IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, BONNETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ralph Broadbent, of Boston, Massa-
chusetts, United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton..
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Doctor
of Medicine, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
Sealed the 28th April 1868, and dated the 13th March 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Charles Ralph Broadbent
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 13th March 1868, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
RALPH BROADBENT, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America,
now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Doctor of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, BONNETS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," and
have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same,
and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor
thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Ralph Broadbent, do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement :-
The said Invention consists in making hats, bonnets, and other
coverings for the head of raw or untanned hide or skin, and in moulding
and colouring or otherwise treating the said hats or other articles to
give them the appearance of straw, felt, or other material of which such
articles are usually constructed.
In carrying my Invention into practise I split or divide the skins in
the usual manner. The outer side of the skin, technically termed the
"skiver," or grain side is more especially adapted for the manufacture of
imitation straw hats or bonnets, while the inner or "flesher" side of
the skin serves better for the production of articles intended to imitate
the appearance of felt.
In manufacturing my improved imitation straw hats or other articles
I employ metal shaping blocks similar to those ordinarily employed in
such manufacture. The skins may be coloured or dyed before or after
they are placed upon such blocks, but I prefer that the colouring should
be done first. A buckram or other suitable frame is used to stiffen
the hat, the said frame being first covered with shellac. The skin is
then placed upon the frame and both are placed on the heated metal
block, the heat from which quickly unites the skin to the frame.
Instead of using a buckram frame I sometimes stiffen the hat or bonnet
by simply applying shellac to the interior of the same.
The imitation of straw, leghorn, or chip, or other material is produced
upon the surface of the skin by means of suitable dies, the required
pressure being applied to such dies by hydraulic power or other suitable
means. If desired, these imitation straw hats may be made without the
buckram or other stiffening.

page_text: In the manufacture of my imitation felt hats or bonnets I take the
"flesher" or inner side of a skin and stretch the same upon a suitable
forming block or pattern, the hat being held securely at the rim upon
the said block. The hat or bonnet being fixed on the block is then
immersed in the tanning liquid, which I prefer to make by dissolving
nutgall in water in the proportion of about a quarter of a pound of nut-
gall to a gallon of water. Logwood may be used instead of nutgall to
form the tanning liquid and serves also to dye or colour the hat or
bonnet. If desired, any other suitable dye or colour may be mixed with
the said tanning liquid, so that the tanning and colouring may be
effected at the same time. If desired, however, the skin may be dyed
before being placed upon the block, or the hat or bonnet may be dyed
after being tanned. The tanning of the hat or other article is completed
in about three hours. The said hat or other article is then taken to a
drying room and when properly dried is removed from the block. A hat
left in this condition forms an excellent substitute in all respects for an
ordinary soft felt hat, but if desired the same may be stiffened by
buckram or other suitable material in the ordinary manner.
Hats and other coverings for the head have been already manufactured
of dressed skin or leather, but such material is far more costly
than skins or hide in a raw, undressed, or untanned condition, as I use
them.
It will be seen from the above description that my improvements
do not relate to any peculiarity or novelty in the shape of the hats or
other articles, nor to the apparatus employed in their manufacture; I
therefore do not limit myself to or claim any particular shape or design
for my improved hats, bonnets, or other coverings for the head, nor to any
construction of the dies, blocks, or other apparatus or mode of operating
the same; but I claim,―
First. The manufacture of hats, bonnets, or other coverings for the
head of raw or untanned skin or hide, substantially as set forth.
Second. Producing upon hats or other articles made of the outer or
"skiver" side of the skin an imitation of straw or other like material,
substantially as set forth.

page_text: Third. An imitation felt hat made of the inner or "flesher" side of a
skin, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ralph Broadbent, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
CHARLES RALPH BROADBENT. (L.S.)