IMPROVE MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNETS, CAPE, AND HATS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT in Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London. Patent Agent. for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNETS, CAPE, AND HATS."A communi-
cation from abroad by Jean Gaspard Placide Meyer, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 1st August 1864, and dated the 5th February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 5th February 1864.
1, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNETS, CAPS, AND HATS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention mainly consists in the employment as hereafter described
for the manufacture of bonnets, caps, and hats of thin or openwork fabrics or
tissues of esparto, wood, and other ligneous substances.
Hitherto thin or openwork esparto has only been employed, glued o
attached to muslin, and has not been found to answer. I proceed as follows:-
I take a sheet of thin or openwork esparto, cut it obliquely into strips of equal
DQ21

page_text: breadth, and fold the strips in two lengthwise in such manner that each
strip forms a double or folded edge and an open or cut side. I then com-
mence the stitching of the bonnet in the interior, taking care to turn the open
or cut side inside and the double or folded edge outside. A light and supple
bonnet is thus formed of strips stretched inside and of the appearance of the
finest plaits. I thus manufacture bonnets from thin or openwork woven
esparto instead of from close plaited esparto as heretofore, and am enabled to
perform the stitching inside the bonnet, whereby it is invisible.
The Invention is not limited to esparto, properly so called, but applies to all
fabrics or tissues made of straw, white wood, rice straw, Panama palm, hair,
silk, cotton, whalebone. rushes, paper, leather, aluminium, and other substances.
These substances may be employed alone or combined in different shades.
To simulate checker work I interweave metal threads or wires in the bonnet
front.
The method of manufacture before described refers to bonnets; for hats and
caps it is necessary to lengthen the strips before stitching them so as to
obtain strips sufficiently long to go round the hat without the appearance of a
junction.
To impart greater durability to articles made from openwork fabrics of
esparto or formed of any of the various materials or substances above men-
tioned, I cover the materials in a loom, or mechanically before weaving them,
with silk, cotton, flax, wool, or other permeable or impermeable textile
material; I then weave the materials thus covered, and obtain an openwork
fabric formed of threads of common material covered in any desired shade
with another or richer material. Sometimes I cover the strips of esparto or
other fabric with a silk, cotton, wool, or other fabric or material, but the
article thus produced would not be openwork. Sometimes also I form
bonnets, hats, and caps of a fabric composed of a warp and weft, both of
thin or openwork plaits, plain or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN. of 166. Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors. give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman. Her special licence that I. the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I. the said Richard Archibald Brooman. 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNETS, CAPS. AND
HATS," (communicated to me from abroad by Jean Gaspard Placide Meyer.
of Paris, France.) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my execuiors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Paient.
NOW KNOW YE. that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to he performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:--
This Invention mainly consists in the employment as hereafter described
for the manufacture of bonnets, caps, and hats of openwork fabrics or tissues
of esparto, wood, and other ligneous substances.
Hitherto openwork esparto has only been employed, glued or attached to
muslin; and has not been found to answer. I proceed as follows: take a
sheet of openwork esparto, such as that represented at Figure 1 of the accom-
panying Drawings, cut it obliquely into strips B, Figure 2. of equal breadth,
and fold the strips in two. lengthwise, in such manner that each strip forms a
I then
double or folded edge and an open or cut side, see Figures 3 and 4.
commence the stitching of the bonnet in the interior, taking care to turn the
open or cut side inside and the double or folded edge outside, see Figure 5.
A light and supple bonnet. Figure 6. is thas formed of strips stitched inside
and having the appearance of the finest plaits. I thus manufacture bonnets
from openwork woven esparto instead of from close plaited esparto as here-

page_text: tofore, and am enabled to perform the stitching inside the bonnet, whereby the
stitching is invisible.
The Invention is not limited to esparto properly so called, but applies to all
woven fabrics or tissues made of straw, white wood, rice straw. Panama palm,
hair, silk. cotton, whalebone, rushes, paper, leather, aluminium, and other
substances. These woven substances may be employed alone or combined in
different shades to simulate checker work. Metal threads or wires may be
interwoven in the bonnet front.
The method of manufacture before described refers to bonnets; for hats
and caps it is necessary in lengthen the strips by joining or marrying the
meshes before stitching them, so as to obtain strips sufficiently long to go
round the hat without the appearance of a join.
To impart greater durability to articles made from openwork fabrics of
esparto, or formed of any of the various materials or substances above mentioned,
I cover the materials in a loom, or mechanically before weaving them, with
silk, cotton, flax. wool, or other permeable or impermeable textile material, I
then weave the materials thus covered, and obtain an openwork fabric formed
of threads of common material covered in any desired shade with another or
richer material: sometimes I cover the strips of esparto or other fabric with a
silk, cotton, wool, or other fabric or material. but the article thus produced
would not be openwork.
The Invention therefore consists in the manufacture as before described of
bonnets, caps, and hats of openwork woven esparto, which requires no dressing
or preparation, and possesses great suppleness and lightness.
The same
method of manufacture is applicable to all openwork tissues employed singly
or mixed.
The ligneous fibres may be covered before weaving with filaments
of any suitable kind and color: or the ligneous fibres or ligneous tissue may
be covered with any suitable fabric, or metal threads or wires or coatings of
any coloring varnish may be intermixed either with the tissue or with the
strip forming the bonnet front. Sometimes I form bonnets, hats, and caps of
a fabric composed of a warp and weft, both of openwork plaits of rice straw,
hair, or wood, plain or otherwise.
The particuler characteristics of this Invention, are,-
1st, the manufacture of bonnets, caps, and hats from strips of openwork
esparto as before described.
2nd, the stitching of these bands in the interior of the article, so that the
stitching is not visible outside.
3rd, the variations and modifications herein-before described for the manu-
facture of bonnets, caps, and hats from other materials.

page_text: And, 4th, the application of the method of stitching in the interior to
bonnets, caps, and hats formed of opaque or crossed strips of esparto or of
other suitable materials as before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.