IMPROVED HATS AND COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Smith, of the City of Bristol, Horsehair
Seating and Curled Hair Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
HATS AND COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
October 1858.
I, JAMES SMITH, of the City of Bristol, Horsehair Seating and Curled
Hair Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "Iм-
PROVED HATS AND COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the construction of improved hats or coverings
for the head, by adapting thereto the improved crinoline material described in
the Specification of my Patent, No. 2699, 22nd Oct. 1857, that is to say, I
make hats, hat bodies, caps, &c., of the said material, which may afterwards
be covered or not; if for light hats they must not be covered. In order to
make these hats and caps, the brims and other sustaining parts must be made
of the usual hat body material or other stout substance.
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMITH, of the City of Bristol, Horsehair Seating and Curled Hair Manu-
facturer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Smith, Her special licence that I, the said James
'Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Smith, 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 "IMPROVED HATS AND
COVERINGS FOR THE HEAD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Smith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 James Smith, 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:-
(I.) This Invention consists in the adaptation, hereafter set forth, to hats
or coverings for the head of the crinoline material described in the Speci-
fication of my Patent (No. 2699,) 22nd October 1857, that is to say, a
material composed of horsehair as the weft, and having a linen or flaxen
chain or warp, as set forth in the Specification aforesaid, and adapted so as
to produce improved hats or coverings for the head, as herein described.
(II.) Having prepared and woven the horsehair crinoline in the manner
described in the Specification of my former Letters Patent aforesaid, I
immerse the crinoline in the following solution, viz., lb. (pound) of sugar
of lead, and lb. (pound) of gum arabic, dissolved in two gallons of water.
The crinoline material being well saturated with this, and dried, I submit it
to a second solution of lb. (pound) of alum, dissolved in two gallons of
water. This renders the cloth impervious to rain, or nearly so. Having
thus prepared the body of the hat or covering for the head, I then construct
the brim for the same. For this purpose I take four thicknesses of joconot
and calico, or there may be more or less than four thicknesses according to
the stiffness required in the brim, and this I stiffen with shellac, and varnish

page_text: with spirit varnish, in like manner as is practised for the brims of ordinary
silk hats. These brims I cover with crinoline, merino, or other suitable
material on the upper side, and alpaca or cobourg cloth, or some other
similarly suitable material on the other. The crinoline, as before stated,
forms the body of the hat, and no foundation is needed for that purpose, and
thus provides for thorough ventilation. Although rendered impervious to
water by the process before mentioned, I can however use a foundation, when
desired, (as for high-crowned hats, which may be composed of buckram or
other such like stiff material.
The accompanying Drawings afford some illustration of the appearance,
forms, and shapes of the improved hats, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 being blocked and
stiffened in the bodies, Nos. 4 and 5 cut to pattern and sewn together, and
not blocked or stiffened in the bodies. It will be evident however that other
different shapes and constructions may be adopted. I may also remark, that
hat bodies constructed as above described may be covered with silk, plush, or
other suitable material, so as to form hats of the ordinary appearance; likewise,
that by changing the form and character of the brim, so as to be a substitute
for the ordinary cap, peak caps may be produced.
(III.) 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 Invention, the
nature whereof is described in the outset (marked I.) of this my Specification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W. CAMPIN, Patent Agent,
156, Strand.
JAMES SMITH. (L.S.)