madeuJeoflntheManufailofyofHati. j^ 



w fill the 'botlj', whilft a little vitriol cleanfes it of the dirt, &c.- that may be on Ae 

 rabbit or other wools ; too much vitriol would make the whole that was weighed out 

 to the journeymen work into the hats, but by the mutual aiflion of the vitriol and the 

 dregs, the quantity of the firft being fmall, about a fmall wine glafs full, the dirt and 

 the ftrong hairs* get purged out, whilft at the fame time the dregs keep the hat plump. After 

 the body is got up to a certain fize, the workmen put on gloves made of the folc of a flioe, 

 to fliield their hands from the vitriol, to enable them to work the hat tighter, and to bear 

 hotter water. The kettle is ufually weakened before blocking the hats, left the vitriol 

 Ihould cat out the dregs. There is only one cloth ufed at the hurdle, which with paper is 

 gcne^ally thought fufncient, and the cloth from its being unbleached and foiled in the wear, 

 might naturally enough convey the idea of being dyed brown. The bow is beft made of 

 afti, that it may be heavy and fteady in working : it is compofed of the ftang f or handle 

 made of the above wood : the bridge at the fmaller end, or that neareft the window, when held 

 in the hand in the acEl of bowing, is called the cod, and that at the other end, which from its 

 being hung to balance, and being thicker, is the nearer to the workman's hand, is called the 

 breech. After bowing, and previous to the bafoning, a hardening Jkin^ that is, a large piece 

 of fkin, about four feet long and three feet broad, of leather alumed or half tanned, is preffed 

 upon the bat, to bring it by an eafier gradation to a -compaft appearance, after which it is 

 bafoned, being ftill kept upon the hurdle. This operation, the bafoning, derives its name 

 from the procefs or mt>ie of working, being the fame as that pra^lifed upon a wool hat after 

 bowing, the laft being done upon a piece of caft metal, four feet acrofs, of a circular fhape, 

 called a bafon : the joining of each bat is made good here by fliuffling the hand, that is, by 

 rubbing the edges of each bat folded over the cither to extite the progreffive motion of each 

 of the filaments in felting, and to join the two together. Many journeymen, to hurry this 

 work, ufe a quantity of vitriol, and then, to make the nap rife and flow, they kill the vitriol, 

 and open the body again by throwing in a handful or two of oatmeal ; by this means, they 

 get a great many made, though, at the fame time, they leave them quite grainy % from the want 

 of labour. This, in handhng the dry grey hat when made, may be in part difcovered, but 

 in part only. 



Another advantage attending the ufe of dregs, whether of beer, porter, or wine, is, that 

 as the boiling in the dying does not draw out much of the mucilage from each hat, when they 



hair, may render the aftion of felting too fpcedy, clofe, and irregular, fo as not to allow time either for purging 

 er repairing ; an-d that the mucilage of the dregs prevents this, and has the advantage of being afterwatds 

 waflied out to any required degree towards the -end of the procefs ? — N. 



* Becaufe they are ftraiter ? — Philof. Journal, I. 40 1 . note.— N. 



f An old north-country word, fignifying a pole or ftafF.— N. 



% The caufe, as I prefumc, of hats wearing into Ihining or greafy fpot?. This was a principal defect of the 

 cloth made under Booth's patent, in which the llaple of the raw material, namely, cotton, flax, or wool, was 

 wrought together, by an engine, with little or no dependance on the fcking property of the fibre itfelf. — N. 



La . come 



