CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF HATS
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
BOWLER, of Nelson Square, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, and
THOMAS GALON, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Hat Manufac-
turers, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the sixth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John
Bowler and Thomas Galon, our exors, adññiors, and assigns, His especial licence
that we, the said John Bowler and Thomas Galon, our cxors, adñiors, and
assigns, or such other as we, the said John Bowler and Thomas Galon, our
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF HATS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging us, the said John Bowler
and Thomas Galon, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's Iligh Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-

page_text: diately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto bad, will more fully and large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Bowler and Thomas Galon, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is
described and ascertained as follows, that is to say:
This our Invention consists in the first place in making double the brims of
hats, the brim being most liable to injury either from wear or from the
common method of finishing hats; and, in the second place, of making double
the entire body of hats that are intended to resist much exposure to weather,
as is the case with those worn by coachmen, sportsmen, and some others.
Iats made in the common way readily break in the brim, particularly in those
parts where the leather or other linings and patches are sewed on to them.
They also admit rain to the head through the holes made in sewing on the
leather or the linings, and through the same holes the perspiration from the
head of the wearer makes its way, and appears on the outside of the hat.
They likewise lose the shape originally given to them by exposure to the
weather by wearing on the head or by handling. Our said Invention, which
is intended to avoid these defects, is carried into practice in the following
manner: For making hats with double brims, we take the body of a hat as
usually manufactured (excepting that the bodies used. by us are somewhat
lighter than those generally made) in its first state, when planked, that is to
say, in the conical form drawn in the margin Figure 1. We then take a
seperate piece of felt, manufactured in the same way, planked, and of the same
materials as the body before mentioned, but of a cylindrical form, open at the
top and bottom, as drawn in the margin Figure 2. This piece of felt must be
made about half an inch deeper than the intended brim, and wide enough just
to fit into the body, in the manner represented in Figure 3. The body is to
be turned inside out, and the cylindrical piece of felt is to be passed over it
and fitted to the base of the cone, by being a little stretched by hand from the
bottom upwards. It is then fastened (by means of thread, of silk, cotton,
worsted, or any other suitable material,) to that part of the body to which it
has been thus fitted. The most couvenient way of fastening it we find to be
with close stitches at each end of the cylinder, and with diagonal rows of
stitches (the rows about an inch asunder), passing from left to right (the left
being the top of the cylinder), as represented by the dotted lines in Figure 4.
They are best diagonal, and in the direction of from left to right, because, in
the subsequent operation of blocking, the workman pulls the hat in that
direction chiefly, and consequently with the rows, so that the stitches are less

page_text: liable to break than if they were disposed in any other shape or direction. It
has been already stated in this Specification that the body should be somewhat
lighter than those generally made. Our reason for so doing is in order that
the body and the second brim may weigh no more than a common hat body
of the same degree of strength; and this second or inner brim should be
lighter or thinner than the body, in order that the upper margin of it, which
goes about half an inch into the crown when blocked, may not form a thick
ridge or projection within the hat. We have also practised, but upon the
whole do not recommend, another mode of fastening the second brim to the
hat body, namely, by taking a strip of stuff, bowed and hardened, of the
proper length and breadth for a brim, and causing it to adhere by its upper
margin to the body when set up before the latter is basoned, care being taken
previously to place a piece of paper or cloth or other suitable material between
the strip of stuff and the hat body to prevent them from coming in contact
with each other and adhering, except at the upper margin of the strip as
aforesaid. The body and the second brim are then basoned and planked
together, and the second brim is further fastened to the body with close
stitches at the lower end of the body, and by diagonal rows of stitches, as before
described. The piece of paper or cloth or other suitable material, before
mentioned, should be removed before the body and its second brim are
planked. The hat body, with its second brim fastened to it, as above recom
mended, after being turned the right side outwards, so as to bring the second
brim within the body, may be worked or stumped, as the process is termed, in
the making kettle. This operation, although absolutely necessary, we find
very advantageous, as it takes out any wrinkles in the brim made in the
sewing, or arising from the two brims not being exactly fitted. It also makes
the double brim firmer for subsequent manufacturing, and buries the stitches
deeper in the felt. The hat must then be dried, stiffened, dried, cleared, dried,
ruffed, blocked, dyed, washed, dried again, steamed, tipped, finished, and
trimmed, in the usual way employed with common hats, except in putting on
the leather or other lining and patch, which must be stitched on through the
inner or lower only of the two pieces of felt forming the double brim, care
being taken that the stitches do not penetrate into the upper or outer piece.
In making the felt for the inner or lower brim we have found it convenient to
make the cylinder of a depth sufficient to admit of its being cut into several
brims. Figure 5 represents a cylinder sufficient for six brims, and the dotted
lines denote where it is to be cut. The felt for the inner brim may be made
conical in the first instance, so as to fit the body without the operation of
stretching it a little by hand from the bottom upwards, as before mentioned,

page_text: but we find it more convenient not to make this felt conical at first, but to
make it into a cylindrical piece, as described in Figure 2, or as described in
Figure 5, the operation of stretching being very easily and speedily performed.
Where the hats made by us are intended for the use of coachmen, sportsmen,
or others, from the nature of whose occupations the hats are exposed to very
hard wear, and where lightness is not of great importance, we fit together two
of the conical bodies when planked one within the other, and this constitutes
the second part of our Invention, as already mentioned. The lightness of each
body must be regulated according to the weight intended to be given to the
whole when combined. These two bodies are then sewn or stitched together
to the extent of what in the hats before first described would be the double
brim and in the same manner, or the bodies may be stitched all over. They
are then to be treated as one body and completed exactly in the manner we
have described for hats with double brims, only excepting that in the process
of stiffening the stiffening mixture is to be applied to the outside of the crown
of the double body as well as the inside, but very lightly as to the outside of
the crown, so as not to prevent the hat from ruffing well afterwards. We
make double-bodied hats also in the following manner :-After fitting together
two of the conical bodies one within the other, as before mentioned, wo
separate them by drawing out the inner one and stiffen each, or stiffen the
whole of the outer body and that part only which is intended for the brim of
the inner body, according to the degree of resistance designed to be given to
the hat. If the whole of the inner body is stiffened it must be stiffened lightly
enough to admit of its being drawn out from the outer body in a subsequent
part of the operation, as is herein-after mentioned. The two bodies are then
cleared and inserted one within the other as before. The whole double body
is next to be ruffed, with the exception of the inside of the crown. The two
bodies or double body must then be blocked, dyed, washed, and steamed
together, and then separated as before. When separated those two sides of
the brims which had been in contact are to be prepared and varnished with the
same materials and in the same manner as are used in putting the shag on to
what are called stuff or wool bodied silk hats, or with any other suitable
materials or in any other suitable manner. The two hats are then to be fitted
one within the other as before, and the brims are to be cemented together,
which may be done by pressing with hot irons or plates; when the varnish or
cement is dry the double hat is to be tipped, finished, and trimmed in the
manner before directed for hats the brims only of which are double. We
have hitherto described our Invention as applied to hats commonly called
beaver hats only; our Invention, so far as it relates to hats with double brims

page_text: only, may also be applied to what are commonly called silk hats, the bodies
whereof are of stuff, wool, or any other similar material. The description
already given of the improvement in beaver hats with double brims only will
exactly suit these silk hats also, up to and inclusive of the process of stiffening;
after being stiffened they are to be blocked and dried and then steamed and
tipped, and next prepared and covered with silk shag (except within the
crown) instead of being ruffed, and then finished and trimmed in the manner
described for making our improved beaver hats with double brims only.
Instead of the process usually termed stiffening, above mentioned, the common
stiffening gums may be ironed into the bodies intended for silk hats after they
are blocked and dried, as is commonly practised with silk hats.
In making this description of our Invention we do not claim or intend to
claim any exclusive use of the materials or processes usually employed in
manufacturing bats except for the purposes of our said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the above-named Thomas Galon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on Twenty-fifth day of February, in
the year of our Lord 1826, the aforesaid Thomas Galon came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty fifth day of ch