WATERPROOF HATS IN IMITATION OF BEAVER;
Year: 1794

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DUNNAGE, of Gloucester Terrace, Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Eleventh day of November last past, hath given and granted unto me,
the said George Dunnage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, to make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, during
the term of years therein expressed, my Invention of "WATERPROOF HATS IN
IMITATION OF BEAVER;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said George Dunnage, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months next after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Dunnage, in compliance with
the said proviso, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly
described and ascertained as follows (that is to say):-
Let a shag be woven of such count in the reed, and cut over such sized
wire, as will give the hats to be manufactured from it that degree of richness
or appearance of fur which may be thought necessary. The materials which

page_text: this shag may be composed of are various, and should be accommodated to
different kinds of hats, according to the degree of beauty and durability to be
given them, and the price they are designed to be sold at (that is to say), silk,
mohair, or any other hair that is capable of being spun into an end fine
enough for the purpose, cotton, inkle, wool, or a mixture of any or all the
above materials, as may suit the different purposes of the manufacturer. I
have made them of several of the above-mentioned materials; but I think
those will answer the purpose best, both with respect to beauty and durability,
which are made with two poles, either of bergam, Piedmont, or organzine
silk, rising alternately in a reed of about nine hundred count to eighteen
inches wide, with three shoots over each wire. This method of weaving dis-
tributes the silk (as it may be put single in the harness), and prevents any
ribby appearance, which it might have if the silk were passed double, and the
whole of the pole cut over each wire. This may be made either on a two or
four-thread ground of hard silk, shot with fine cotton, which I think preferable
for shute to silk, inkle, or any other material, as it forms both a close and fine
texture. An inferior kind of hats may be made from any of the before-men-
tioned materials, and with cheaper silk. This shag should be stretched on a
frane such as dyers use to rack cloath; then (having previously set the pile
upright with a comb, to prevent its being injured or stuck together) go over
the gound with thin size, laid on with a soft brush. For black or dark
colours, common size will do. With white or any light colour, use isinglass
or a size made from white kid leather. These, or gum, or any other muci-
laginous matter which, without altering the colour, will prevent oil from
getting through the ground so as to injure the pile, will answer the purpose,
taking care not to apply more of any material, as a preparation than may bo
.fully saturated with oil or varnish, so that water will not discharge it from the
ground. The size or other glutinous matter being dry, the pile must be
toaseled or carded with a fine card till the silk is completely taken out of the
twist or throwing, when it will lose its coarse shaggy look, and assume the
appearance of a very fine fur. It must now be once more set upright with a
comb, and you may proceed to lay on the waterproof material. This, too, may
be varied, according to circumstances. For black or any.dark colour, lintsced
oil well boiled, with the usual driers, and thickened with a small quantity of
any good drying colour, will do. For white or very fine colours, poppy or nut
oil, or copal or other varnishes, may be used. In this particular the manu-
facturer must judge what will best answer his purpose, taking care never to
use anything that will dry hard or be subject to crack. I have found good
drying lintseed oil preferable to anything I have yet used; and with the pre-

page_text: caution of laying on very little the first time, it will not injure the finest
colours. When the first coat of oil is dry, go over it a second and a third
time, if necessary, till you are convinced the pores of the ground are fully
closed up, and the stuff rendered impervious to water. It should now stand
several days till the smell is sufficiently gone off; and before it is taken from
the frame should be gone over with some ox gall or lime water, to take off
the greasiness, which would otherwise prevent the stiffening from adhering to
the oil. The material, being now ready to be formed into bats, should be cut
into proper shapes for that purpose. The crown should be made up over a
block with a needle and silk, the oiled side outwards. The seams should then
be rubbed with a piece of hard wood, bone, or ivory, to make them lay flat,
and the edges of the stuff pared off very near the stitches, that no joint may
appear on the right side. The seams should then be carefully gone over with
the prepared oil till every crevice or hole made by the needle is completely
filled up, and the crown rendered perfectly waterproof. The crown may then
bè turned and stiffened, by sticking linen, leather, paper, or any other material
that may be found to answer the purpose, to the inner or painted side till it
requires about the same degree of stiffness or resistance to the touch as a good
beaver. The mucilaginous matter I have made use of to attach the stiffening
to the crown, and the upper and under parts of the brim to each other, is
composed of one pound of gum arabic or senega, one pound of starch, and
half a pound of glue, boil'd up with as much water as will reduce the whole
to the consistance of a thick paste. A greater or less proportion of any of
these ingredients may be used, and other glutinous and adhesive substances
may answer the same purposes, or drying oils may be made use of instead of
this or other mucilage, or any of the resinous gums, dissolved in oil or spirits;
only, it should be observed, in this case the hats will require more time in the
preparation, as the oilous matter, unless exposed to the air, will not readily
dry; but I have found by experience that the above-mentioned composition
does not dry hard or brittle, but retains that pleasant flexibility which is
agreeable to the touch, while it communicates to the other materials a suffi-
cient degree of elasticity. Before the brim is perfectly dry, care should be
taken to form a neck or rising round the wool where it is to be attached to
the crown, by knotching it round with a pair of scissars, and then forcing it
over a block something larger than you have made the hole, so that the uncut
stoff may turn up under the lower edge of the crown about a quarter of an
inch. Before you join the crown and brim together, go over the outside of
the neck of the brim, and the inside of the side crown, and high as the neck
will come (which should be about half an inch), with the prepared oil; and

page_text: when they are nearly dry, so as to adhere to the finger on touching them, put
the crown over the neck of the brim, and let them be sown strongly together,
taking care to sow down as little of the pile as possible, and using the same
precaution of oiling, where the needle has been through, as was observed in
making up the crown. The hat is now ready for dressing, which operation
may be performed over a block with a hot iron, brush, &c. in the same
manner as those commonly called felts. When putting in the lining, be very
careful to let the needle only take hold of the under surface of the brim, for
should it perforate the upper one, the water will find its way through, and the
hat be of no value. In making ladies' hats of bright and fading colours,
whose principal recommendation will be their looking more beautiful than any
of those usually called beavers,-all, the precautions I have mentioned, to
render them perfectly waterproof, may not be thought necessary, as their
fading colour must naturally preclude the idea of their being much exposed
to the weather. One coat of oil or varnish, for instance, may in this case be
thought sufficient. But when making them of black, or any durable colour
(particularly those designed for gentlemen's riding hats), every precaution I
have mentioned should be carefully attended to, when they will not only bo
superior in beauty to the very best beavers, and retain that beauty more than
double the time, but possess the additional advantage of being perfectly water-
proof, and much cooler in summer, as the same waterproof quality will forbid
their absorbing the rays of light, and consequently prevent their contracting
that disagreeable heat which has been so much complained of in felts.
In witness whereof, I, the said Georgo Dunnage, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Sixth day of March, in the thirty-fifth year of the
reign of King Georgo the Third, and in the year of our Lord Oue