machines for Scotch
bonnets, with a portable or movable blade or piece, for stretching and

page_text: dividing or folding their crown parts, substantially as herein described
or shown in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, tho said Peter Ritchie, and Alexander
Wyllie, have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Fifth day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOHN THOMSON,
Patent Agent,
62, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
(L.S.)
PETER RITOHIE.
ALEXANDER WYLLIE. (L.S.)