A METHOD OF MAKING PERUKES AND SCALPS SO AS MORE TO RESEMBLE NATURE THAN THOSE MADE IN THE ORDINARY WAY, AND WHICH IMPROVEMENT MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO A VARIETY OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBINSON, of Essex Street, in the Parish of Saint Clement Danes, in the
County of Middlesex, Peruke Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Tenth day of November,
in the forty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the. said
William Robinson, His especial licence, that I, the said William Robinson,
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OF MAKING PERUKES AND SCALPS SO AS
MORE TO RESEMBLE NATURE THAN THOSE MADE IN THE ORDINARY WAY, AND WHICH
IMPROVEMENT MAY ALSO BE APPLIED TO A VARIETY OF OTHER USEFUL ARTICLES;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
William Robinson, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month from the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being, thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso I, the said
William Robinson, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following, that is, to say :-
The object of this improvement is to make perukes bearing a stronger
resemblance to a real head of hair, so that in whatever direction or fashion

page_text: they are combed or dressed the groundwork can scarcely be discovered, and
the whole appears to be a natural production like the growing hair. In the
ordinary perukes the slightest derangement of the hair easily detects the
groundwork and the weaving, which has a very unseemly appearance and
destroys all the merit of the imitation.
The manner of working according to this new Invention is as follows:-
When the block is mounted and covered in any part or parts with the material
or materials which the manufacturer may think necessary to use, take the
weaving commonly used by peruke makers and sew on one row a small distance
from the edge, and then a second in the same manner at a discretionary dis-
tance, either greater or less, according to the thickness of the weaving; this
being done, comb the hair of both rows of weaving with a fine comb in the
same direction from the second row strait across the first, then sew it down
in one, two, three, or more lines, parallel to the first row of weaving, screwed
on at any distance beyond it, according to the thickness of the weaving; but in
case it be ordinarily thick at the distance of an eighth of an inch, or there-
abouts, and one row of sewing down may be sufficient, the intention being, that
the hair so sewed down across shall conceal the groundwork more than those
made in the ordinary way, and where it is sewed down in more than one line
the rows of weaving must be sewed further apart to admit of as many lines as
may be required by the manufacturer.at an eighth of an inch, or thereabouts,
distance between each line, for by sewing the hair down in more than one line
you will make the peruke lighter and the hair appear thinner, but this mode
must be observed only when it is requisite for the peruke to be lighter and
thinner. In the next place, sew on the third row of weaving, and comb the
hair of it across the second and the first (in the manner above mentioned with
regard to the second) and then sew it down in a parallel line or lines between
the second row and the first, and so on, toties quoties. It may be necessary,
in case the weaving be very thin and fine, to sew on two, three, four, or more
rows of weaving before you sew the hair down as above described, in that case,
when the necessary number of rows has been sewed on, comb the hair across
-over-the-first-row,-and-sew it.down in a line or lines, as before mentioned, then
sew on another row, comb the hair across, and sew it down between the first
row and the second, and so on, toties quoties, according to the shape and
fashion of the peruke. When the sewing of the peruke is almost finished, take
a piece of weaving, about three inches, and push the hair upon the silks to
about one or two inches, or have one or two inches wove very fine, and close
twice in; then sew it on at a small distance from where you mean to make
your finish, letting the hair cover the part where the finish is to be by combing

page_text: of it strait over, then sew your hair upon it, as usual, but much closer than
before, and when the end of the weaving is drawn in or sewed down, pick up
the hair of the weaving that was first sewed on underneath the finish with the
point of your needle. The hair of any peruke, when made in the ordinary
way, may be sewed down in the same manner.
This Invention is not only applied to perukes and scalps, and other orna-
mental hair, either for ladies or gentlemen, intended to imitate the growing
hair, but to perukes of every description, such as those worn by gentlemen of
the church, law, etc. To muff, tippets, fancy and theatrical dresses, and to
every article made with hair, furr, or wool, intended to imitate nature. Where
skins of animals are used, as in the case of muffs, tippets, etc., the skin is cut
in long narrow pieces, which are to be sewed on like the weaving above
mentioned, and combed across and sewed down in the same manner.
where an imitation of the skins of animals is intended, in that case hair or wool
may be dyed and woven like the weaving of a peruke, and sewed and combed
across and sewed down in the same manner.
But
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robinson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and one