AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING FELT HATS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Charles Mann, of Leeds, in the County of
York, Cap Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF MAKING FELT HATS."
Sealed the 13th July 1866, and dated the 16th January. 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Charles Mann
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th January 1866.
I, WILLIAM CHARLES MANN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Cap
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING FELT HATS," to be as follows:-
It is at present the ordinary practice' to make felt hats of one piece of
material by means of well-known apparatus. My object is to cheapen the
cost of production, and for this purpose, instead of making the hat in one
piece, I make (in the first place) the crown of one or more sections and
connect them together by sewing. The side of the hat I maké (by
preference) in halves and connect them in a similar manner as the crown
and to the same. The brim of the hat I make in one piece and connect
it with the side in the same manner as the other portions. If desired I
place over the seams a braid or other ornamental substance, which serves
the two-fold purpose of covering the seams and enhancing the appearance
of the hat; or I emboss by the usual apparatus an ornamental groove on

page_text: the substance of the hat itself. By this method I am enabled to produce
a cheaper hat and one that is more ornamental than those now used, and
in addition it also retains its original shape.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Charles Mann in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHARLES MANN, of Leeds, in the County of York, Cap Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Charles Mann, Her special licence that I, the
said William Charles Mann, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others. as I, the said William Charles Mann, 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 METHOD OF MAKING FELT HATS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Charles Mann, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 William Charles Mann, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
It is at present the ordinary practice to make felt hats of one piece
of material by means of well-known apparatus. My object is to cheapen
the cost of production, and for this purpose, instead of making the hat
in one piece, I make (in the first place) the crown of one or more

page_text: sections and connect them together by sewing. The side of the hat
I make (by preference) in halves and connect them in a similar
manner as the crown and to the same. The brim of the hat I make in
one piece and connect it with the side in the same manner as the other
portions. If desired I place over the seams a braid or other ornamental
substance, which serves the two-fold purpose of covering the seams and
enhancing the appearance of the hat; or I emboss by the usual
apparatus
an ornamental groove on the substance of the hat itself. By this method
I am enabled to produce a cheaper hat and one that is more ornamental
than those now used, and in addition it also retains its original shape.
I therefore claim as and of my Invention the manufacture of felt hats
sectionally in the manner described, the material operated upon previously
undergoing the operations usually connected with the process of felting.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Charles Mann, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM CHARLES MANN. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. W. BULMER,
Clerk to P. H. Sharp,
18, East Parade,
Leeds.