AN IMPROVED HAT BODY
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simmons, of Oldham, in the County of
Lancaster, Hat Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED HAT
BODY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simmons at
the Office of the Commissioners of: Patents; with his Petition, on the
4th January 1856.
I, WILLIAM SIMMONS, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Hat Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
HAT BODY" to be as follows:-
Hitherto hat bodies have been so manufactured as to require the necessity of
lining, so as to give the hat a suitable appearance, which lining has either been
introduced or applied loosely, or in some instances has been cemented or other-
wise affixed to the interior of the hat. Whereas my improved hat body entirely
dispenses with the necessity of such superfluity, as it is so manufactured that
the one side of the hat body, per se, which forms the interior of the hat, is
rendered sufficiently ornamental as required. For this purpose, I apply to or
combine with the interior surface of the common gossamer' hat body during its

page_text: manufacture, that is, whilst the shellac or varnish is in a fluid or molten state,
a coating or covering of cotton, wool, or silk "flock," or a coating or covering
of glass, or sand, or any other suitable pulverized material, which will thus
form a component and inseparable part of the hat body.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Simmons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SIMMONS, of Oldham, in the 'County of Lancaster, Hat Mauufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Hor
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Simmons, Her especial license that I, the said William Sim-
mons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho
said William Simmons, 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 HAT BODY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Simmons, 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 William Simmons, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
·
Hitherto hat bodies have been so manufactured as to require the necessity
of lining, so.as to give the hat a suitable appearance, which lining has either
been introduced or applied loosely, or in some instances has been cemented or

page_text: otherwise affixed to the interior of the hat. Whereas my improved hat body
entirely dispenses with the necessity of such superfluity, as it is so manufac-
tured that the one side of the hat body, per se, which forms the interior of the
hat, is rendered sufficiently ornamental as required. For this purpose, I apply
or combine with the interior surface of the common or gossamer hat body
during it manufacture, that is, whilst the shellac or varnish is in a fluid or
molten state, a coating or covering of cotton, wool, or silk "flock," or a coat-
ing or covering of glass, or sand, or any other suitable pulverized material,
which will thus form a component and inseperable part of the hat body, such
coating or covering of flock, &c. being dusted, or sifted, or thrown upon the
interior of the hat body in any convenient manner, and at any suitable period
of its manufacture, whilst the shellac or varnish is in a sufficiently emollient
state to ensure the adhesion of the flock, &c.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simmons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the year of our Lord Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
WILLIAM SIMMONS. (..)