IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAPPED HATS AND IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Giles Atherton of Stockport in the County of Chester,
Hat Manufacturer for an invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF NAPPED HATS AND IN APPARATUS FOR USE IN SUCH MANUFACTURE Partly
a communication from George Yule of Newark, New Jersey in the United
States of America.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Giles Atherton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th March 1882.
GILES ATHERTON of Stockport in the County of Chester, Hat Manufacturer,
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAPPED HATS AND IN APPARATUS FOR
"
USE IN SUCH MANUFACTURE [Partly a communication from George Yule of
Newark, New Jersey in the United States of America.]
The
The Invention relates in the first place to means for removing the cotton from
the naps of hat bodies. The hat bodies are held by clamps which are attached to
a rocking shaft which when vibrated shakes the hat bodies in hot water.
preferred form of clamp consists principally of an arm which is secured to the
shaft and of a lever which is jointed to the said arm. The jaws of the clamp can
be opened by pressing upon the said lever and be closed by a spring or they may
be opened by means of a spring and be locked by means of a cam or equivalent
appliance or a sliding rod provided with wedges or a cam shaft may be arranged
to open or close all the clamps simultaneously. The shaft is arranged to be turned
to raise the hat bodies out of the water and to be vibrated or reciprocated endwise
by means of an excentric or crank upon a driving shaft or by suitable means so as
to shake the hat bodies when they are immersed in the water. In some or in all
cases a plank is fitted to move upon rollers or to slide inwards to receive the hat
bodies. The Invention relates in the next place to the forming of the napping bats
and to the sticking" or attachment of the same to the bodies. The bat is
formed in the interior of a perforated or pervious cone and the hat body is placed
within the cone containing the bat so formed and the "sticking" is effected whilst

page_text: the two are within the cone. The invention consists in the third place of
apparatus for carrying into effect the said formation and sticking of napping bats.
In the formation of a bat the pervious cone is placed within a casing upon a table
which may or may not be revolvable the mouth of the cone being immediately
below the mouth of a delivery trunk which conveys the fur blast into the cone or
the said cone is brought by a movement below the said trunk or the trunk by a
movement is brought above the cone. Air is exhausted from within the said
casing. When the cone is lined to a suitable degree with nap the cone is removed
from the table and the hat body is placed within the bat which lines the cone and
a conical rubber is placed within the body and is oscillated or vibrated so as to
rub the body to cause the "sticking" of the bat thereto. As the conical rubber
has a tendency to operate less upon the tip of the body than upon other parts it is
preferred that the tip of the rubber shall have more movement imparted to it than
the main body of the cone. In one arrangement the said tip is formed upon or
attached to a shaft which passes through the centre of the cone and the two parts
are provided with separate levers or handles. In some cases the rubber is made
less in its greatest diameter than the inside of the hat body so that it can be caused
at times to bear upon the tip alone or to a greater extent than upon the other
parts of the body. The said conical rubber may be covered with felt, caoutchouc
or other yielding material, or be formed of such material. In a machine for
effecting the operation the hollow cone is mounted upon a table which can be
raised and lowered by means of a treadle or by suitable means and the conical
rubber is carried by a standard in which is or are a bearing or bearings for the
shaft of the rubber or the said rubber may be arranged to be raised and lowered
instead of the hollow cone. The shaft of the tip of the rubber passes through the
hollow shaft of the main part of the rubber and lever arms are attached to both
shafts the arm upon the inner shaft being shorter than the other arm. A crank
reciprocates a rod or part which is connected with both arms so that a greater
movement is imparted to the arm upon the inner shaft by reason of the shortness
of the said arm. More than one rubber may be actuated by one reciprocating rod
or part. This method of imparting the movements to the rubber may be varied.
The process is facilitated by the employment of heat which may be derived from
a gas stove or from gas burners arranged below the hollow cone or be otherwise
derived or steam may be used instead of dry heat. If preferred the hollow cone
might be vibrated with or without vibration of the rubber or of the main body of
The hat body after having been placed within the bat may be
simply pressed into and against it sufficiently to enable the two to adhere to such
an extent as that they may be removed together from the hollow cone the "sticking'
operation being afterwards completed in any suitable manner.
the same.
"

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Giles Atherton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th September 1882.
GILES ATHERTON of Stockport in the County of Chester, Hat Manufacturer
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF NAPPED HATS AND IN APPARATUS FOR
USE IN SUCH MANUFACTURE [Partly a communication from George Yule, of
Newark, New Jersey in the United States of America.]
"
The Invention relates in the first place to means for removing the cotton from
the
naps of hat bodies. The hat bodies are held by clamps which are attached to
a rocking shaft which when vibrated shakes the hat bodies in hot water.
The
preferred form of clamp consists principally of an arm which is secured to the
shaft and of a lever which is jointed to the said arm. The jaws of the clamp can
be opened by pressing upon the said lever and be closed by a spring or may be
opened by means of a spring and be locked by means of a cam or equivalent
appliance or a sliding rod provided with wedges or a cam shaft may be arranged
to open or close all the clamps simultaneously. The shaft is arranged to be turned
to raise the hat bodies out of the water and to be vibrated or reciprocated end wise
by means of an excentric or crank upon a driving shaft or by suitable means so as
to shake the hat bodies when they are immersed in the water. In some or in all
cases a plank is fitted to move upon rollers or to slide inwards to receive the hat
bodies. The Invention relates in the next place to the forming of the napping bats
and to the sticking or attachment of the same to the bodies. The bat is formed in
the interior of a perforated or pervious cone and the hat body is placed within the
cone containing the bat so formed and the sticking is effected whilst the two are
within the cone. The Invention consists in the third place of apparatus for
carrying into effect the said formation and the sticking of napping bats. In the
formation of a bat the pervious cone is placed within a casing upon a table which
may or may not be revolvable the mouth of the cone being immediately below the
mouth of a delivery trunk which conveys the fur blast into the cone. The sticking
is effected by ordinary or suitable means or in the following manner. When the
cone is lined to a suitable degree with nap the hat body is placed within the bat
which lines the cone and the cone is removed from the table and a conical rubber
is placed within the body and is oscillated or vibrated so as to rub the body to
cause the sticking of the bat thereto. I also effect the sticking of the bat to the
body by mechanical arrangements which will be described hereinafter.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood I have attached
hereunto two sheets of drawings to which I will refer hereinafter. The drawings
in sheet 1 are illustrative of the first part of my Invention. Fig: 1 made to a
scale of about one and a half inches to the foot representing an end elevation
Fig 2 a plan and Fig: 3 a vertical cross section on the line A in Fig: 2. In the
said Figs a is a cistern to contain hot water and is sustained by suitable feet b.
To the ends of this cistern are secured standards c, c in which is mounted a shaft d
which carries a number of shaking clamps e. One of these clamps is represented
on a larger scale by Fig: 4 wherein e is an arm which is formed at one end to fit
upon the shaft & and is secured thereto by means of a screw e¹ or by other suitable
means. To the said arm is jointed a lever e² and the ends es of the arm and lover
are formed to act as a pair of nipping jaws. In the example the tops of the said
jaws are provided with envelopes of vulcanised caoutchouc or other suitable
material. A spring e of caoutchouc or any other suitable spring by forcing apart
the arm and lever causes the tips e³ of the jaws to hold a hat body when it is

page_text: interposed between the jaws. The jaws can be readily opened to insert a hat body
by grasping the arin and lever in the hand. Upon one end of the shaft d is fixed
a slotted lever f which is connected by a rod g with the stud or pin of a crank
disc h which is secured to a driving shaft i. The said driving shaft is mounted in
bearings formed in or carried by the feet b and is provided with fast and loose strap
pullies whereby the said shaft is actuated and by means of the crank disc and
connecting rod imparts a rocking or vibrating movement to the shaft d. The
extent of the said movement can be varied by shifting the stud upon which the
upper end of the rod g is mounted within the slot in the lever f. The said lever is
secured to the shaft by means of a hand screw k which can be loosened in order
that the shaft d may be turned in its bearings by means of the handle l. One side
of the cistern a is provided with a fixed plank m and the other side is provided
with a sliding plank n. This latter is mounted in slides or guides and is carried by
rollers o in order that it can be easily pushed inwards or withdrawn outwards. The
manner in which the machine is used may be described as follows. The plank n is
pushed inwards so as to extend over the water in the cistern to some extent. In Fig: 2
the plank is broken so as to appear in two positions, one part being as when
pushed in and the other as when withdrawn. A number of that bodies corre-
sponding to the number of clamps that is to say in the example six are placed upon
the table and the tips or cones are inserted between the jaws of the clamps as
seen in Fig 3 and in the upper part of Fig: 2. The table is then withdrawn and
the shaft is turned by means of the handle or is allowed to turn to lower the
hat bodies into the water as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig: 3. The screw k
is then turned to secure the lever f to the shaft and the driving shaft is set in
motion whereby the hat bodies are quickly shaken to and fro in the water which
is heated by steam or by other suitable means. This agitation of the hat bodies
in the water has the effect of loosening and discharging the cotton the operation
being quite as effectual and at the same time more economical and expeditious
than the ordinary method of dipping in hot water and beating with rods.
the operation is completed the screw k is slackened and the shaft d is turned to
lift the bodies out of the water the plank n being pushed inwards to receive them
when they are released by pressing upon the levers e². The clamps can be
maintained in the positions convenient for the removal of the hat bodies and the
replacing with others by tightening the screw k. The forms of the clamps and
the method of opening and closing the same may be greatly varied. Figs 5 and 6
show an arrangement for opening and closing all the clamps simultaneously. In
this example the upper part of each lever e' is acted upon by means of a sliding
wedge bar o' which is formed with wedges to act upon all the clamps. One end of
the said bar is screwed and is provided with a nut-wheel p which when turned
in one direction draws the bar to tighten all the elamps and when turned in the
other direction moves the bar to release the hat bodies. A machine may have
only one clamp or two or any suitable number of clamps. The arrangements for
vibrating the shaft d may be varied and also if preferred the said shaft may have
an end wise to and fro sliding movement or the clamps may be secured to or be
formed upon a bar or frame which has a quick to and fro sliding or reciprocating
movement imparted to it.
When
The sliding plank n is more particularly required when the clamps are all
opened and closed at once and if not considered to be necessary in other cases or
in any case may be dispensed with or a fixed plank may take its place. The
drawings in sheet 2 are illustrative of the remaining parts of my Invention. Fig: 7
is a sectional elevation of a machine for forming napping bats when carrying into
effect the second part of my Invention. In the said Fig: q is an inverted hollow
cone which is perforated or pervious to air and is sustained by an outer casing
which is mounted upon a revolving table 8. In the example the lower edge of
the said casing drops into a circular groove in the face of the table but I may
dispense with this groove. Openings in the table communicate with the interior
of a chamber t from which the air is exhausted by means of a fan or by suitable

page_text: means. The said table is mounted upon the upper end of a shaft and suitable
arrangements are provided for revolving the said table and with it the hollow
cone. In the example a shaft u is provided with a bevel pinion which engages
with a wheel secured to the table. Above the open end of the hollow cone is the
delivery mouth of a trunk v which conveys a fur blast which is produced by any
ordinary or. suitable means. In the Figure a travelling apron w feeds the fur to a
revolving " picker" roll x which delivers the fur into the trunk which conveys it
into the hollow cone and owing to the exhaustion of the air from within the outer
casing the fur is caused to line the inner surface of the cone or so much of it as is
pervious according to the required form and dimensions of the bat. An even layer
of the fur and cotton is more readily obtained on the inner surface of the hollow
cone than on the outer surface of the ordinary cone and a better tip is obtained in
consequence of the fur and cotton tending towards the bottom of the cone. There
is also an advantage in having the whole of the cone surface exposed to the fur blast
at once. The bat is less liable to be damaged when carried from one place to
another within the cone than when it is on the ouside of a cone. This part of my
Invention is attended with other advantages which it is not necessary to mention
herein. As the fur nap shrinks upon the hat body during the sticking process
it is advisable to make the nap a little longer than the said body. The machine
may be greatly varied in its details so long as the fur blast is conveyed into the
hollow cone which is surrounded by an outer casing from which air is exhausted.
I may make the trunk v movable so that it can be brought over the cone. The cone
may or may not be removable from its casing. When the cone is sufficiently lined
it is removed from the table and the hat body is placed within the cone and as a
consequence within the bat or fur lining of the cone and the hat body is pressed and
rubbed or vibrated in contact with the nap until the sticking is effected or until
the body and bat can be removed together from the cone in cases wherein the
sticking is completed after such removal. Fig: 8 illustrates one of the methods
which I adopt to effect the complete or partial sticking within the cone. A conical
rubber y is placed within the hat body and is pressed downwards and at the same
time is vibrated or partly rotated to and fro within the hat body so as to act in
succession upon all parts of the body until the sticking is effected completely or
sufficiently to admit of the removal of the hat and body from the cone. It will be
seen that the cone does not fit the hat body so as to touch it all round at once.
When the cone is made to fit the hat body or to touch all round the larger end of
the cone has a greater action than the smaller end so that the bat does not adhere
well at the top of the hat body. To remedy this defect I in some cases make the
rubbing cone in two or more parts which have independant action as seen in Fig: 9
wherein the tip z of the cone is actuated by a shaft which passes through the cone
and its shaft. This is more particularly necessary when the conical rubber is
mechanically actuated and vibrates on a fixed axis as in the example illustrated by
Figs 10 and 11 which represent a machine which I employ for effecting the sticking
operation. In the said Figs the hollow cone q is carried by a hollow table or support a
which can be moved upwards by means of a treadle b. The said hollow cone in the
example is supposed to be enclosed within the outer casing r seen in Fig: 7 but if
preferred the said cone may be made to lift out of the casing r and be placed in a
casing or holder fixed on the said table or forming a part thereof. Within the said
table is placed an ordinary gas burner c made on the Bunsen principle the said
burner being fed with gas by means of a suitable pipe d. The rubbing cone y is
separately represented in section in Fig: 9. The said cone is formed in two parts
y and 2. The part y is provided with a hollow shaft d which is fitted to vibrate in
a bearing formed in the upper part of a standard e. The part z is provided with a
shaft which passes through the shaft d. Levers ƒ and g are secured to the two shafts
the lever being shorter than the lever g. A bar h is fitted to slide in a straight
line in bearings and carries studs which engage with the two levers. The said bar
is caused to reciprocate by means of a crank shaft'i which is driven by means of a
strap and by reason of the difference in the lengths of the levers the end of the

page_text: rubber is vibrated through a larger portion of a complete revolution than the upper
part y. I do not confine myself to this arrangement for vibrating the two parts of
the cone as any suitable means may be employed for the purpose. By extending
the bar h two or more rubbing cones might be operated simultaneously. I prefer
to cover the rubbing cone or the parts y and z of the said cone with an elastic
material such as vulcanised caoutchouc or felt in order that a surface which will
yield and will better take hold of the hat body may be obtained. To operate with
the machine the hollow cone containing the nap bat and hat body are raised by
acting upon the treadle until the vibrating conical rubber presses the body and bat
together. The vibrating rubbing action of the cone y aided by dry beat from the
gas flame effects the sticking of the nap bat to the body. The forms and details of
the machine may be varied so long as the vibrating rubbing action aided by heat
is employed. The hollow cone might be stationary and the rubber y be arranged
to descend into it or the hollow cone might vibrate instead of the inner cone or both
might vibrate. Also the rubber y might be made in one piece or in more than two
pieces or parts.
Fig: 12-illustrates one of the modifications which may be made in the sticking
machine. In this example the inner cone is stationary and a hollow vibrating cone
is used. The nap bat and hat body are supported by the cone k which is arranged
to be raised as in the case of the hollow cone in the other machine. The rubber /
is preferably lined with a yielding substance or material and is formed in two
parts and the latter part being provided with a spindle which passes through
the shaft m of the cone / the two parts being worked by levers n, o as in the other
machine or being otherwise suitably actuated. The nap bats and the hat bodies
may be pressed and slightly rubbed together in a hollow forming cone until they
can be lifted out and be placed upon the cone k for the sticking to be completed.
In any case I may substitute a heating iron or a charcoal stove or other heating
appliance for the gas burner or may use ordinary or superbeated steam for the
same purpose. I do not confine the use of these machines or of modifications of
such machines or of the appliances represented in Fig: 8 to the sticking of naps
formed in the manner described when referring to Fig 1 as they may be used in
the sticking of bats formed in any suitable manner and are such machines and
appliances as I should use when carrying into effect an Invention which I
communicated to Edward Kenworthy Dutton of Manchester who obtained the
grant of Letters Patent No. 718 of this current year for such Invention.
By the employment of my Invention the sticking can be very expeditiously
effected with less requirement for skilled labour than in the case of the ordinary
process and a quantity of hats can be stored for any length of time in a dry state
with the naps "stuck on."
"
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of my said Invention and
the manner in which and the means whereby I carry the same into practical effect
I would have it to be understood that I claim :-
First the apparatus or modifications thereof substantially as and for the purpose
set forth and indicated herein before and in and by Figs 1 to 6 of the accompanying
drawings.
Secondly removing the cotton from the fur of napped hat bodies by shaking
such bodies in hot water by mechanical means substantially as set forth.
Thirdly the vibrating shaft provided with clamps or holders for shaking napped
hat bodies in hot water substantially as and for the purposes set forth and
indicated.
Fourthly arranging for the vibrating shaft to be disengaged from the actuating
mechanism and to be turned in its bearings by hand for the purpose set forth.
Fifthly the clamp substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated
with reference to Fig: 4 of the drawings.
Sixthly the employment of a wedge bar or an equivalent appliance for
simultaneously opening and closing a number of clamps or hat body holders
substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.

page_text: Seventhly the method of forming nap bats within a hollow cone substantially
as set forth and indicated herein before, with reference to Fig: 7 of the accom-
panying drawings.
Eighthly conveying fur into a hollow pervious cone so as to form an interior
lining to the cone for the purpose set forth:
Ninthly forming a nap bat within a hollow cone and effecting the sticking of
the bat to a hat body within the said cone before removal therefrom substantially
as set forth and indicated.
Tenthly the method of and appliances for sticking nap bats to hat bodies
substantially as set forth when referring to Fig: 8 of the accompanying drawings.
Eleventhly sticking nap bats to hat bodies by pressing and rubbing between the
outer surface of one conical appliance and the inner surface of another substantially
as set forth and indicated.
Twelfthly the machines or modifications thereof substantially as and for the
purpose set forth and indicated with reference to Figs 9 to 12 of the drawings.
Thirteenthly the employment for the purpose set forth of a cone in two or more
parts arranged to be vibrated differentially substantially as set forth.
Fourteenthly A heated cone which can be moved towards a cone vibrating upon
its axis or of a cone in two or more parts having differential vibrating movements
upon a common axis the nap bat and hat body being pressed and rubbed between
the two cones substantially as and for the purpose set forth and indicated.
And lastly the arrangements for imparting differential vibrating movements to
the two parts of a rubbing cone substantially as and for the purpose set forth
and indicated herein before and in Figs 9 to 12 of the drawings.
In witness whereof I the said Giles Atherton have hereunto set my hand
and seal this fifth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty-two
GILES ATHERTON. (L.S.)