IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS, BONNETS, HAT BODIES, FANCY BAGS AND BASKETS, AND OTHER ARTICLES WHICH ARE USUALLY MADE OF STRAW."
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antoine Mathot, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS, BONNETS, HAT BODIES, FANCY BAGS AND
BASKETS, AND OTHER ARTICLES WHICH ARE USUALLY MADE OF STRAW."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antoine Mathot at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st December 1877.
"IM-
ANTOINE MATHOT, of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, Manufacturer.
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS, BONNETS, HAT
BODIES, FANCY BAGS AND BASKETS, AND OTHER ARTICLES WHICH ARE USUALLY
MADE OF STRAW."
My Invention has for its object to manufacture hats, caps, bonnets, hat bodies,
fancy bags and baskets, and other articles (which are usually made of straw) from
fibrous substances obtained from the ligneous and filamentous plants belonging to
the family of exotic hemps, the aloe, the alpha, china grass, the leaves of the anana,
among which plants may be classed more particularly the hemps of Mexico known
as sesail, New Zealand flax, or phormium tenax, Manilla hemp, or plants of the
same family from St. Domingo, Madagascar, or other tropical or sub-tropical
regions. By means of these plants I am enabled to obtain a fabric of great strength
and toughness, particularly applicable for the above purposes at a very moderate
price, and greatly superior in quality to any of the fabrics usually made of straw for
analogous purposes.
In carrying out my Invention the ligno-filamentous fibres obtained from the
above plants, or either of them, may be used for the warp and weft of the fabric or
either of them.
When used for the warp the plant should be prepared by crushing and heckling it
so as to lay the fibres straight. The fibres must then be drawn and twisted so as
to form a yarn suitable for use to form a warp for the intended fabric.

page_text: When the fibres are to be used for the weft (which is to be introduced into the
shed) in the ordinary way of weaving by means of a shuttle, they are to be drawn
out so as to form a kind of continuous sliver, around which is to be wound a thin
thread or yarn made either from the same or similar fibres, or from cotton, silk, or
other fibres, the office of the enveloping thread or yarn being to hold the ligno-
filamentous fibres of hemp or analogous plants together in the form of a flat
uniform yarn.
For some purposes it may be found more convenient or suitable to form the
fabric by hand, that is to say, a suitable warp having been provided and the ligno-
filamentous fibres for the weft having been prepared by crushing and heckling the
stalks, the latter may be introduced in lengths by hand into the shed of the warp.
In this case the fibres will not require an enveloping thread.
From what has been said it will be seen that the fibres may be formed into yarns
suitable for weaving either in ordinary looms or in looms in which a shuttle is not
used. As the weft is used in the form of a flat yarn it will cover up and
completely hide the warp threads; these latter may therefore if desired be made
of cotton, linen, or other fibres instead of the ligno-filamentous fibres of hemp.
The yarns may be also used in circular or other knitting machines for the purpose
of producing a tubular or other knitted fabric if desired.
The fabric when made may also be dyed, stained, printed, or it may be orna-
mented by means of embroidering or otherwise; or it may if desired be left in the
natural state of the fibres, that is to say, of the natural colour and suppleness of the
fibres; or it may be stiffened by the application of any gummy or other pre-
parations as is well known.
The fabric may be cut up and made into any desired shape, or it may be made
during weaving or 'manufacture into any special form, such as a hat, cap, bonnet,
or other article.