IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND IN HAT BLOCKS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William White, of the firm of White and Son, of
Cheapside, in the City of London, Hat Manufacturers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND IN HAT BLOCKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William White at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
May 1854.
I, WILLIAM WHITE, of the firm of. White and Son, of Cheapside, in the
City of London, Hat Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND IN HAT BLOCKS" to be as follows:-
In manufacturing my improved hats, I form the body thereof with an
indentation or indentations or internal raised surface or surfaces, which I
perforate for the passage of air, and I afterwards cover the hat body with
silk or other covering employed for that purpose; or I cover the outside of
the indentation with the same material as that of which the body itself is
formed and then with silk. In making hat bodies of this description, I form
a groove or grooves of any required section and depth in the hat block, and
I then pull or press in the foundation of the body, having in some cases pre-
viously placed inside the foundation next to the block a piece of galvanised
or metallized paper, silk, cloth, or other ornamental material, to form an orna-
ment to the raised surface inside the hat. The introduction of the metallised

page_text: paper or other material will also render the hat quite impervious to grease or
perspiration. I afterwards put on a cover to the cutside of the indentation,
and then the final covering, or I put on the final covering only, so that the
part of the hat body which has been pulled or pressed into the groove or
indentation will form a hollow space between the body and the covering, per-
ceptible only on the inside of the hat, and not affecting its external appear-
ance. I perforate the raised part of the hat body inside, and the cover to the
indentation, when such is employed, and also the crown of the hat, by which
means the hat will be thoroughly ventilated when in wear. I make my im-
proved hat blocks with a groove or grooves or indentation or indentations
of any required form therein, so that a corresponding effect may be produced
in the hat bodies made upon them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William White in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WHITE, of the firm of White and Son, of Cheapside, in the City of London,
Hat Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William White, Her special licence that I, the said William
White, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William White, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HATS AND IN HAT BLOCKS," upon the condition (amongst others)-that-I,-the-
said William White, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William White, do hereby declaro the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
In manufacturing my improved hats, I form the body thereof with an
indentation or indentations or internal raised surface or surfaces, which I
perforate for the passage of air, and I afterwards cover the hat body with silk
or other covering employed for that purpose; or I cover the outside of the
indentation with the same material as that of which the body itself is formed
and then with silk. In making hat bodies of this description, I form a groove
or grooves of any required section and depth in the hat block, and I then
pull or press in the foundation of the body, having in some cases previously
placed inside the foundation next to the block a piece of galvanized or
metallized paper, silk, cloth, or other ornamental material, to form an orna-
ment to the raised surface inside the hat. The introduction of the metallized
paper or other material will also render the hat quite impervious to grease or
perspiration. I afterwards put on a cover to the outside of the indentation and
then the final covering; or I put on the final covering only, so that the part of
the hat body which has been pulled or pressed into the groove or indentation
will form a hollow space between the body and the covering, perceptible only
on the inside of the hat, and not affecting its external appearance.
I per-
forate the raised part of the hat body inside, and the cover to the indentation,
when such is employed, and also the crown of the hat, by which means the
hat will be thoroughly ventilated when in wear. Or hat bodies may be con-
structed in the usual manner of any suitable material, and an indented
perforated piece may be affixed to the inside thereof; but then I perforate
that part of the body opposite to the indented piece with apertures or holes,
to correspond, or not, with the holes in the indented piece.
In the annexed Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are front elevation and sec-
tion of the perforated indented piece detached, and Figure 3 is a plan in per-
spective, of a bat with the indented piece in the position it occupies therein.
I make my improved hat blocks with a groove or gooves, or indentation or
indentations of any required form therein, so that a corresponding effect may
be produced in the hat bodies made upon them.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in hats and hat blocks,-
First, the constructing of hats with an internal perforated, grooved, or
indented surface, whether such perforated groove or indentation be produced

page_text: in the same piece with the body, or whether it be produced in a separate
piece and affixed thereto.
And, second, the manufacture of hat blocks with a groove or indentation, in
the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William White, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
WILLM WHITE. (L.S.)