THE HATTER.
1. The business, peculiar to the hatter, consists in making hats from the fur or hair of animals, by the process called felting. The hair of animals is the only material which can be firmly matted together in this way; yet, that of every animal is not suitable for this purpose. The fur of the beaver, the otter, the seal, the muskrat, the rabbit, the hare, the coney, and the nutria, together with the wool of the lama, sheep, and camel, are employed to the exclusion of almost every other.
2. The skin of all animals having fur, is covered with two kinds of hair; the one, long and coarse; the other, short, fine, and thickly set. The coarse hair is pulled out from the skin, by the aid of a shoe-knife, and thrown away, while the fine, which is the fur, is cut from it with one of a circular form, such as the saddlers and harness-makers use in cutting leather.
3. In the application of the materials, the first object of the hatter is to make the body. In the common three, four, and five dollar hats, the body is composed of the wool of the sheep; but, in those of greater value, it is usually made of the wool of the lama, and different kinds of cheap furs. In describing the process of making hats, one of the latter kind will be selected.
4. A sufficient quantity of the materials for the body is weighed out, and divided into two equal parts. One of these is placed on a table, or, as the hatters call it, a hurl. The individual hairs composing this portion, are separated, and lightly and regularly spread out into a proper form, by the vibrations of a bow-string, which is plucked with a wooden pin.
5. The fur is then carefully compressed with a flat piece of wicker-work, denominated a hatter's basket, and covered with a damp piece of linen cloth, in which it is afterwards folded, pressed, and worked, with the hands, until it becomes matted together into a bat. This bat is next folded over a triangular piece of paper, and formed into a conical cap.