APPARATUS FOR GOFFERING FELT OR CLOTH HATS OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Gedge, of the Firm of John Gedge
& Son, No. 11, Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "APPARATUS FOR GOFFERING FELT OR
CLOTH HATS OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES."-
_ A communication from
abroad by François Munier, fils, of Quillan, Department of the Aube,
France, Hat Manufacturer.
-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Gedge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th September 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge & Son, No. 11,
Wellington Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "APPARATUS FOR GOFFERING
FELT OR CLOTH HATS OR OTHER ANALAGOUS ARTICLES," communicated to me from
abroad by Francois Munier, fils, of Quillan, Department of the Aube, France,
Hat Manufacturer, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to goffer felt hats and other analagous
articles by one blow or impression, no matter of what thickness the felt or
other substance may be. The apparatus is composed of a press, the screw of
which supports or works on a bell B (as shewn in the accompanying Drawing).
A mould A is placed upon a metal plate; over this mould is placed the felt
or other material to be operated upon; the handle is then turned, the screw
worked with sufficient force (steam may be used, if desired); the result is a
goffered hat, as at A', B', of the Drawing. The mould A, which is fixed, is
hollow, and heated by steam.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Gedge in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD GEDGE, of the Firm of John Gedge and Son, No. 11, Wellington
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Gedge, Her special licence that I, the
said William Edward Gedge, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Edward Gedge, 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 "APPARATUS FOR GOFFERING FELT OR CLOTH
HATS OR OTHER ANALOGOUS ARTICLES," (a communication to me from abroad by
François Munier, fils, of Quillan, Department of the Aube, France, Hat
Manufacturer,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Edward Gedge, 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 Edward Gedge, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and forming part of this my Specification, and in which the letter A denotes a
corrugated or grooved metal shape or form; B, a metal bell or cover; B',
interior of same; and C, mechanism for pressing the bell or cover upon the
form or shape.
This Invention consists essentially in a method of goffering at once the whole
of a hat or other article of felt or other material both exteriorly and interiorly,
and with exactitude and economy. In the first place, the articles to be goffered

page_text: must be prepared for the operation (such preparation changing with the
material); they are then submitted to pressure in the following manner :-
The form A is heated by steam or otherwise; the article or material to be
goffered is then placed upon it, and the bell or cover B superposed. The press
screw shewn at C is then turned, compressing the felt or other material
between the bell and the heated form as strongly and as long as may be
deemed necessary to complete the goffering. Several of these apparatuses may
be coupled together, and thus multiply the production; and although the bell
and form usually bear the same design this is not absolute, and the designs
may be different.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and a means of
carrying it into practical effect, I would have it understood that I do not con-
fine myself to the precise apparatus herein described and shewn in the Drawing,
as another press may be substituted, and the bell and form and the designs
thereupon are necessarily infinitely variable; but I claim as of my Invention
goffering or imprinting designs upon felt or cloth hats or other analogous
articles by pressure over a heated form, essentially as herein-before described
and shewn in the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Gedge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
JOHN GEDGE,
11, Wellington Street, Strand,
Patent Agent.
W. E. GEDGE. (L.S.)