IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William, Wilson, of the Borough of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Hat Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF HATS."
Sealed the 12th May 1865, and dated the 18th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1864.
I, WILLIAM WILSON, of the Borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hat Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention häs for its object the forming by machinery
of a hat body of wool, or wool and other materials, in such a manner that the
outer part may consist of finer material than the other; and this is performed
by attaching to the carding engine or machine two pair of feed rollers at a
suitable distance apart driven by a shaft from the doffer, and connected by a
lever with another shaft attached to the ratchet wheel of the hat-forming
machine described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the
23rd January 1861, No. 185, so that by means of certain levers and suitable
gearing, one pair of feed rollers can be stopped, and the other put in motion
when and as desired.
The second part of this Invention consists of an improvement of the machine
for hardening hat bodies described in the Specification of the before-mentioned

page_text: Patent. The improvement consists in dispensing with the arrangements there
described for steaming the hat body, and substituting instead thereof a fixed
cone full of small holes or perforations through which steam is admitted, so
that it may penetrate the hat body, whilst the jiggering motion is given to
it by suitable gearing, and it is pressed on alternately all round by the outer
cone in the manner described in the aforesaid Patent.
The third part of this Invention has for its object the shapeing of the
brims of hats by means of pressure, and for this purpose I employ a press
consisting of a plate that may be raised and lowered, and furnished with a
circular india-rubber bag, in the centre of which is fixed a " brow block."
Below is a plate with a suitable hole in the centre for the crown of the hat to
pass through.
Moulds or dies are made in one or more parts capable of being heated the
exact shape required for the bat brim. These being placed on the under
plate, and the hat brim thereon with the crown through the hole in the centre,
the upper frame is lowered, and the india-rubber bag brought down on the
brim, the brow block fitting into the hat, the water is turned into the bag,
and the hat brim receives the required shape from its pressure on to the
mould
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILSON, of the Borough of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hat Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give. and grant unto me,
the said William Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said William
Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as. I, the
said William Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 HATS," upon the condition (amongst others). that. I,

page_text: the said William Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-:
ticularly 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 William Wilson, 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:
The first part of this Invention has for its object the forming by machinery of
a hat body of wool or wool and other materials in such a manner that the outer_
part may consist of finer material than the other, and this is performed by
attaching to the carding engine or machine two pair of feed rollers at a suit-
able distance apart driven by a shaft from the doffer, and connected by a lever
with another shaft attached to the ratchet wheel of the hat-forming machine,
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to me on the 23rd January.
1861 (No. 185), so that by means of certain levers and suitable gearing one
pair of feed rollers can be stopped and the other put in motion when and as
desired.
This part of the Invention is illustrated by the Figures on Sheet No. 1 of
the Drawings hereunto annexed.
. A and B are two pair of feed rollers placed in a frame in a suitable position.
to feed the carding machine. On the doffer end of this machine is fixed a
small spur wheel C (one of a set of change wheels) working a larger spur
wheel D below it, on the same boss as D is attached, a bevil wheel E working
in another bevil wheel F fixed on a shaft G, extending it to the feed end of
the carding machine, and capable by means of a slot link H of a lateral
motion; at that end on the shaft G is fixed another bevil wheel I, which
communicates motion to one pair or other of the feed rollers A and B; as
follows:-The shaft of one of the feed rollers in the lower pair is extended a
few inches, and has loose upon it a spur wheel J, attached to the boss of which
is a bevil wheel K. The same shaft has another bevil wheel L fast upon it
at a sufficient distance to permit the bevil wheel I on the shaft coming from
the doffer to work easily into either of them without being in contact with
both at once. When it is working in L it moves the shaft, and the lower
feed rollers are rotated, when it is in K the shaft does not move, but the
spur wheel J in its rotation moves another spur wheel M fixed on one of the
upper pair of feed rollers A; each pair is furnished at the opposite, end with

page_text: small pinions, so that motion given as above described to one of either rotates
the pair.
Another shaft N is placed in a support on the frame of the forming
machine. This machine is similar to that described in the Specification of a
former Patent granted to me, and dated the 23rd day of January 1861,
(No. 185,) and in it the sliver from the carding engine is lapped around
cones or frames, so as to produce liat bodies in a form to be afterwards felted,
and as is now well understood. This shaft N extends from it to the feed end
of the carding engine, where it is supported in like manner, so that it can.
move round easily. A cam O is fixed on the ratchet wheel of the said forming
machine. This ratchet wheel in its revolution brings the cam against and
raises a lever P, which lifts another lever Q attached to the shaft N, so as to
raise it, and the shaft is connected at the other end by a rod R to a small
rocking shaft S furnished with a weight T and levers U to work the slot
link H; the bevil wheel I on the shaft G is thus drawn into gear with the
wheel K, and then the spur wheel J moves M and the upper rollers are rotated,
and the fine wool is fed into the carding engine, and passing through is
wound round the hat moulds or cones. When the cam O is not under the
lever P the shaft N is not raised in this way, and the bevil wheel I on shaft
G works in L, being held there by weights Y on lever Z, and the lower pair
of feed rollers is rotated, and the coarser wool is fed into the machine through
them. The cam O is changed for larger or smaller size to vary the proportion
of fine wool in the hats, and the spur wheel C is changed for larger or
smaller to vary the weight of hats.
In this Drawing the wool is shewn as fed to the carding engine from spools
V revolving on rollers W on frame ✗ attached to the frame of the carder, but
it may be fed to each pair of feed rollers in any other convenient manner. The
coarser wool is first wound over the cones or formis, and then the finer, and
when this is wound up, the bell shewn in the Drawing is caused to sound as
a signal to the operator to cut off and remove the hat bodies from the cones
or forms in the usual manner.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention the manufacturing hat bodies
by feeding a carding machine alternately with different qualities of wool or
material, one suitable for the surface of the hat, and another suitable for the
interior, and the winding the compound or alternated sliver obtained on to
cones or forms as described.
The second part of this Invention consists of an improvement on the
machine for hardening hat bodies, described in the Specification of the before-
inentioned Patent granted to me, No. 185, in the year 1861.

page_text: "
The improvement consists in dispensing with the arrangements; there de-
scribed for steaming the hat body, and substituting instead thereof a fixed cone
full of small holes or perforations through which steam is admitted, so that it
may penetrate the hat body whilst the jiggering motion is given to it by suit-
able gearing, and it is pressed on alternately all round by the outer cone in
the manner described in the Specification of the aforesaid Patent.
This part of any Invention is illustrated by the Figures on Sheet No. 2 of
the Drawing, which represent a double machine, complete. My present
Invention consists, however, but of an improvement on, machines of this
description, for which a Patent was granted in the year 1861, No. 185.
This improvement is in the disuse of the means employed for steaming the
body, and the substitution of a perforated cone, so as to admit of the steam
passing through the hat body whilst it is jiggered and pressed against.
A is the frame of the machine; B is a perforated metal cone mounted on
an-upright spindle in the block C, and connected by an arm D and rod E to
the upright crank shaft F, by which a to-and-fro motion is given to, the
cone B, on which the hat body after it comes from the cone or form above
mentioned is placed.. Above this cone is another cone G or presser.larger
than B, but so made that it can be made to touch it in every part... It is
fixed to a frame H which is made to slide up and down. in grooves in the
frame of the machine A by any suitable means. The cone G is suspended in
a ring I forming a universal joint, the centre of which corresponds with the
centre of each of the covers, so that when the sides of the cones G are pressed
against B, it does.not. move from this centre; on the top of the cone G is
fixed a shaft J, which passes upward into the bras K, which is made to slide
by means of the inclined spring L in the casting M, so as to press the side of
the cone G against B, the casting M revolving by means of the spur wheel N
so as to cause this side pressure of the cone G to rotate continuously round B.
Steam is admitted into the cone B by the pipe O, a portion of which is of
india-rubber, so as to admit of cone moving to and fro. The spur wheel N
receives its motion from a small brass wheel Q driven by a wheel and worm R
which is driven by a belt on sheave S. The crank shaft F is moved by a set
of pullies marked P. The hat body as taken from the forming machine is
placed on cone B, the steam turned on into its interior; the frame H-with
cone G is lowered on to it, and whilst the to-and-fro or jigger motion is given
to B, as described, it presses progressively against every part of it, one or two
of its revolutions usually suffices to fully harden thé hat body.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention tho hardening hat bodies, as
described, by placing them on a cone or form to which a slight oscillatory or

page_text: jiggering-motion is given, the said cone or form being perforated all over, and
having steam admitted to its interior, the hat body being at the same time
acted on by a presser or upper cone pressing on one side of it, and revolving
so as during the revolution to act on every part in succession.
The third part of this Invention has for its object the shaping of the brims
of hats by means of pressure, and for this purpose I employ a press consisting
of a plate that may be raised and lowered, and furnished with a circular india-
rubber bag, in the centre of which is fixed a "brow block." Below is a plate
with a suitable hole in the centre for the crown of the hat to pass through;
moulds or dies are made in one or more parts of the exact shape required for
the hat brim, and capable of being heated; these being placed on the under
plate and the hat brim thereon with the crown through the hole in the centre,
the upper frame is lowered and the india-rubber bag brought down on thẹ
brim, the brow block fitting into the hat, the water is turned into the bag,
and the hat brim receives the required shape from its pressure on to the
mould.
In carrying out this part of my Invention I employ a water press, such as
is used by hat manufacturers, but with additions and alterations, which are
illustrated by the Figures on Sheet 3 of the Drawings.
"
Figure 1 is the upper plate of the press upturned, so as to shew the-india-
rubber diaphragm A forming the bag in its position, tightly screwed between
the rim and the circumference of the plate, as further shewn in section and side
view at Figures 1*, and also in the centre of the plate; it is held between the
plate and an oval iron disc B, to which is fitted by a stud C a brow block the
size of the hat to be shaped.
Figure 2 represents the brow block; Figure 5 represents the bottom plate,
which instead of being made with a well or box in the centre, as is common,
is an iron plate with a circular hole D in it on a ledge, in which another
plate E with oval centre F rests; the oval centre is a little larger than the hat
to be placed in it. Figure 4 represents the hat brim mould which may be
made of metal or of wood, but in this case I make the upper part of brass and
screw it on so as to have a stronger mould to sustain the pressure, and also
one that may be warmed sufficiently to prevent the brim cooling at the edges
when the curl is intended to be very narrow. The hat mould is placed on the
edge of the oval hole on the bottom plate not fastened, but simply placed on
it, as shown in Figure 3. Surrounding it are two rings G and H intended to
fill the space between the bag and bottom plate sufficiently to limit the space
to be filled with water to that needful to give the form to the brim; sections
of Figure 3 further illustrate the brim mould, the rings surrounding it, and the
,

page_text: bottom plate. The hat, whether silk or felt, having been bound, and the
brim softened sufficiently to take the desired form by any ordinary method, is
placed crown downwards through the hole in the bottom plate, with its brim
over the mould, the upper plate is then lowered on to it and locked as usual,
the brow block fitting into the hat; the water is then turned on and the
pressure on the brim folds and sets it to the shape of the mould. By this
arrangement irregularity produced by the hat moving when the fluid pressure
is applied is avoided.
It is preferred, as is shown, to make the brim mould in two parts, and on
taking up the hat the mould accompanies it and is easily separated; the
pins or dowells connecting the two parts of the mould are short, and come
easily out of their holes, the felt springing sufficiently to come off the mould.
I claim as respects this part of my Invention the fixing the brow block to
the top plate of the water press as described, whereby the pressure is removed
from all parts of the hat but the brim.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM WILSON. (L.B.)