The hat is now to be removed to the lathe C, where it is introduced in an inverted position, between the arms g g supporting the rim h h, the top surface of which is shewn at [fig. 537.] The spindle i of the lathe turns by similar means to the last, but slower; only ten turns per minute will be sufficient. The workman now smooths the under side of the brim, by drawing the iron across it, that is from the centre outwards. The hat is then carefully examined, and all the burs and coarse hairs picked out, after which the smoothing process is performed as before, and the dressing of the hat is complete.

Messrs. Gillman and Wilson, of Manchester, obtained a patent, in 1823, for a peculiar kind of fabric to be made of cotton, or a mixture of cotton and silk, for the covering of hats and bonnets, in imitation of beaver. The foundation of the hat may be of felt, hemp, wool, which is to be covered, by the patent fabric. This debased article does not seem to have got into use; cotton, from its want of the felting property and inelasticity, being very ill-adapted for making hat-stuff.

A more ingenious invention of John Gibson, hatter, in Glasgow, consisting of an elastic fabric of whalebone, was made the subject of a patent, in June, 1824. The whalebone, being separated into threads no larger than hay stalks, is to be boiled in some alkaline liquid for removing the oil from it, and rendering it more elastic. The longest threads are to be employed for warp, the shorter for weft; and are to be woven in a hair-cloth loom. This fabric is to be passed between rollers, after which it is fit to be cut out into forms for making hats and bonnets, to be sewed together at the joints, and stiffened with a preparation of resinous varnishes, to prevent its being acted upon by perspiration or rain. A very considerable improvement in the lightness and elasticity of silk hats has been the result of this invention.

The foundation of men’s hats, upon whose outside the beaver, down, or other fine fur is laid to produce a nap, is, as I have described, usually made of wool felted together by hand, and formed first into conical caps, which are afterwards stretched and moulded upon blocks to the desired shape. Mr. Borradaile, of Bucklersbury, obtained a patent in November 1825, for a machine, invented by a foreigner, for setting up hat bodies, which seems to be ingeniously contrived; but I shall decline describing it, as it has probably not been suffered by the Union to come into practical operation, and as I shall presently give the details of another later invention for the same purpose.

Silk hats, for several years after they were manufactured, were liable to two objections; first, the body or shell over which the silk covering is laid, was, from its hardness, apt to hurt the head; second, the edge of the crown being much exposed to blows, the silk nap soon got abraded, so as to lay bare the cotton foundation, which is not capable of taking so fine a black die as the silk; whence the hat assumed a shabby appearance. Messrs. Mayhew and White, of London, hat-manufacturers, proposed in their patent of February, 1826, to remedy these defects, by making the hat body of stuff or wool, and relieving the stiffness of the inner part round the brim, by attaching a coating of beaver upon the under side of the brim, so as to render the hat pliable. Round the edge of the tip or crown, a quantity of what is called stop wool is to be attached by the ordinary operation of bowing, which will render the edge soft and elastic. The hat is to be afterwards dyed of a good black colour, both outside and inside; and being then properly stiffened and blocked, is ready for the covering of silk.

The plush employed for covering silk hats, is a raised nap or pile woven usually upon a cotton foundation; and the cotton, being incapable of receiving the same brilliant black dye as the silk, renders the hat apt to turn brown whenever the silk nap is partially worn off. The patentees proposed to counteract this evil, by making the foundation of the plush entirely of silk. To these two improvements, now pretty generally introduced, the present excellence of the silk hats, may be, in a good measure, ascribed.

The apparatus above alluded to, for making the foundations of hats by the aid of mechanism, was rendered the subject of a patent, by Mr. Williams, in September, 1826; but I fear it has never obtained a footing, nor even a fair trial in our manufactures, on account of the hostility of the operatives to all labour-saving machines.

[Fig. 538 enlarged] (122 kB)