AN IMPROVED FABRIC SUITABLE FOR VENTILATING HAT BODIES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William White, of the firm of William
⚫ White and Son, of Cheapside, in the City of London, Hat Manu-
facturers, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED FABRIC SUITABLE FOR
VENTILATING HAT BODIES."
Sealed the 19th March 1853, and dated the 23rd October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William White
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd October 1852.
I, WILLIAM WHITE, of the firm of William White and Son, of
Cheapside, in the City of London, Hat Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED FABRIC
SUITABLE FOR VENTILATING HAT BODIES" to be as follows:-
Whereas frequent attempts have been made to produce a fabric
suitable for ventilating hat bodies, the interstices of which should not be
choked and filled up in the stiffening of the said bodies. Now I have
discovered that a fabric composed entirely of manilla grass will fully
answer that end. My Invention then consists in producing a woven
fabric from manilla grass, in which both warp and weft are composed
of such grass, with sufficiently wide interstices not to be filled up in
stiffening the bodies.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William White in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM WHITE, of the firm of William White and Son, of Cheap-
side, in the City of London, Hat Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William White, Her special
licence that I, the said William White, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William White, 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 "AN IMPROVED
FABRIC SUITABLE FOR VENTILATING HAT BODIES," the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William White, 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.
upon
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William White, 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:
Whereas frequent attempts have been made to produce a fabric
suitable for ventilating hat bodies, the interstices of which should not
be choked and filled up in the stiffening the said bodies. Now I have
discovered that a fabric composed entirely of manilla grass will fully
answer that end. My Invention then consists in producing a woven

page_text: fabric by ordinary loom weaving from manilla grass, both warp and weft
are composed of such grass. I take care to weave the fabric so open
as to provide large interstices between the threads. Of this material I
form the bodies of hats, and take care in stiffening the same not to fill
up the interstices or spaces between the threads, and thus a flexible
and ventilating hat body will be produced.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the
improved fabric for hat bodies herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William White, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.