AN IMPROVE. MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH BONNETS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustavus Palmer Harding, of Kingsland, in the
County of Middlesex, Warehouseman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE.
MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH BONNETS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustavus Palmer Harding
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th May 1856.
I, GUSTAVUS PALMER HARDING, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex,
Warehouseman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH BONNETS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing cloth bonnets without stitching or
sewing, and waterproof or not, by blocking the cloth into any desired form,
and then cementing it on to a shape corresponding to the form on which the
cloth was blocked. In order to make the bonnet waterproof, I use a water-
proof cement, such as caoutchouc, or employ a cloth previously made water-
proof.

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 13th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAVUS
PALMER HARDING, of Kingsland, in the County of Middlesex, Warehouseman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH BONNETS," 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 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 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in manufacturing cloth bonnets without stitching or
sewing, (and waterproof or not,) by blocking cloth into any desired form, and
then cementing it on to a shape corresponding to the form on which the cloth
was blocked. In order to make the bonnet waterproof, I use a waterproof
cement, such as caoutchouc, or I employ a cloth previously made waterproof..
Having thus set forth the nature of my said Invention, I now proceed to
describe a convenient mode of carrying the same into effect, without, however,
confining myself to the precise details thereof, nor to the agents that may be
mentioned. I stretch the cloth in a wet or damp state over a wooden or other
suitable block, and apply hot irons over and upon the cloth until it assumes

page_text: the form of the block, and until the parts of the cloth thereon become smooth
and even. I then remove the cloth and place on the block the "shape," which
is of a form corresponding to that of the block. The shape may be made of
linen or other suitable material, coated with a composition consisting of equal
quantities of gelatine and starch, or other suitable adhesive or cementing
composition. I place the blocked cloth on the linen shape, and make it
adhere thereto by heat and pressure; I then remove the bonnet and add the
lining in a similar manner or otherwise, and I finish the edge by folding it in,
or I remove such parts as may not be required in making the bonnet.
The "shapes" herein-before referred to as being employed in carrying out
my Invention should be of the description known as "milliners' shapes," and
made of linen or other light unvarnished material, coated with some adhesive
composition, as before stated,
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I do not restrict myself to
the particular mode, means, and agents herein-before mentioned for carrying
the same into effect; but I claim the manufacture of cloth bonnets without
stitching or sewing, (and waterproof or not,) by blocking the cloth into any
desired form, and then cementing it on to a shape of corresponding form.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustavus Palmer Harding, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
G. P. HARDING. (L.B.)