A HAT UPON A NEW CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
LLOYD, of the Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Hatter, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Nine-
teenth day of February, in the fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Lloyd, and to JAMES ROWBOTHAM, of Great Surrey
Street, Blackfriars Road, in the County of Surrey, Hat Manufacturer, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said Robert Lloyd and James Rowbotham,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, "A HAT
UPON A NEW CONSTRUCTION," within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to us, the said Robert Lloyd and James
Rowbotham, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should in our discre-
tion seem meet; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that
if we, the said Robert Lloyd and James Rowbotham, should not particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands

page_text: and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that
then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsover
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and
by the said recited Letters Patent, relation being thereunto had, may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Lloyd, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are particularly described and 1
ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
The plan. or construction of Lloyd and Rowbotham's Hats, which is
intirely new, and their own sole Invention, and for which they have obtained
His Majesty's Letters Patent, is as follows:-
First, this hat is made or will be made or manufactured either wholly or by 1
mixtures of hair, wool, silk, cotton, fur, leather, flax, hemp, straw, or any
other materials or material not prohibited by law, nor protected by any Patent
right vested in other persons. They will also be made from silk or cotton.
velvet, superfine or other woollen or linen cloths.
Second, the peculiar construction of this hat, and wherein it differs from all 2
hitherto manufactured is, that the crown is made to rise and fall, so as to
assume different heights, and the way it is done is, that one part of the crown
is made to retire, fold, or shut within the other, by which operation the middle
part of the crown is wholly taken up, retiring within itself somewhat like a
telescope. Thus it is that the same hat may be worn as a high crown or a 2
low crown; and in the latter case the folding or spare part is taken up so as
to be completely out of sight. It is this peculiar way of folding, which
is intirely new, that the Patentees, Lloyd and Rowbotham, claim as their
Invention.
Third, altho' the materials with which these hats are or may be made will 3
generally be put together or manufactured in the usual manner of hat making,
there is one way or method which the Patentees have adopted, and which they
believe never has been done by any other person (viz), instead of making the
body of the hat, or the hat altogether, in one piece, they have done and will
for greater facility cut out two or more flat pieces of felted cloth, woven cloth, 3
woven
fur or furs, or any other material substance, and sew or join them
together, in or from which state the said joined pieces may be strained or
blocked to the shape wanted.
Fourth, for the purpose of raising and lowering or folding or supporting the

page_text: crowns of Lloyd and Rowbotham's new-invented hats, they will use the various
apparatus herein described, and numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 (viz):-
No. I.
No. 1, or dimond-jointed prop. This is made of metal, bone, or wood,
and (see margin) the centre or extremes of each diamond, by
working on a pin or pivot, is capable of being drawn out to any
given length, and again shut up or compressed into a smaller com-
pass or space, so as to allow the crown of the hat to rise and fall
from its greatest to its lesser height. These diamond joints will be
fixed inside the crown of the hat, to prop or support the same; and
to each hat will be attached one, two, or more, as may be required.
Altho' it is intended that every prop on this plan shall have three
diamond joints, yet a lesser or a greater number may be used. One end of
this prop will be fastened to the top of the crown inside, and the other end at
or near the band.
No. 2.
No. 2, a corkscrew joint, is a piece of metal, wire, bone, or wood (see
margin), bent so that the two ends meet; between these ends is
placed a small roller of metal or hard substance, with teeth or
indented. This roller is placed between the ends of the bent wire
by a pin, so that it may work round, and the teeth or indenture act
as stops to keep it in the situation required, the whole acting upon
the principal of a corkscrew, to each end of which is fastened a
small piece of wire, or other hard substance, and may be called arms, one
end of which will be attached to the inside of the crown at the top, and the
other end near the band. Of these joints there will be one or more to
each hat, and the roller joint will allow the crown to be put up or down as
wanted.
No. 3.
No. 3, or hoop, is a hoop of metal or other hard substance, to which is fixed
two or more metal wires, wood, or bone uprights, the hoop to be
nearest the top of the crown, and passing thro' several eyes or loops,
and the other ends of the uprights to be fastened near the band of
the hat. At each end of these uprights will be a moving joint and
swivel, so that cach will have two distinct motions. With this apparatus fixed
inside the hat, the crown on being pressed down forces the hoop to slide partly
round thro' the eyes or loops, until the crown is pressed down to the depth
wanted, the uprights falling also, and one over the other; but when the crown
is wanted to be raised, the uprights or props assume a perpendicular state,
when a small spring hasp in the hoop will keep the crown from falling down.
No. 4, or telescope-sliding joint. This joint or prop is made of metal, bone,
wood, or any other hard substance, in the following manner :-Two or several

page_text: pieces are made with sliding grooves, so that one joint or piece may be pulled
out over the other to any given length, and each joint will fasten with a snap,
spring, or catch; one, two, or more of these, being fixed inside the hat, and
fastened to the top and bottom of the crown, will allow it to be compressed
and raised as required. There are many other methods by which these hats
may be supported and worked up and down, and of which the Patentees mean
to avail themselves, such, for instance, as a spiral spring or springs, one or
more straight pieces of metal, bone, or wood, to take out and fix in as required
without or with joints, on springs, to allow of the crown of the hat being
raised or shut down at pleasure or for convenience. The Patentees, for the
support and folding of these hats, mean also to use two or more pieces of wire,
bone, or wood, placed in a transverse direction, so that one half, being made
to pass thro' or turn within the other, will force the crown up and let it down
as required for convenience or as fancy may direct. In short, this hat is to be
folded down and raised in the crown by means of a spring or springs, prop or
props, made of bone, wood, steel, iron, brass, or other metal or metals, which
are to work or turn on a pivot or pivots, hinge or hinges, sliding groove or
grooves, pin or pins, screw or screws, joint or joints.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Lloyd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.