AN IMPROVED MODE OF STRENGTHENING B. Dle ID RING OF STRAW HATS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen Welch, both
of 44, Gutter Lane, in the City of London, and of Luton, in the County
of Bedford, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF STRENGTHENING
B. Dle ID RING OF STRAW HATS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Davis Welch and
Alfred Phippen Welch at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 9th November 1864.
We, JOHN DAVIS WELCH and ALFRED PHIPPEN WELCH, both of 44, Gutter
Lane, in the City of London, and of Luton, in the County of Bedford, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
STRENGTHENING AND GIVING A FLEXIBLE FINISH TO THE BRIMS OF STRAW HATS," to
be as follows:-
The Invention consists in the application of a cane or whalebone stripping
attached firmnly to the edge of the brim, which may afterwards be covered
with silk, galloon, or other binding, and stitched by a sewing machine or
otherwise, giving to the edge a raised beading, and thereby adding strength
and elasticity, so that the hat will continue to retain its original form or
shape when worn.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen Welch in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 9th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,' JOHN
DAVIS WELCH and ALFRED PHIPPEN WELCH, both of 44, Gutter Lane,
in the City of London, and of Luton, in the County of Bedford, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth 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 us, the said John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen Welch, Her
special licence that we, the said John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen
Welch, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen Welch, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 MODE OF STRENGTHENING AND GIVING A FLEXIBLE
FINISH TO THE BRIMS OF STRAW HATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said John Davis Welch and Alfred Phippen Welch, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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 John Davis Welch, on behalf of
myself and the said Alfred Phippen Welch, 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 :-
The application and use of cane stripping or whalebone or other similar
light and elastic material (but cane preferred) to the brims of hats made of
straw plait, for the purpose of strengthening and giving a flexible finish and
quality to the same, and thus enabling them to retain more perfectly their
form under wear.

page_text: The mode of its application may be as follows:-First, to stitch the cane
round the hat as near to the edge of the brim as convenient, and then to
cover with a binding of hatters' galloon or of straw plait or other binding of
sufficient width, to be stitched on by a sewing machine or otherwise, the
machine being preferred to hand stitching, as it draws the binding more
closely and firmly over the cane, giving a neat beaded appearance, ornamental
to the edge of the brim; or the cane may be secured between double rows of
plait or in a groove pressed in the brim to receive the cane, or in any other
manner so as to give strength and flexibility to the brims. The groove or
application of cane, whalebone, or other similar material may be on either
side the brim,
In witness whereof, I, the said John Davis Welch, on behalf of myself
and the said Alfred Phippen Welch, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
JOHN DAVIS WELCH. (L.B.)