IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PALM-LEAF HATS, AND CARCASSES FOR HATS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau; of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF PALM-LEAF HATS, AND CARCASSES FOR HATS."-A communication from
Messrs. Langenhagen, of Bas Rhin, France.
ealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 2nd December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 2nd December 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND. le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, & 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention communicated to me by Messrs. Langen-
hagen, Brothers, of Bas Rhin, France, of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF PALM-LEAF HATS, & CARCASSES FOR HATS," to be as follows-
The palm leaf is split into two or more parts, so that from one leaf two or
more, leaves are obtained; this can be done by an ordinary knife, or by other
suitable mechanisın. This operation does not take from the leaf any of its
strength, but adds considerably to its suppleness and lightness. The leaves
are then wove or plaited, in the same manner as entire palm leaves generally,
into hats or carcases for hats of silk, felt, wool, or any other substance. The
split leaves of the palni may also be combined with unsplit leaves, and the split

page_text: or unsplit leaves may be combined with hemp, silk, rushes, hair, wool, whale-
bone, bamboo, straw, panama, manilla, willow, india-rubber, gutta percha,
cotton, or any other substances. The carcases for hats may be made in one
or several pieces, as may be most convenient, and afterwards joined together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 30th May 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special license,
full power, said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le
Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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 of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PALM-LEAF HATS, AND CARCASSES FOR HATS,"
communicated to me from Messieurs Langenhagen, of Bas Rhin, France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau, 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 Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
_manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in splitting palm-leaf in the

page_text: thickness in two, and after removing the pith or marrow from the inner sur-
faces of the split leaves, applying them to the manufacture of hats and carcasses
of hats.
The palm-tree leaves are divided into two parts in the direction of the grain,
in such a manner as to obtain from one single leaf two leaves of the same
dimensions as the unsplit leaf. The leaves thus split are thinner but more
supple, and possess the same strength as the palm leaves in their natural
thickness. The leaf is split in its thickness either upon the whole width, or
after it has been cut up into smaller breadths, either in the moist or dry state,
by means of an ordinary knife, by a knife similar to that employed by basket
makers, or by a suitable machine, after which the pith or marrow is removed
from the inner surface of the split leaves by scraping or by any convenient
means. The palm leaf split in its thickness is applicable to the manufacture
of all kinds of hats for summer wear, tresses and tissues, either open, like
canvas, or closed, by operating in the usual manner for working unsplit palm
leaf. The split leaf is specially applicable to the manufacture of carcasses on
which hats of silk, felt, wool, or other analogous material are mounted. These
carcasses are produced in different ways, viz, the carcasses may be plaited by
the hand, or woven by a machine, or be composed of one part wove; they may
consist of one piece or several pieces, afterwards united by stitching, by glue,
size, or by any other suitable means. The carcasses may be made open like
canvas, or full, or of one part open and the other full. The whole of the
carcass, that is to say, the brim, the body, and the crown, may be formed of
palm leaf split in its thickness, or one part only may be made of palm leaf
split in its thickness, and the other part of palm leaf of its natural thickness.
The palm leaf split in its thickness may be mixed with palm leaf of its
natural thickness, or with cotton, hemp, flax, thread, silk, horse-hair, aloes, or
vegetable silk, cane, whalebone, bamboo, straw, panama, manilla, osier, india-
rubber, gutta percha, or other similar substances. The carcass of the split
palm leaf may be left bare, and covered either outside or inside with muslin,
silk, or other material, which is fixed on the palm leaf by means of glue or
other adhesive substance. The modes of employing the split palm leaf for
the manufacture of carcasses for silk and felt hats can be varied to a great
extent.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and the mode of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise modus operandi herein laid down; but what I claim is,
the splitting palm-tree leaves into two parts in their thickness, and withdraw-
ing from the inner surface the pith or marrow, and the application of the leaf

page_text: so treated to the manufacture of hats, tresses, and tissues, and to carcasses for
mounting silk and felt hats, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof,, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto, set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day.
of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five.
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)