IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORMING HAT BODIES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORMING HAT BODIES."
-A communication from abroad by H. A. Burr, of New York.
Sealed the 8th November 1859, and dated the 16th September 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 16th September 1859.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORMING
HAT BODIES," to be as follows:-
In the machines for forming hat bodies heretofore used the fur is taken by
a rotating fan or picker and thrown through a trunk on to a perforated
metallic former, placed in front of the delivery aperture of the said trunk,
which guides the fibres, and regulates and distributes the deposit of them, as
required. And after the required quantity of fur has been deposited, the bat
so formed is surrounded by a moist cloth, another perforated metallic cone is
slipped over it, and the whole immersed in hot water to harden the bat of fur
sufficiently to admit of removing it from the cone on which it was formed.
The object of the present Invention is to dispense with the trunk for guiding

page_text: the fur on to the perforated cone in forming the hat body, and with the use of
water to harden the bat before removing it from the metallic cone.
The first part of the Invention consists in directing and guiding the fibres
of fur as they are thrown by the rotating brush or picker, and properly
distributing them on to the exhausted perforated cone or former by means of
currents of air or other fluid discharged from apertures or spouts so located
and adjusted as to ensure the deposit of fur on the cone, as required.
The second part of the Invention relates to the method of taking off the bat
from the pervious cone, and consists, first, in covering the pervious cone with
a cone made of grass cloth or other like pliable material, which is pervious to
air, and on which the fur is deposited, so that the bat can be taken off with
the grass cloth inside to be used as an inlayer in the after process of hardening.
This part of the Invention also consists in the employment of a cap (made
of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable substance), which is to be
slipped on to the bat to hold the fibres together when being removed from the
pervious cone, and during the process of hardening, as it has been discovered
that india-rubber and other elastic gums possess the property in a high degree
of felting the fibres of fur, or rather of causing the fibres to unite and
interlock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Willian Edward Newton, 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

page_text: of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR FORMING HAT
BODIES," being a communication from abroad by H. A. Burr, of New York,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
In the machines for forming hat bodies heretofore used the fur is taken by
a rotating fan or picker, and thrown through a trunk on to a perforated
metallic former, placed in front of the delivery aperture of the said trunk,
which guides the fibres, and regulates and distributes the deposit of them, as
required. And after the required quantity of fur has been deposited, the bat
so formed is surrounded by a moist cloth, another perforated metallic cone is
slipped over it, and the whole immersed in hot water to harden the bat of fur
sufficiently to admit of removing it from the cone on which it was formed.
The object of the present Invention is to dispense with the trunk for guiding
the fur on to the perforated cone in forming the hat body, and with the use of
water to harden the bat before removing it from the metallic cone.
The first part of the Invention consists in directing and guiding the fibres
of fur as they are thrown by the rotating brush or picker, and properly
distributing them on to the exhausted perforated cone or former by means of
currents of air or other fluid discharged from apertures or spouts so located
and adjusted as to insure the deposit of fur on the cone, as required.
The second part of the Invention relates to the method of taking off the bat
from the pervious cone, and consists, first, in covering the pervious cone with a
cone made of grass cloth, or other like pliable material, which is pervious to
air, and on which the fur is deposited, so that the bat can be taken off with
the grass cloth inside, to be used as an inlayer in the after process of hardening.
This part of the Invention also consists in the employment of a cap made of
vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable substance, which is to be slipped on
to the bat, to hold the fibres together when being removed from the pervious
cone, and during the process of hardening, as it has been discovered that
india-rubber and other elastic gums possess the property in a high degree

page_text: of felting the fibres of fur, or rather of causing the fibres to unite and
interlock.
9,
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved
machine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation; and Figs. 3 and 4, vertical sections,
taken in the lines A a, and B b, of Fig. 1. The same letters indicate like
parts in all the Figures. a represents a suitable frame, and 6 an endless
apron, on which the fur is to be properly distributed by an attendant; this
apron passes around two rollers c, c, in the usual manner of feed aprons, one
of which rollers has a pinion d on one end, that engages another pinion e on a
band wheelf, that receives motion by a band from a pulley 9 on the driving
shaft h. The pinion d in turn engages another pinion i on the end of one of a
pair of feed rollers j, j, geared together at the other end by means of pinions
k, k. These rollers take the fur from the feed apron, and present it to the
action of a rotating brush or picker l, that receives motion from the driving
shaft by a band m. The picker or brush is covered by a cap or casing n, and
as it rotates with a high velocity, it picks the fibres of fur from the feed rollers
and throws them towards the perforated former o. This former I prefer to
make of perforated sheet copper, strengthened by a rim at the lower edge; it
is placed on a ring p, resting on the arms of a horizontal wheel the
periphery of which is grooved to receive a band r from a small pulleys on the
driving shaft, by which it is rotated with a slow motion. This wheel is placed
over a hole in the top of a box t, in which is placed an exhausting fan u, the
shaft of which passes through the box at one end, and there carries a pulley to
receive a belt v from a large pulley w on the driving shaft to give the fan a
sufficient velocity to induce a current of air inwards through the perforations
in the cone or former, by means of which currents of air the fur deposited on
the cone as it rotates slowly, is held until the required thickness has been
accumulated. At the side of the box t, and in a situation tangential to the
periphery of the fan, is a trunk or pipe x, into which a current of wind is
forced by the fan. At the opposite end, this trunk or pipe x has a vertical
branch y, provided with a damper z to govern the passage. This branch
extends up to within a short distance of the bottom of the rotating picker. It
is gradually spread in width, and flattened and curved forward. And to the
aperture is fitted, by a hinge joint, a spout a', the position of which can be
adjusted at pleasure to elevate or depress the mouth, which is long and narrow,
to elevate or depress the blast, which is thus discharged in a thin sheet, and
which, striking the fur as it is thrown by the picker, keeps it up, and directs
it on to the cone or former. Two similar pipes 6', 6', branch off laterally, and
then turn up vertically, and then curve forward to form two long and narrow

page_text: apertures, one on each side of the casing of the picker; and each of these is
provided with a hinged spout c¹, in manner similar to the spout a', except
that they are vertical or nearly so. From these two spouts are delivered two
streams or sheets of air, which carry along and guide the fur laterally to the
cone or former, and prevent any fur from flying off laterally to waste. As the
spouts are hinged, they can be turned and set at any desired angle to direct
and insure the proper deposit of fur on to the cone or former. It will be
obvious from the foregoing that if the air drawn by the fan through the cone
or former be not sufficient to produce the required blast in the three directing
spouts, that the fan can be further supplied with air through an aperture or
apertures in the box; that the pipes and spouts for directing or guiding the
currents of air may be greatly varied as to form, construction, and position, so
long as the apertures are long and narrow, and one is applied at the bottom
and the other two on opposite sides. And it will also be obvious that the
spouts may be fixed instead of being hinged, provided they are placed at the
required angle; it is, however, preferable to make them hinged, as affording
means for adjustment to suit varying circumstances. If desired, the hinged
spouts may be moved during the operation of the machine, so as to direct and
vary the distribution of the fibres on the cone or former, as more or less fur
may be required on any part.
Another mode of applying the principle of the Invention is represented at
Figs. 5 and 6. Figure 5 is a side elevation of the machine, and Figure 6 a
plan of the same. In these figures A represents a suitable frame having at
the front end of it side boards B, B, between which are arranged two sets of
endless aprons C, C, running over and around the rollers D. On the ends of
these feed rollers are pulleys E, E, propelled by bands F, F, from pulleys G, G,
on the main driving shaft H. The fan brushes I, I, are propelled by a
band K, from pulleys on the ends of the shafts of the fan brushes, and around
pulleys G, G, on the main driving shaft H. The fan blower case O is arranged
over the feed rollers and aprons, and has side tubes or reservoirs for retaining
the air so as to cause it to be discharged through the series of blowpipes M,
to carry the fur or wool thrown off by the fan brushes to the forming cone.
P is the fan blower, having on one end of its shaft a pulley Q, around which a
band R. passes, and above a pulley S on the main driving shaft H, for the
purpose of rotating it.
The operation of the machine is as follows, viz. :-When the fur is fed on to
the endless aprons, it is taken off the rollers as it passes in by the upper and
lower fan brushes, and thrown off again by them towards the forming cone; at
the same time that this is being done the fan blower causes currents of air to

page_text: issue from the blowpipes towards the cone, and causes the fur to fly forward
until it is taken up by the currents of air, which are so directed as to convey
the fur directly upon the perforated cone, and is there held by the pressure of
the air induced by exhausting the forming cone.
Another modification consists in dispensing with the blowers for forcing
currents of air through the blowpipes, and from them towards the cone, and
instead connecting the pipes with a steam boiler, and so placing them rela-
tively to the picker and former as to discharge currents of steam towards the
perforated cone to carry and direct the fur from the picker to the cone,
whether the said pipes be formed and arranged as first above described or as last
above described. The currents of steam in addition to directing the currents
of fur to effect the proper deposit on the pervious cone connected with an
exhausting apparatus, will moisten the fur so that the fibres will adhere to
facilitate the removal of the bat from the pervious cone. To the metallic cone
or former is fitted a cap d, (see Fig. 3), made of grass cloth or other flexible
substance which is pervious to air. Grass cloth is preferred on account of the
absence of small projecting fibres such as are formed on woollen and cotton
cloths, to which the fur in the after process of hardening would become
attached; and before blowing the fur on to the cone or former it is to be
covered with this cloth cap and the fur deposited thereon. So soon as the
required quantity of fur has been deposited, and while the pressure of air is
maintained by the exhausting fan, another cap e' made of vulcanized india-
rubber cloth, with the india-rubber surface inwards, is put over the bat of fur,
and then the bat thus held between the grass-cloth form and the india-rubber
cloth is removed from the metallic former and folded up and properly rubbed
to cause the fibres to interlock, and thus "harden," as it is technically termed,
the grass cloth during this operation answering the purpose of an "inlayer,"
as it is termed by hatters, to prevent the fibres on the inner surface from
uniting. India-rubber cloth possesses the required qualities necessary to hold the
fibres of the bat together, and when motion is applied of permitting the fibres
to move freely in the act of felting. The surface of the india-rubber being
very smooth will permit the fibres to slide freely, and from its peculiar
structure and elasticity the slightest motion given by the hand will be trans-
Imitted to the fibres to cause them to interlace or felt. After the bat has been
hardened, the india-rubber cap and the grass-cloth inlayer can be removed,
and the bat is then in a condition to be carried through the after processes.
I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the use of vulcanized
india-rubber for the outer cap, as native india-rubber and gutta percha will
answer the purposes, but not so well as vulcanized india-rubber.

page_text: What I claim as new in the present Invention and desire to secure by
Letters Patent, is the employment in combination with a perforated cone or
former of apparatus for directing currents of air or other fluid to guide and
direct the deposit of fur on to the cone or former, as described.
I also claim the employment of a form made of grass cloth or other flexible
material pervious to air, on which to deposit the fibres in forming the bat,
and to be taken from the perforated metallic cone or former with the bat, and
retained inside as an inlayer during the after process of hardening, as set
forth.
And, finally, I claim the employment of an india-rubber cap to be put on to
the bat of fur to hold the fibres together in taking off the bat from the perforated
cone or former, and to facilitate the hardening of the bat in the dry state, as
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)