a6 Report en the Manufa^ure ef Hats, 



fafhioning or blocking, at the conclufion of which it is prefTed out by the blunt edge of a 

 copper implement for that purpofe. 



Previous to the dying, the nap of the hat is raifed or loofened out with a wire brufli, or 

 carding inftrument, as I underftoodj but I did not (ee this done. The fibres are too rotten 

 after the dying to bear this operation. The dying materials are logwood, and a mixture of 

 the fulphates of iron and of copper, known in the market by the names of green copperas and 

 blue vitriol. As the time of Mr. Collinfon was limited, and my attention was more particu- 

 larly direfted to the mechanical procefl'es, I did not go into the dye-houfe, but have no doubt 

 that the hats are boiled with the logwood, and afterwards immerfed in the faline folution. I par- 

 ticularly aflced whether galls were ufed, and was anfwered in the negative. From the candid 

 and obliging manner of Mr. Collinfon, I am convinced that his information was correct, and 

 that if he had any fecret to refervc, he would not have hefitated in telling me fo. 



The dyed hats are, in the next place, taken to the ftifFening Ihop. One workman, affifted 

 by a boy, does this part of the bufinefs. He has two veffels, or boilers, the one containing the 

 grounds of ftrong beer, which cofts feven (hillings per barrel, and is, as I prefume, ufed in this 

 and other ftages of the manufaftory, as the cheapefl; mucilage which can be procured ; and the 

 other veflel containing melted glue, a little thinner than it is ufed by carpenters. I particularly 

 afked whether this laft folution contained any other ingredient befides glue, and was aflured 

 that it did not. The beer grounds are applied in the infide of the crown to prevent the glue 

 from coming through to the face, and alfo, as I fuppof., to give the requifite firmncfs at alefs 

 expence than could be produced by glue alone. If the glue were to pafs through the hat ia 

 different places, it might, I imagine, be more difficult to produce an even glofs upon the face 

 in the fubfequent finifhing. The glue ftifFening is applied after the beer grounds are dried,, 

 and then only upon the lower face of the flap, and the infide of the crown. For this pur- 

 pofe, the hat is put into another hat, called a ftifFening hat, the crown of which is notched, or 

 flit open in various direflions. Tliefe are then placed in a hole in a deal board, which fup- 

 ports the flap, and the glue is applied with a brufh. * 



The dry hat, after this operation, is very rigid, and its figure irregular. The laft dref- 

 fing is given by the application of moifture and heat, and the ufe of the brufti, and a hot iron, 

 fomewhat in the fhape of that ufed by taylors, but fhorter and broader on the face. The hat 

 being foftened by expofure to fteam, is drawn upon a block, to which it is fecurely applied by 

 the former method of forcing a ftring down from the crown to the commencement of the rim. 

 The judgment of the workman is employed in moiftening, brufhing, and ironing the hat, in 

 order to give and preferve the proper figure. When the rim of the hat is not intended to be 

 of an equal width throughout, I conclude that it is cut by means of a wooden, or, perhaps, 

 metallic pattern ; but as no fuch hats are now in fafhion, I faw only the tool for cutting them 

 round. The contrivance is very ingenious and fimple. A number of notches are made in 

 one edge of a flat piece of wood for the purpofe of inferting the point of a knife, and from 

 one fide or edge of this piece of wood there proceeds a ftrait handle, which lies parallel to 

 the notched fide, forming an angle fomewhat like that of a carpenter's fquare. When the 

 legs of this angle are applied to the outfide of the crown, and the board lies flat on the rini 

 •f die hat, the notched edge will lie nearly in the direftion of the radius, or line pointing 



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