CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK HATS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Husband, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SILK HATS."
Sealed the 5th December 1856, and dated the 23rd September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Husband at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd September 1856.
I, RICHARD HUSBAND, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Hat Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK HATS," to be as
follows:-
Heretofore the calicoes and other textile fabrics which in the manufacture
of silk hats require to be stiffened with solutions of shellac have had the said
stiffening effected by hand labour, and with results differing according to the
skill of the workman. Now, my Invention consists in effecting the said
stiffening and other services by means of the stiffening mangle and the steam
drying apparatus machines, which, though well known in the cotton manu-
facture, have not heretofore been employed for the uses to which my Invention
applies them.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Husband in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HUSBAND, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Husband, Her special license that I, the said Richard IIusband,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Husband, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SILK HATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Richard Husband, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Husband, 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 (that is to say) :-
Whereas heretofore in the manufacture of silk hats it has, in proofing the
calicoes or other woven fabrics used in making the bodies, been usual to cut
the said fabrics into short lengths, and then to steep by hand labour the said
short lengths in the necessary proofing solution, to twist them by hand to and
fro in the said solution, and, after taking them out thereof, to remove the
superfluous liquid by hand wringing, then to stretch the said short lengths on
hooks fixed in oblong wooden frames, and, while thus stretched, to equalize
the distribution of the proof, and to supply deficiencies therein by means of
brushes, also worked by hand labour, and afterwards to place the said short
lengths so stretched before fires or in stoves to be dried: And whereas by
this manipulation the stiffening of fabrics for hat bodies consumes much time,

page_text: and fabrics so stiffened have, when made up into hats, a course and inelegant
appearance, to hide which it is necessary to use linings. Now, the object of
the present Invention is, first, to proof the solutions of shellac either short
lengths, or continuously and without cutting one or more whole pieces of
calico or other woven fabric by means of rollers, and particularly by a
machine commonly called the stiffening mangle; secondly, to dry shellac
proofed woven fabrics in long as well as short lengths, and by means of
cylinders heated by steam, which cylinders, with their appropriate framework
and fittings, constitute a machine well known in the cotton manufacture by
the name of the steam drying apparatus; thirdly, a supplementary and
occasional part of this Invention is to put upon shellac proofed fabrics a
finish or gloss by means of cold friction; and, finally, an object of this
Invention is to make up hat bodies so improved that hats having them will
not require lining.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I procced to describe
the manner of performing the same.
First, the saturation of the cloth with proofing I perform by means of the
stiffening mangle or starching machine, which mangle or machine is well
known in the cotton manufacture, and particularly in the printing and drying
branches of that manufacture. Between its framework, consisting of two
upright ends, the stiffening mangle holds suspended two or more heavy hori-
zontal rollers, laid one upon another, and further pressed together by jointed
levers fixed in the framework, and susceptable of regulation by weights.
Either of the said rollers being set in motion, the fellow one is caused by the
friction to revolve also. In the mangle used by me, the nethermost roller has
one of its pivots prolonged to the outside of the frame, and there fitted with
a pulley to be turned by a strap from the shaft of a steam engine. Upon
the floor, under the heavy rollers, and parallel to them, is a trough of cor-
responding length, about a foot in depth, and with a width of two feet at the
top, narrowing to one foot at the bottom. In the trough is suspended by
pivots on its ends a roller, the diameter of which is about three inches, and
whose length corresponds to, and is parallel with that of the heavy rollers
of the mangle. Into this trough I pour shellac proofing solution (com-
pounded of shellac dissolved as usual in water impregnated with ammonia or
in spirits of wine, or in naptha, or other solvent, as is well understood), I
pour the proofing solution into the trough until the quantity rises to such
a leight as wholly or partially to cover the roller. Through bars, which are
fixed in front of the mangle, and parallel to its rollers, and the last of which,
called a fishback, has diagonal slots on its face for the purpose of removing

page_text: creases, the cloth intended to be proofed is conducted down to the solution in
the trough to be passed under the proofing roller; it is then guided upward,
and has its initiatory end placed evenly along the side of the lower large
roller of the mangle; the turning strap is then applied to the pulley connected
with that roller, and the mangle, according to its functions, is made to draw
the whole piece in continuous sequence around the roller in the trough, and
between the heavy pressing rollers of the mangle, and also to wind the said
piece simultaneously upon a cloth beam, or to deliver it as may be most
convenient for drying.
The second part of the present Invention, consisting of an improved method
of drying shellac proofed cloths for use on hat bodies, is performed by means
of hollow metallic cylinders or drums heated by steam, and to effect this
improvement I use the steam drying apparatus which is used in several
branches of the cotton manufacture, and particularly in the drying of goods
which have previously been starched or sized. The steam drying apparatus
comprises a series of hollow metallic drums or cylinders rotating on horizontal
axes parallel to each other, and supported by suitable framework at right
angles therewith. Each drum has projecting from each of its ends a tubular
pivot, upon which it rotates, and by which it is connected with a stuffing box
upon the framework. Through the stuffing boxes the drums are fed with
steam from a pipe communicating with a steam boiler, and are thereby heated
to the requisite temperature, the steam filling all the cylinders from the first
to the last, and finally emerging by an escape pipe. The drying of the cloth
is effected by causing it to pass over and under the revolving cylinders, from a
cloth beam or other suitable arrangement at the one end of the series to a cloth
beam or other suitable receiver at the other end. I use a cloth beam at cach
end. At the commencing end a cloth beam, having upon it the cloth which
is to be dried, is, at a height of about four feet from the floor, pivotted by its
ends in any convenient fixture, so as to be parallel to the longitudinal side of
the first cylinder, and about a yard distant therefrom. At the concluding end
another cloth beam is similarly pivotted, and has one of its pivots fitted with
a winch. The cloth having, by means of cords or otherwise, been drawn
over the first cylinder, under the second, over the third, and so on, until the
foremost end has reached the cloth beam last mentioned, and been thereto
attached; rotatory motion is then given to the said cloth beam by means of
the winch, and the whole piece or series of pieces may be drawn along the
same course, and wound upon the cloth beam, the cylinders revolving
according to the strain which is impressed upon them by the cloth as it
is being wound through them, and the close contact effected between the

page_text: cloth and the hot cylinders causing the cloth as it travels around them from
cloth beam to cloth beam to become dry. In winding the piece in this
manner through the cylinders, care must be taken to regulate the speed, so
that the progress of the piece shall be not too fast for the drying to take
place as required. Cloth proofed and dried according to the two first parts
of the present Invention, as above described, is ready for being cut and made
up into hat bodies according to the usual modes.
The third part of the present Invention is the subjecting of web that is
stiffened with shellac proofing to the process of cold calendering or glazing,
the object of which is to make the surface of the cloth smooth, compact, and
uniform. For this purpose I use the friction calender, a machine well known
in the stiffening and finishing branches of the cotton manufacture. The
smooth, compact, and uniform appearance is produced by causing the friction
calender, according to its functions, and by its usual machinery, to pass the
cloth between its two friction cylinders, which revolve in such close contact
that their pressure gives the cloth the brightness and evenness required. Of
these two cylinders, the upper one is made of iron, and the lower one is
coated with a dense pasteboard bighly polished, and as, in finishing some
goods, the upper of these cylinders is used bot, it is necessary to mention,
that, for the purposes of the present Invention, it must be used cold. Of
shellac proofed cloth, dyed or otherwise, to which a smooth and bright face
has been given by calendering or other cognate operation, one of the chief
advantages is, that of it may be made the foundations of bodies, hats having
which will not require lining.
I procced now to describe in what manner the fourth part of the present
Invention is performed, that is to say, in what manner hat bodies may be
constructed so as that hats having those bodies will not require lining.
1. Off the said stiffened and glazed cloth or other suitable material I cut a
picce of dimensions suitable for a body's foundation, and instead of dipping it in
water, sponge it sparingly on the rough face, and having divided it into tip and
side, block it carefully with its smooth face inwards; the side must not over-
lap upon the tip, the tip must overlap and be ironed down to the side around
the margin of the square. The other materials to make the body of the
required strength, and to complete it, are added afterwards, according to the
usual practice, only in placing the fold rest upon the foundation it is necessary
to avoid letting wet penetrate to the interior surface of the body, and through-
out the making up of the body care must be taken not to soil the said surface
by dirty shells, or dirty blocks, or otherwise. Of bodies made in this manner,
neither tip nor side has or requires lining.

page_text: 2. In instances wherein it is intended to have only the side of the body
as above, and to have the internal surface of the tip faced with material
that is unproofed, I operate as follows:-I block the side foundation, as
above, and iron to its margin immediately below the square, the tip of
unproofed material previously arranged in its proper place, and slightly
overlapping the square. The covering of the side foundation is fixed as
usual, only care must be taken, as before mentioned, that no wet be
allowed to penetrate through the foundation. Before turning down upon
the tip the margin of the side covering, a tip of paper must (to prevent
the unproofed tip from sticking to, or being stained by, the proofed one
that is to come above it) be fitted carefully upon the unproofed tip, and
cover the same to the edge of the square. Upon the tip of paper the over-
lapping edges of the side covering are to be turned down and flattened.
A proofed tip is then fitted over the tip of paper, and ironed down to the
flattened edges of the side covering upon the circle with which those edges
overlap the square. The rest of the materials, to make the body of the
required strength, and to complete it, are added in the usual manner.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not claim the
invention of the machinery, nor of any part thereof, and that I do not confine
myself to the details; but what I claim is as follows, namely,-
First, stiffening with solutions of shellac, for use in the silk hat manufacture,
cloth in longer lengths than heretofore.
Secondly, the application of rollers to proofing with solutions of shellac
woven fabrics to be used in the manufacture of silk hats.
Thirdly, the application of cylinders to the drying of woven fabrics proofed
with solutions of shellac for use in the manufacture of silk hats.
Fourthly, the application of cold friction to produce brilliancy upon woven
fabrics proofed with solutions of shellac.
And, fifthly, the construction, as herein above described, of bodies with
their internal surface such that hats having those bodies will not require
lining.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Husband, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
RICHARD HUSBAND.
(L.S.)