The furs and wools of which hats are manufactured contain in their early stage of preparation, hemps and hairs, which must be removed in order to produce a material for the better description of hats. This separation is effected by a sort of winnowing machine, which wafts away the finer and lighter parts of the furs and wools from the coarser. Messrs. Parker and Harris obtained a patent in 1822 for the invention and use of such an apparatus, whose structure and functions may be perfectly understood, from its analogy to the blowing and scutching machine of the cotton manufacture; to which I therefore refer my readers.
I shall now proceed to describe some of the recent improvements proposed in the manufacture of hats, but their introduction is scarcely possible, on account of the perfectly organized combination which exists among journeymen hatters throughout the kingdom, by which the masters are held in a state of complete servitude, having no power to take a single apprentice into their works beyond the number specified by the Union, nor any sort of machine which is likely to supersede hand labour in any remarkable degree. Hence the hat trade is, generally speaking, unproductive to the capitalist, and incapable of receiving any considerable development. The public of a free country like this, ought to counteract this disgraceful state of things, by renouncing the wear of stuff hats, a branch of the business entirely under the controul of this despotic Union, and betake themselves to the use of silk hats, which, from recent improvements in their fabric and dyeing, are not a whit inferior to the beaver hats, in comfort, appearance, or durability, while they may be had of the best quality for one-fourth part of their price.
The annexed figures represent Mr. Ollerenshaw’s machine, now generally employed for ironing hats. [Fig. 534.] is the frame-work or standard upon which three of these lathes are mounted, as A, B, C. The lathe A is intended to be employed when the crown of the hat is to be ironed. The lathe B, when the flat top, and the upper side of the brim is ironed, and lathe C, when its under side is ironed; motion being given to the whole by means of a band passing from any first mover (as a steam-engine, water-wheel, &c.) to the drum on the main shaft a a. From this drum a strap passes over the rigger b, which actuates the axle of the lathe A. On to this lathe a sort of chuck is screwed, and to the chuck the block c is made fast by screws, bolts, or pins. This block is represented in section, in order to shew the manner in which it is made, of several pieces held fast by the centre wedge-piece, as seen at [fig. 535.]
The hat-block being made to turn round with the chuck, at the rate of about twenty turns per minute, but in the opposite direction to the revolution of an ordinary turning lathe, the workman applies his hot iron to the surface of the hat, and thereby smooths it, giving a beautiful glossy appearance to the beaver; he then applies a plush cushion, and rubs round the surface of the hat while it is still revolving. The hat, with its block, is now removed to the lath B, where it is placed upon the chuck d, and made to turn in a horizontal direction, at the rate of about twenty revolutions per minute, for the purpose of ironing the flat-top of the crown. This lathe B moves upon an upright shaft e, and is actuated by a twisted band passing from the main shaft, round the rigger f. In order to iron the upper surface of the brim, the block c is removed from the lathe, and taken out of the hat, when the block [fig. 536.] is mounted upon the chuck d, and made to turn under the hand of the workman, as before.
