IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS, AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustavus Palmer Harding, of Jewin Street, in the
City of London, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS, AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD."
Sealed the 12th January 1858, and dated the 14th July 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustavus Palmer Harding
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th July 1857.
I, GUSTAVUS PALMER HARDING, of Jewin Street, in the City of London,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HATS, CAPS,. AND OTHER COVERINGS FOR. THE HEAD,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing hats, bonnets, wide-awakes, and
other coverings for the head in cloth, velvet, plush, and other similar materials
after having been dressed, by stamping the same into form between a matrix
and plunger or die, the edges of the cloth or fabric being held in a state of
tension to prevent the formation of puckers while the die is being forced into
the matrix. I am thus enabled to form a hat or other covering for the head
from one piece of fabric without any joining, and which when taken from
the matrix will only require trimming to be ready for wear. In bonnets, I am
enabled to dispense with bodies or milliner's shapes now required to form a
bonnet. Where requisite a lining may be stamped up with the cloth at the
samo operation.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Gustavus Palmer Harding in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th January 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAVUS
PALMER HARDING, of Jewin Street, in the City of London, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Gustavus Palmer Harding, Her special licence that I, the said
Gustavus Palmer Harding, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Gustavus Palmer Harding, 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 OP HATS, CAPS, AND OTHER
COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Gustavus Palmer Harding, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Gustavus Palmer Harding, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in manufacturing hats, bonnets, wide-awakes, and
other coverings for the head in cloth, velvet, plush, and other similar materials,
after having been dressed with a solution of some adhesive material, by
stamping the same into form between a heated matrix and heated plunger or
dic, the edges of the cloth or fabric being held in a state of tension to prevent
the formation of puckers while the die is being forced into the matrix. I am
thus enabled to form a hat or other covering for the head from one piece of
fabric without any joining, and which when taken from the matrix will only

page_text: Where
require trimming to be ready for wear. In bonnets I am enabled to dispense
with bodies or milliner's shapes now required to form a bonnet.
requisito a lining may be stamped up with the cloth at the same operation.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing is a front elevation of such a press as I
find convenient for carrying my Invention into effect; Figure 2 is a similar
view of the same partly in section. A, A, are legs supporting a table B; C is
a metal form made hollow, and secured to the table. This form is shaped
at D as a matrix according to the pattern or shape of the bonnet or other
article to be produced. a is a pipe for conveying steam or hot air into the
interior of the form for keeping it heated. E is a hollow metal plunger into
which steam or other heating medium is admitted through the flexible pipe b,
or otherwise; c, c, are taps for letting off any surplus steam. The plunger is
bolted to a plate F, affixed to the bottom of a threaded shaft
two guides; I is a cross head supported by the uprights K, K. The threaded
shaft works through a nut in the cross head, and is driven by the hand
lover L.
G; H, H, arc
Where desirable a waterproof solution or composition may be applied to
dress the fabric or material from which the bonnet or other article is to be
formed, or it may be used to cause adhesion between the lining and the body
when a lining is employed. Hats, caps, bonnets, and other coverings for the
head produced in the manner last described will be waterproof. It will be
readily understood that any pattern or device capable of being produced by
stamping may be applied to the article to be formed by engraving or otherwise
preparing the matrix and plunger to produce the effect required.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the manufacture
of hats, caps, bonnets, and other coverings for the head by stamping or
pressing them into the form required in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustavus Palmer Harding, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of January One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
c
D MADDING
C. P. HARDING. (..)