A CERTAIN INVENTION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IMPROVED HATS AND BONNETS IN IMITATION OF LEGHORN STRAW HATS AND BONNETS
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
DANINOS, of Lemon Street, Goodman's Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by Iis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifth day of February, in the tenth year of His reign, did, for
Himself. His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alexander
Daninos, Iis special licence, that I, the said Alexander Daninos, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Daninos,
my exors, adors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonics
and Plantations abroad, "A CERTAIN INVENTION FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
IMPROVED HATS AND BONNETS IN IMITATION OF LEGHORN STRAW HATS AND
BONNETS," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Alexander
Daninos, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexander Daninos, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and how the same is to be performed, is herein set forth and explained :-
The material or substance that I prefer for manufacturing my improved hats
and bonnets with is twilled cotton, but linen, silk, or any other suitable
substance or material may be used that can be woven, and is capable of
being dyed and impressed in the way and in anner to be described
hereafter. The twilled cotton or other suitable woven substance or fabric,
when dyed of any suitable color, as for instance the peculiar tint of Leghorn
hats, black, grey, or any other that fancy may dictate, and by the means made
use of in the practice of dying, must be dressed in the usual way that is adopted
in the manufacture of calicoes, and it must then be very carefully callendered,
which will make it very smooth upon its surface, and also close the fabric very
advantageously for this purpose, and fit it to imbibe in an equal manner the com-
position that is to render it impervious to water. This composition is made of
the following ingredients:-One ounce of good white hard curd soap, made
with mineral alkali, or, as it is commonly called, sodo; dissolve this in a pint of
boiling mater, and when the heat is reduced to about seventy degrees of
Reaumur, then add one pint of alcohol, previously heated to thirty-six degrees
of the same scale. When these ingredients are duly incorporated, immerse the
cotton or other fabric therein, and when it is thoroughly soaked, take it out and
hang it up to dry in the air, but without wringing. When the woven fabric so
treated is thoroughly dry it must be immersed in a second liquid or bath, com-
posed of the following ingredients:-Five pennyweight of muriate of lime,
one pint of river water, and one pint of alcohol. The prepared cotton
or other woven fabric, previously treated as described above, must be
immersed and kept in this liquid or bath for about fifteen minutes, and being
removed without wringing, must be rinsed in cold water and dried in the air,
as before directed. It must be evident to every person conversant with the
principles of chemistry, that this bath or liquid will have the effect of decom-
posing the soap by extracting the alkali or soda, leaving the woven fabric
charged with the sebacic or fatty part of the soap, rendered in a slight degree
resinous, and thereby capable of solution in alcohol. When twilled cotton of
the ordinary thickness is used, it will be necessary to glue or cement two such
webs or fabrics together, in order to obtain sufficient substance or thickness, as
a single webb of such twilled cotton would be too thin and pliant for the pur-
pose. The liquid glue or cement which I use for uniting or gluing the two webbs
together so as to increase their thickness, is made in the following manner :-
Four ounces and an half of isinglass, or any other suitable gelatinous substance

page_text: dissolved in one pint of cold water, four ounces of starch dissolved in half a
pint of cold water (that made from potatoes is preferable), two ounces and one
quarter of gum arabic dissolved in half a pint of water. When each has been
separately dissolved, mix the whole well together, and use as much water as
will make up three pints, and also one pint of alcohol, which will make a
sufficient quantity to cement the whole of the woven fabric for twelve bonnets
or hats. The best method of uniting the two webbs or pieces of cotton is to
spread the above liquid glue or cement over one side of each piece, and then
lay the two sides so prepared together and press them very close, so as to leave
them as smooth and even as possible. Where greater substance may be
required, three webbs or picces of cotton may be united by the same means,
which will make an article more suitable for very large hats or other purposes
where a stouter material is requisite. As cach hat or bonnet is constructed of
three distinct pieces or parts, namely, the brim or rim, the sides, and the top or
crown, each piece is embossed or figured with an imitation of the plaiting and
sewing, as seen upon the surface of the real Leghorn hats and bonnets, by the
following means-A brass plate, rather larger than the diameter of the crown,
and about three cighths of an inch thick, is engraved on one side with the figuro
or pattern of the real Leghorn, the spiral form of the sewing of the platt being
truly represented, and also an imitation of the plaiting as it appears on the
external surface. When the piece prepared for a crown is laid upon this plate,
the two are placed under a powerful fly press, by which means one side of the
cotton will be beautifully embossed with the design engraved upon the plate.
The pattern or design for impressing the piece which is to form the sides is
engraved upon a brass roller, and a similar roller made of hard wood, having
a steel axis, is covered with fine white pasteboard, which being pressed against
the engraved roller by adjusting screws, properly placed in the frame of the
rollers, will cause it to take the patern or figure of the engraved roller upon
the surface of the pasteboard, and become therchy a species of male and
female tool, the prominent parts of the pasteboard roller entering and fitting
the corresponding indentations engraved or chased upon the brass roller. The
piece intended for the sides of a hat or bonnet must be passed through or
between these rollers, by which means it will be embossed with the engraved
patern, in which stote it will be fit to be joined in the way hereafter described.
Each piece being dry, or in the slightest degree damp when the im-
pression is made upon its surface. As the brim or fronts of Leghorn hats and
bonnets are frequently worn without any lining or covering of silk, it is necessary,
in order to keep up the perfect imitation, that this part should receive a double
impression or embossing, so as to present the same appearance to the eye on

page_text: either side. To effect this, two plates are engraved, each having the same
patern engraved upon them, being in fact perfect fac-similes of each other, and
also perfectly coincident and concentric, being retained in that position by
steady pins or other similar means. Between these plates the piece of pre-
pared cotton is laid very smooth and even, and the whole are passed between
the rollers of a flatting mill, when, sufficient pressure being applied, the desired
embossing will be produced on both sides in the most beautiful manner. The
method of joining the three parts, namely the brim, the sides, and the crown,
is as follows:-The piece that is prepared for the sides must have its two ends
cut perfectly straight, for which purpose a very perfect straight-edge and a very
sharp knife should be used when the two ends so prepared aro brought together
(taking care that the embossed figure or patern is made to coincide). A piece
of silk or linen is covered on one side with the glue or cement above described,
and laid very smoothly over the joint, which will unite the two ends very per-
fectly, and when dry it will be ready to have the crown joined to it. The brass
plate, which is engraved for embossing the crown, has a circular groove formed
in it around the extremity of the engraved part, into which a small portion of
the cotton fabric is pressed, by which means a small rim is turned up, and to
which the top of the sides are united by the glue or cement, after which they
are strengthened by a band of silk or linen, glued over the joining on the inside.
The rim or brim is united to the sides by similar means, a rim being turned
upon the brim, which enters the lower part of the sides, and to which the sides
are glued. This completes the hat or bonnet, which will be found elegant in
its appearance, very light in point of weight, and most perfectly impervious to
water. It may be necessary to observe, that my improved hats and bonnets
may be constructed of any number of pieces, by joining them in the manner I
have described, by which means any shape or form may be obtained that
fashion dictates.
And I hereby declare, that my Invention consists in preparing or charging
the fabric or materials, of which my improved hats and bonnets are made, in
the manner and by the means I have described, by the application of which
such hats or bonnets are rendered impervious to water, and capable of receiving
and retaining such an embossed patern or figure as shall, by its similarity, be
an imitation of the real Leghorn straw hats and bonnets.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Daninos, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-ninc.
ALEXANDER (L.S.) DANINOS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1829, the aforesaid Alexander Daninos came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.