IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR HARDENING AND FELTING THE BODIES OF HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Vero, of Atherstone, in the County of
Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
HARDENING AND FELTING THE BODIES OF HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR
THE HEAD."
Scaled the 24th August 1869, and dated the 13th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Vero at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th March 1869.
I, CHARLES VERO, of Atherstone, in the County of Warwick, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR HARDENING AND FELTING THE BODIES OF HATS AND OTHER
COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," to be as follows:-
In the Specifications of Patents granted to William Wilson, and dated
respectively the 23rd day of January 1861 and the 18th day of November
1864, is described the hardening of hat bodies by placing the bodies to
be hardened on to a perforated cone of metal covered with felt or cloth,
and by machinery causing another similar cone lined internally to roll
around and press upon the hat body at the same time that steam was

page_text: blown up through the lower perforated cone, which has a rapid recipro-
cating motion given to it. Hat bodies have also for a long time been
hardened by placing them on to a perforated metal cone and causing by
band another metal conc to move to and fro with a right and left
motion around the hat body at the same time that steam was blown up
through the lower cone. By this means the hat body was hardened in
direct contact with metal surfaces.
According to my Invention I cover the acting surfaces of the cones
with fine wire gauze to prevent the fibres spreading out. The cone of
wire gauze for the inner cone upon which the hat body is placed is
woven by hand to the form desired, fresh wires being inserted into it at
intervals as the cone enlarges in diameter. This cone of wire gauze is
placed upon the perforated metal conc, and is firmly bound to it at its
base, or felt or cloth might be placed between the two. The conical
lining of wire gauze for tho upper cone is similarly woven to shape, and
is placed within the metal cone and connected to it both at its base and
apex, being at the base turned over and bound to its exterior, and at the
apex attached by sewing to a small cup of perforated metal similar to
the cup to which the cloth lining hereto-before employed was attached.
After the hat bodies have been to some extent hardened, I also still
further harden them on the flat, the conical bodies being placed together
into a flat form, and several of them having been first steamed arc
placed one above the other between two boards, to which a quick
vibrating to-and-fro motion is communicated, pieces of cloth being
placed between the several hat bodies, and other strips being placed
inside of each of them to prevent the surfaces of the conical hat bodies
from felting together, or a perforated flat metal plate may be substituted
for one or both of the boards, in order that steam may be passed up
through the mass of hat bodies during the jiggering process. In some
cases also in place of employing strips of cloth to place between and
inside of the hat bodies perforated wire gauze may be employed, the flat
surfaces between which the mass of hat bodies is placed may also-be
covered with wire gauze.
Hat bodies after they have been thus or by
other means to some extent hardened, are commonly still further felted
in what is known as a planking machine, the bodies, generally a number
of them together, being tied up in cloths and placed between rollers to
which a revolving motion is imparted. According to my Invention I
employ rollers with numerous corrugations passing transversely around
them, and which rollers are supported on parallel axes, and have both a

page_text: revolving and an endway vibrating to-and-fro motion imparted to them,
the hat bodies either tied up in cloths or merely rolled up and bound
together are placed between three or other number of such rollers which
form a hollow bed to receive them, and the hat bodies are pressed down
on to these rollers by an upper roller, which is by preference carried in a
hinged frame and is drawn downwards by springs or weights. The upper
roller I prefer to corrugate longitudinally, and this roller may also if
desired have an endway to-and-fro motion given to it when the machine
is in operation. This upper roller can be raised and lowered as has
heretofore been proposed to admit of the hat bodies being placed upon
the lower felting rollers and of being taken off therefrom. In some
cases I place small rollers between the felting rollers above mentioned
to prevent tho liat bodies falling out, so that hats may be kept in a roll
without being bound up in cloths.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Vero in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
VERO, of Atherstone, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of March, in tho year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Vero, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles Vero, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Vero, my
exccutors, 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 MACHINERY FOR HARDENING AND FELTING THE BODIES OF
HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Vero, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands

page_text: 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Vero, do hereby declaro
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 thereof, that is to say :-
In the Specification of Patents granted to William Wilson, and
dated respectively the 23rd day of January 1861, and the 18th day of
November 1864, is described the hardening of hat bodies by placing the
bodies to be hardened on to a perforated cone of metal covered with felt
or cloth, and by machinery causing another similar cone lined internally
to roll around and press upon the hat body at the same time that steam
was blown up through the lower perforated conc, which has a rapid
reciprocating motion given to it. Iat bodies have also for a long time
been hardened by placing them on to a perforated metal cone and causing
by hand another metal cone to move to and fro with a right and left
motion around the hat body at the same time that steam was blown up
through the lower cone. By this means the hat body was hardened in
direct contact with metal surfaces.
According to my Invention I cover the acting surfaces of the cones
with fine wire gauze to prevent the fibres spreading out. The cone of
wire gauze for the inner cone upon which the hat body is placed is
woven by hand to the form desired, fresh wires being inserted into it at
intervals as the cone enlarges in diameter. This cone of wire gauze is
placed upon the perforated metal cone, and is firmly bound to it at its
base, or felt or cloth might be placed between the two. The conical
lining of wire gauze for the upper cone is similarly woven to shape, and
is placed within the metal cone and connected to it both at its base and
apex, being at the base turned over and bound to its exterior, and at the
apex attached by sewing to a small cup of perforated metal similar to
the cup to which the cloth lining heretofore employed was attached.
After the hat bodies have been to some extent hardened I also still
further harden them on the flat, the conical bodies being placed together
as is usual into a flat form, and several of them having been first steamed
are placed one above the other between two boards, to which a quick

page_text: vibrating to-and-fro motion is communicated, but in place of pieces of
cloth being placed between the several hat bodies and other strips
being placed inside of each of them to prevent the surfaces of the conical
hat bodies from felting together, as has heretofore been done, I employ
perforated plates of flat metal or wire gauze; the flat surfaces between
which the mass of hat bodies is placed may also similarly be covered
with wire gauze. Perforated flat metal plates may also be substituted
for one or both of the boards in order that steam may be passed up
through the mass of hat bodies during the jiggering process. Hat bodies
after they have been thus or by other means to some extent hardened
are commonly still further felted in what is known as a planking
machine, the bodies, generally a number of them together, being tied up
in cloths and placed between rollers to which a revolving motion is
imparted. According to my Invention I employ rollers with numerous
corrugations passing transversely around them, and which rollers are
supported on parallel axes and have both a revolving and an endway
vibrating to-and-fro motion imparted to them, the hat bodies, either tied
up in cloths or merely rolled up and bound together, are placed between
three or other number of such rollers which form a hollow bed to receive
them, and the hat bodies are pressed down on to these rollers by an
upper roller. The upper roller may, if desired, be corrugated longi-
tudinally, and may also, if desired, have an endway to-and-fro motion
given to it, but this I do not find necessary. This upper roller can be
raised and lowered as has heretofore been proposed to admit of the hat
bodies being placed upon the lower felting rollers and of being taken off
therefrom.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed is shown a machine constructed
as above described. The machine is made double so that a workman
may stand on either side of it. Figure 1 is a transverse section of the
machine;, Figure 2, a front view; and Figure 3, an end view of the
machine.
a, a, a, are the three rollers which form the bed to receive the roll of
hat bodies. I prefer that two only of these rollers should have the
transverse corrugations upon them. The corrugations I prefer to form
of rings of lead nailed on to the rollers, and set slightly at an angle, as
shewn in the Drawing, the projections on one roller being inclined in
one direction, whilst the projections on the other are inclined in the
opposite direction. The front roller is made capable of being drawn

page_text: away from the back roller by means of a treadle, as shewn, to facilitate
the placing of the roll of hat bodies into the machine. 6 is the upper
roller which can be raised by lifting the lever handle c, as shown by the
Drawings. d is the bath or kettle lined with lead which is to contain the
dilute sulphuric acid into which the roll of hat bodies is dipped before
being placed into the rollers. The manner in which an endway and a
revolving motion is given to the three rollers a is clearly shewn by the
Drawing. Each roller has at its end a cam, into the groove of which a
fixed stop enters, and so as the rollers revolve they move endwise to and
fro. In place of all of the rollers being thus moved endwise one roller
only or two of the rollers might have the endway to-and-fro motion
imparted to them.
The giving a to-and-fro endway motion as well as a revolving motion
to the felting rollers is an important part of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Vero, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CHARLES VERO. (L.S.)