A NEW AND IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, BONNETS. AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES.
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Léonard Barbat, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris,
France, and of 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, for the Invention of
"A NEW AND IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS,
BONNETS. AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES.'
Sealed the 27th June 1862, and dated the 20th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Léonard Barbat at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th January 1862.
I, LÉONARD BARBAT, of 2, Rue Ste. Appoline, Paris, France, and of 4,
South Street, Finsbury, London, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED FABRIC APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE
OF HATS, BONNETS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in the employment of a fabric composed of a
vegetable substance or hair, and animal hair, as herein-after stated, for
making hats, bonnets for men, women, and children; caps and head cover-
ings of every required kind and form; cigar cases, money holders, work bags,
slippers, and other articles of use, and for the toilet.
This fabric may be wove on a warp of cotton, silk, or other suitable material,
and the woof formed of animal hair alternately with vegetable hair, such as
that called lupis, obtained from the leaves of the abaca, the aloes, or from the
leaves of any other suitable plant. This fabric may be made on the ordinary
or jacquart loom.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Léonard Barbat in the 'Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD
BARBAT, of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris, France, and of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Léonard Barbat, Her special licence that I, the said Léonard
Barbat, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Léonard Barbat, 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 of "A NEW AND IMPROVED FABRIC
APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, BONNETS, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Léonard Barbat, 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 Léonard Barbat, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
--
My Invention consists in the employment for the manufacture of hats and
coverings for the head of different kinds, and chiefly of fancy hats, of a fabric
having its warp and weft of horsehair, or other animal hair of a similar
nature only, or of the said animal hair having either its warp or weft of silk,
cotton, or other material combined with fabrics composed of other materials.
The fabric may also be made of animal hair, and vegetable hair or fibre
alternately, or mixed. (Vegetable hair is obtained from the leaves of the
lupis, the abaca, aloes, and other plants furnishing an analogous material.)
Thus I make head coverings either with a fabric having its warp and weft

page_text: wholly of animal hair, or with its weft of hair and its warp of various
materials, or of animal and vegetable hair, and lined with a fabric of animal
and vegetable hair alternately, or with one of these hair fabrics lined with a
fabric of silk or other suitable material. This animal and vegetable hair may
be dyed so as to permit of producing stripes and designs of various forms and
kinds. I can also render available the flexible property of horsehair to make
head coverings, hats, and caps with a material made of horsehair, covered
with a fabric of any kind or material, lined internally with a fabric of silk or
other material; the three stuffs being united by paste or by stitches made by
the hand, or by the sewing machine.
This new kind of hat and head covering may be made of various forms by
giving to the fabrics to form the bottom the required shape, and applying
thereto a brim of the required breadth, covered at the upper part with the
same kind of material as the exterior of the hat, and at the under part with a
similar or different material: Lastly, these head coverings are furnished with
a ribbon, and edged as usual.
This improved manufacture of fancy hats permits of making them of a
rigid or yielding form according to requirement, and affords the means of
giving to such hats the lightness and elasticity necessary to cause them to
retake their original form after they have been crushed or knocked in any way,
and also allowing air to circulate around the head. The fabric may be made
in the ordinary or jacquard loom.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what I
claim is,
First, the employment of horsehair and animal hair, as aforesaid, alone or
combined, for the manufacture of a fabric suitable for hats and other head
coverings, in the manner herein-before described.
.
Secondly, the employment of a fabric composed of animal and vegetable
bair alternately, for the manufacture of hats and other head coverings, either
for forming the top or the interior of such head coverings, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Léonard Barbat, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
L. BARBAT.
L.S.)