IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP HATS AND CAPS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Frederick Freutel and,
Henry Zox at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 6th August 1868.
We, HENRY FREDERICK FREUTEL, of Kingsland Road, in the County.
of Middlesex, and HENRY Zox, of Nelson Square, Blackfriars, in the
County of Surrey, Hat and Cap Manufacturer, do hereby declare the:
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP HATS AND CAPS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture
of hats and caps and other coverings for the head, whereby a very light
and flexible hat or cap or other covering to the head is produced capable.
of yielding to pressure without injury, and without leaving a mark of
indentation, as is ordinarily the result of such accidental pressure or
blow.
We propose to construct or manufacture the hat, cap, or other covering
of a woven material consisting of horsehair or other suitable hair, or of
hair mixed with cotton, linen, silk, or other fibrous or textile material,
which may be of any color or series of colors desired, or which may

page_text: consist of a printed warp. The fabric thus woven is to be applied in a
double layer to form the body of the article required, but it is to be so
arranged that the weft of hair in one fabric shall be applied at right
angles or thereabouts to the second fabric containing a similar hair weft
in order that a resistance to pressure or tendency to fracture the body
may be afforded by the crossing of the elastic hair wefts. In other words
the fabrics when placed side by side are reversed in the direction of their
warps and wefts, those of one fabric being placed in a position at or near
a right angle to those of the other.
For summer wear the hat, cap, or covering may consist of the above
materials without an outer application of fabric as an external covering
to the hair fabric, but when the hair fabric is used as an internal body
for a hat or cap or other covering it may be treated with any outer
material or fabric, such as silk, cloth, felt, or other fabric, to form the
exterior of the hat or other article, such as an ordinary silk hat, in which
case the effects of a blow or pressure upon the article will not be
permanent, but will disappear by the spring of the compound hair fabric.
Or the hair fabric alone may constitute the hat or other article without
any external covering of other fabric.
The hair fabric may be made up by stitching or otherwise, and the
articles to be made may include collegiate caps, ladies' hoods. and
bonnets, or other description of coverings for the head, and may be
covered or not with any fabric, such as woollen, silk, worsted, or
cotton.
We also propose in following the various modifications of the principle
of employing a horsehair or other fabric in which hair forms the chief
portion to use the double fabric of hair reversed as described, either
stitched or secured together by the intervention of a thin sheet or layer
of gutta percha, india-rubber, or their compounds or their solutions.
Also to use a single layer of hair fabric treated with sheet gutta percha,
india-rubber, or their combinations or their solutions, and then externally
with gossamer and adhesive material or compound, and finally with a
covering of suitable fabric. Also to use the double fabric of hair with
the aforesaid adhesive material or materials between them, then with a
second treatment of such material, or materials or compounds, and
ultimately with gossamer and the ultimate covering. These adhesive
compounds or materials enable us to form the hat or other covering
without the necessity of stitching if we prefer to dispense with such

page_text: method of fastening or securing the fabric together, but we may employ
both methods, or one method in one part of the article and the other in
another part according to circumstances.
According to the foregoing methods of constructing hat bodies we
propose to manufacture hats presenting the same external covering.as
the ordinary silk hat in common wear, either white or black. The body
of the hat being constructed of the hair fabric and other materials as
desired in any suitable combination according to the strength and weight
of the hat, the ordinary silk plush covering is applied thereto; thus we
dispense entirely with the cork or gossamer body of the hat, which
becomes broken or bruised by sudden pressure or an accidental blow,
and we substitute a yielding internal springy body of hair, which may
receive a blow or indentation without the slightest appearance of injury,
and which by its elasticity preserves constantly the true form of the
hat, notwithstanding the effects of blows which destroy the appearance of
the ordinary. hat.
Another important feature of our Invention in relation to the manu-.
facture of collegiate caps, of which reference has already been made in
regard to the bodies or skulls, consists in the special manufacture of their
boards or squares.
The principle of our Invention is carried into effect in constructing
these boards as follows:-We take a foundation of cork and apply on
each side thereof our system of the reversed hair fabric, placing one
layer on each side of the fork, causing the same to adhere by the adhesive
material or compound before named, or by stitching, or by the two
combined; we then cause the gossamer to be applied to the two surfaces
of hair by the adhesive means, and we produce a board for a college cap
which is flexible and clastic instead of being easily broken or bent into
creases like the ordinary board; or the hair fabric may be applied to
each side of the cork without reversing its position. By these means
we make a complete college cap on our principle, or if preferred we
make the board on our principle and the body on the old principle, or
vice versa.
In order to cause the adhesion of the fabrics by the intervention of
gutta percha, india-rubber, or other compounds, we prefer to place the
fabrics together on a flat surface with the adhesive materials between in
a very thin layer, and to compress the whole between heated surfaces.
The articles may when manufactured be subject to a finishing process by

page_text: compression between heated blocks and heated moulds after the ordinary
method of finishing coverings for the head made in other materials. But
any other convenient means may be employed according to the extent
of the manufacture.
Although we have described the application of single hair fabrics and
double hair fabrics in relation to certain descriptions of coverings for
the head, we may also use a single fabric partly covered in any desired
position with a second layer, and likewise in some cases we may use,
if it should be requisite, a triple layer or a duplicate layer of hair fabric
partly covered wherever required with a triplicate layer, so also other
suitable adhesive materials or compounds may be used in each case
including the principles of our said Invention.