IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND VENTILATION OF HATS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Seelig, of Bunhill Row, in the County of
Middlesex, Hal Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE AND VENTILATION OF HATS."
Sealed the 29th June 1869, and dated the 31st December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Seelig at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st December 1868.
1, JOHN SEELIG, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, Hat
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE AND VENTILATION OF HATS," to be as
follows:-
I make the body of the hat of muslin, calico, or other fabric covered
with merino, silk, or other suitable material, and I form therein one or
more ventilating holes or orifices at the back and front in such position
as to be covered by the hat band. I form in the body of the hat other
ventilating holes at a part or parts above the hat band. The ventilating
holes are preferably protected by eyelets. I form a tip for the hat of net,
buckram, galvanized wire, or other open mesh or large gauge fabric
Price 8d.1

page_text: prepared in the usual way or mode, by which such materials are rendered
sunproof and waterproof without interfering with the ventilation through
the same.
Or the tip may be made of a fabric which I call air cloth,
and which consists of wool and cotton threads woven of about the same
gauge, mesh, or shed as net or buckram, each such thread being com-
pound, that is, consisting of a number of component threads, each of
which is first separately twisted and then the whole are twisted together.
The tip is covered with merino, satin, or other covering material. There
are no holes formed in the tip as the net, buckram, air cloth, or wire
permits the passage of currents of air through the whole tip. The lining
of the hat may be made to close or terminate at the top towards the tip
in the form of a cupola or dome, so that the perspiration exuding from
the head may escape more slowly. Or the dome or cupola-shaped top
of the lining may be made with an opening at top for ventilation, a
space being left between the upper part of such lining and the tip of
the hat for the reception and passage of vitiated air and of fresh air,
so that the former may escape and the latter enter through the side
holes in the body of the hat. In this last case the tip may be closed
or of close material, the holes in the body of the hat suflicing for
ventilation,
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent,
filed by the said John Seelig in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, JOHN
SEELIG, of Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, Hat Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Seelig, Her special licence
that I, the said John Seelig, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Seelig, 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

page_text: 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 AND VENTILATION OF HATS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Seelig, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, on 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 l'atent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Seelig, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:-
I make the body of the hat of muslin, calico, or other fabric covered
with merino, silk, or other ordinary material used for covering hats, and
1 form therein one or more ventilating holes or orifices at the back
and front in such position as to be covered by the hat. band. I also
form in the body of the hat other ventilating holes at a part or parts
above the hat band. The ventilating holes are preferably in many cases
protected by eyelets. I form an improved tip for the hat of net, buck-
ram, galvanized wire, or other open mesh or large gauge fabric which is
rendered sunproof and waterproof (without interfering with the ventila-
tion through the same), in the usual mode in which such fabrics are
treated for the said purpose, or the tip may be made of a reticulated
fabric which 1 call air cloth, and which consists of wool and cotton
threads woven of about the same gauge, mesh, or shed as net or buckram,
each such thread being compound, that is to say, consisting of a number
of component threads, each of which is first separately twisted and then
the whole are twisted together. The air cloth, or the tip made of air
cloth, is made waterproof and sunproof, as above described. The tip is
covered with merino, satin, or other covering material ordinarily used in
the covering of hats. There are no holes formed in the tip as the net,
buckram, air cloth, or wire permits the passage of currents of air through
the whole tip. The lining of the hat may if desired be made to close or

page_text: terminate at the top towards the tip in the form of a cupola or dome,
so that the perspiration exuding from the head may escape more slowly.
Or the dome or cupola shaped top of the lining may be made with au
opening at top for ventilation, a space being left between the upper part
of such lining and the tip of the hat for the reception and passage of
vitiated air and of fresh air, so that the former may escape and the latter
enter through the side holes in the body of the hat. In this last case
the tip may be closed or of close material, the holes in the body of the
lat suflicing for ventilation.
I now proceed to describe more particularly in
Drawings, the manner in which the Invention may
practical effect.
reference to the
be carried into
Figure 1 is a front view and Figure 2 a side view of a hat constructed
according to this Invention; Figure 3 a transverse vertical section.
In the front portion of the hat A are formed holes a, a, a, protected
by eyelets; these holes pass through the substance of the hat, that is to
say, through the body, the covering fabric, and the lining. Similar
holes a, a, are formed in the back of the hat; they may or may not be
exactly opposite the holes in the front of the hat. b is a hole formed in
the side of the hat; there may be two or more such holes; they are
preferably protected by eyelets. A similar hole or similar holes bis or
are formed on the opposite side of the hat exactly or not exactly opposite
to the holes b on the other side. The holes a, a, are in such position
that the hat band, when on, covers them, but the holes bare above the
hat band. B is the tip or uppermost part of the hat which 1 construct
of galvanized wire or of a fabric which 1 have herein-before called and
described as air cloth, or of other reticulated or similar fabric having a
large or wide mesh, gauge, shed, or opening, such fabric being treated
as above described, so as to render it sunproof and waterproof without
interfering with the ventilation, that is to say, the passage or percolation
of vitiated and fresh air through. the meshes, interstices, or openings of
the same.
One mode in which the tips of air cloth, net, buckram, or similar
fabric may be thus rendered waterproof, sunproof, and at the same time
ventilating is by steeping the tips made of air cloth or fabric above
named in a solution of shellac and sandarac, in spirits of wine, using, for
instance, for 24 tips a solution of 1 lb. shellac and lb. sandarac in 2
quarts spirit of wine; the tips are then dried by heat, as for example,

page_text: before a fire. After fixing the tip to the body of the hat it is coated
with dissolved india-rubber, oil varnish, and shellac varnish used
consecutively.
The air cloth is woven in the ordinary manner of weaving, and by
ordinary weaving apparatus, the component threads being previously
twisted by the ordinary means and apparatus employed for twisting
threads; it can be made of cotton.
Tips made of ventilating fabric, as above described, are covered with
merino, satin, or other covering material ordinarily used for covering hat
tips. When galvanized wire is used it is made waterproof and sunproof
by covering it with air cloth, buckram, or like fabric made waterproof
and sunproof; one mode of so doing is above described.
It is not necessary to form ventilating holes in the tip as the air cloth,
woven wire, or other large mesh reticulated fabric permits the circulation
of currents of air through the whole tip without special ventilating holes.
I prefer in many cases to form the lining of the hat of a dome shape
or cupola shape as shewn at C, Figure 3.
Sometimes the whole body of the hat as well as the tip may be made of
air cloth prepared and waterproofed, as explained, and especially when
making dome-shaped hats, such as wide-a-wakes.
Sometimes instead of forming very small round ventilating holes in
the front and sides of the hat as at a, b, I form such holes of shapes
other than round and vary the size or sizes thereof; and sometimes I
protect or apply to or place over such holes (by cementing or otherwise
attaching to the edges or borders thereof) pieces of air cloth, or buck-
ram, or galvanized and woven wire, or other reticulated or similar fabric
or material having a large mesh or interstice permitting the passage
air or aeriform matter, and treated so as to be sunproof and waterproof
as explained; these openings thus protected may be described as
windows," but when they are comparatively large they are covered
by silk or other ordinary covering material used in hat manufacture.
"
of
I sometimes form a fabric resembling air cloth in all respects except
that I do not use wool in its composition but only cotton, and I use it
for the same purposes and in the same manner as above described with
respect to air cloth.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-

page_text: First. Forming hats with ventilating holes in the front, back, and
sides, substantially as described.
Second. The mode of ventilating hats by the combination of holes
at the front, back, and sides with a tip formed of ventilating material,
substantially as described.
Third. The employment of the fabric, which. I call air cloth, in the
manufacture and ventilation of the tips of hats, substantially as
described.
Fourth. The manufacture of the tips of hats of buckram, net, galvanized
wire, or other fabric or material having large meshes or interstices,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Seelig, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
M. HENRY,
68, Fleet Street,
London.
JOHN SEELIG. (L.S.)