IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD, AND THEIR BODIES OR FOUNDATIONS, OR IN SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
Year: 1867

page_text: 'PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Harcourt Brown and William
Bull at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 30th January 1867.
We, JOHN HARCOURT BROWN, of Richmond, in the County of Surrey, Gentle-
man, and WILLIAM BULL, of Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HATS AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD, AND THEIR BODIES
OR FOUNDATIONS, OR IN SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN THE MEANS AND APPLIANCES FOR
PRODUCING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The improvements which constitute this Invention have for their object the
manufacture or formation of bats, caps, bonnets, and other coverings for the
head, or the foundations or bodies thereof, or similar articles in any required
shape or configuration entire in one piece without joint or seam, and of one
uniform thickness of material, or of varying thickness when required.
I
First, we prepare a pulp of the following materials, bleached and un-
bleached, namely, fibre of woollen, cotton, or other materials, thoroughly disin-
tegrated, in combination with animal skin fibre and the watery solution of
shellac or other suitable gums. The fibrous materials are to be beaten or
drawn out by an engine or machine to the required consistency, water and
other ingredients being added till the whole mass is thoroughly pulped, in
which condition it is placed in suitable vats or troughs for baving the hollow
vacuum moulds herein-after described, upon which the articles are formed,
submerged therein.

page_text: We also propose to use tanned or untanned refuse of animal hides, as also
linen or cotton waste, or other fibrous materials in combination with animal
size, glue, shellac, and other resinous substances, in such proportions and
such consistency as the production of the various articles may require.
And, we further propose to have two vats or pulp receptacles, or a vat
divided into two compartments containing different fibrous materials, for
example, one containing the fibrous pulp for the foundation, and the other
the tanned or untanned animal fibre or other fibrous material; from the first
vat we take up on the moulds a thin film or coat, and then submerge in the
second vat or compartment and take up the required surface material; these
fibrous materials may be dyed in the usual way.
We next prepare hollow perforated vacuum moulds of the shape and con-
figuration of the articles required to be made. The perforated surfaces
(whether on the exterior or interior of the said moulds) being covered by a
fibre intercepting, but water permeable cover or lining; the moulds are
attached to branch vacuum pipes, through which a connection between the
interior of the said hollow moulds and a main vacuum pipe can be alternately
opened and closed; thus prepared and fitted the moulds are submerged in
the pulp, when vacuum power being applied the materials held in suspension
will be deposited upon the surface of the intercepting covers or linings before
mentioned. When a sufficient thickness of materials has been deposited upon
the cover the mould is withdrawn, the bat or foundation, or other article thus
formed, and the cover or lining which acts as a support while the fibres are in
a wet and fragile condition are both removed together, and are both placed
upon hollow shaping moulds or blocks, the latter being made in sectional parts
of iron or other metal; heat and pressure are then applied for drying and
giving the required shape. When sufficiently dry the hat foundation may be
removed from the intercepting covers or linings, and be coated with any suit-
able composition, and surfaced with silk or other finishing surface material in
the usual way.