IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING HATS OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
Sealed the 25th March 1856, and dated the 1st October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st October 1855.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand,
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING HATS OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," a
communication, to be as follows; and consists in making the hat or other
covering for the head to open at its side or sides, by dividing the body thereof
and connecting and arranging the seperated portions of the body, so that the
one portion may be adjusted to form an open or close connection with the
other portion of the body; the divided body at the junction of the two por-
tions to be provided with a gimp guiding strip, or reticulated or perforated
telescopic lining or casing, arranged for operation in connection with the
moveable section of the body. In the interior of the hat are placed extension
slides, so that when it is required to open or rise the upper portion of the hat
for ventilation, the slides are moved as far as requisite, and held in that posi-
tion by set screws, and when thus adjusted, and the said lining or strip exposed,
the air rushes through its perforations and ventilates the head. When applied
to bonnets, the slides will be placed horizontal or oblique, and the crown portion
of the bonnet will move or be adjustable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 29th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my execu
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENTILATING HATS OR OTHER COVERINGS FOR
THE HEAD," a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edonard Loradoux Bellford,
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:-
This Invention has reference to that description of ventilating hats in which
the crown is made moveable, so as either to be closed or opened at pleasure.
The hats heretofore constructed on this principle had the crown alone moveable,
and the crown, being unsupported by the body of the hat, was easily bent or
damaged at its edges, so as to present an unsightly appearance; besides which,
in hats with high crowns the currents of air pass through the opening at a
distance above the head, and there are no means of deflecting them downwards
to cool the head.
This Invention consists, firstly, in constructing the hat to open at its sides

page_text: at some distance from the crown, thus forming the body in two parts, one of
which is connected permanently with the crown, and the other part with the
brim, or lower or front portion of the hat, in such a manner that the crown
portion of the body may be adjusted to form an open or close communication
with the lower or front portion of the body.
It consists, secondly, in attaching to either one of such divided portions of
the body an enclosed or surrounding strip of gimp, or any other reticulated or
perforated material, in such a manner as to form a telescopic fitting to the
body at its division or opening that may serve as a guide to the moveable
portion of the body. This latter feature of the Invention gives an unbroken
and ornamental appearance to the hat when opened to ventilate; also conceals
the sliding devices that connect the crown portion and lower or front portion
of the hat; likewise serves to break and distribute the breeze playing through.
In such a construction of the hat, the defects spoken of, in the hat having the
crown only moveable, are obviated; the crown is prevented from warping or
twisting or being damaged at its edges by being firmly connected with the
body or sides of the hat; and a current of cooling air is introduced immediately
above the head, and is deflected downwards upon the head by the sides of the
crown portion of the body.
In the accompanying Drawings, which illustrate this Invention, Fig. 1 is an
external side view of a straw hat constructed according to the Invention. In
this view it is shewn closed up, and not intended to be ventilating. Fig. 2 is
another external view, showing the same arranged for ventilating; Fig. 3 is a
central section of the same; and Figs. 4 and 5 are detached views of the
extension slides for adjusting the two parts of the hat. Similar letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A represents a straw hat made in two or more parts B, C; D is a piece of
open straw work, gimp, india-rubber, or other open ventilating material, placed
inside the hat opposite the division line or ventilating space between the two
sections, as shewn, it being attached to the upper or crown portion B, and free
from the lower portion C. E, E, E, represent extension slides which unite the
two sections of the hat, and serve for adjusting the upper or crown portion as
desirable. These slides are made in two parts a, b, and applied on the inside
of the hat, as shown in Fig. 3. The part a is attached fast to the lower
portion C of the hat, and the part 6, which slides up and down on a, and serves
for adjusting the upper or crown portion B of the hat, is attached fast to the
latter portion, and held in place when raised by a set screw F, and when
lowered a certain distance is prevented from descending farther by a stop a¹.
By interposing the strip of open straw, gimp, or perforated lining, the hat is

page_text: rendered capable of ventilation, and at the same time presents at a distance an
unbroken appearance; the slides are also hid from sight.
In the Drawing I have only represented the improvement applied to a straw
hat, whereas in practice I intend to employ it on all kinds of hats, caps, &
bonnets to which it may be applied with utility and convenience. When it is
applied to bonnets, the slides of course will be placed horizontal or oblique,
instead of being placed vertically, and the crown portion of the bonnet will
move or be adjustable. To adjust the crown portion of the body of the hat in
order to ventilate the head, from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position
shown in Fig. 2 in black, and in dotted lines in Fig. 3, it is necessary to loosen
the set screws, move the slides up from the position shown in plain line in
Fig. 3 to the position shown in dotted lines, and then tighten the screws.
When the crown portion of the body of the hat is thus adjusted, an open space
is formed all round the hat, & the reticulated lining or gimp strip exposed,
In order to
and air rushes through its perforations & ventilates the head.
lecrease the quantity of air admitted, it is only necessary to loosen the set
screws, move down the slides the required distance, and then tighten the
screws.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be carried into effect, what I wish to claim and secure by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, making the hat or other covering for the head to open at its side or
sides, by dividing the body thereof, & connecting and arranging the seperated
portions of the body so that the one portion may be adjusted to form an open
or close connection with the other portion of the body, substantially as herein
specified.
Second, providing the divided body at the junction of the two portions with
a gimp guiding strip, or reticulated or perforated telescopic lining or casing D,
arranged for operation in connection with the movable section of the body,
essentially as & for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand & seal, this Eighteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)