On the ManufaZlurt of Hats ly Mechanijm, 2J 



to the centre of the hat. A knife being therefore inferted in one of the notches, it is cafy to 

 draw it round by leaning the tool againft the crown, and it will cut the border very regular 

 and true. This cut is made before the hat is quite finifhed, and is not carried intirely 

 through, fo that one of the laft operations confifts in tearing off the redundant part, which by 

 that means leaves an edging of beaver round the external face of the flap. When the hat is 

 completely finiflied, the crown is tied up in gauze paper, which is neatly ironed down. It is 

 then ready for the fubfequent operations of lining, &c. 



The art of invention, as Leibnitz has long ago remarked, does not confift of lucky thoughts 

 and intuitive conceptions, but is a regular operation grounded on a fcience which may be 

 taught, and of which the rules are moft affurediy inveftigated by every man who after- 

 , wards fucceeds in his refearches. The inventor of commercial objedls ought, as I apprehend, 

 firft to afcertain whether the procefs, he means to improve, is capable of rewarding his exer- 

 tions ; and, fecondly, what may be the phyfical and moral difficulties that obftruift his purpofe. 

 With a view to thefe refpeiStive departments of inquiry, I afked Mr. Collinfon what he con- 

 ceived might be the proportion of the charge of raw materials, rent, and other expences, com- 

 pared with that which is applied to the mere fabrication of the article. He feemed to think, 

 that this laft might amount to one-third of the whole coft, and that the bowing and bafoning 

 might be one-fixth. Now if we take, as an extreme fuppofitlon, that the inventor of a machine 

 could accomplifli the whole operation at a charge altogether inconliderable, and that the 

 profits of the manufafturer and fliopkeeper may be refpeftively 20 per cent, we fhall find, by a 

 fimple calculation, that fuch an inventor, if he were to be content with the fame profit, would 

 be able to under-fell other hatters by about 23 per cent, or if his article were as good or better 

 than theirs, he would have no occafion to lower his price, but would realize an extra profit: 

 of 28 per cent as a manufadturer. If his machinery and working proceflies were to call for 

 half the prefent di(bu,rfement, the difference would only be i if per cent in the market ; and if 

 he could only do the bowing and bafoning, the fale price would be only affected to the amount 

 of about 5 per cent, or fix, confidered as manufafturers profit ; a difference fcarcely more 

 than may reafonably be fuppofed to take place in various manufaftories, from the mere 

 differences in Ikill and diligence between one manufadturer and another. It may, therefore, 

 become a ferious queftion (according to the fimplicity, efficacy, and profit of a new plan, which 

 may require a manufadlurer to interrupt and lay afide his old prai^ices), whether he fhould not, 

 in prudence, endeavour rather to improve the ftate of his affairs by the fafe and ordinary me- 

 thods of induftry, punduality, and economy, than to unfettle his mind, and rifle his fortune 

 and tranquillity in this new purfuit. And ftill more will it become a mere fpeculative mechanic 

 to confider how far he ought to purfue a fcheme, for the reward of which he muft either enter, 

 moft probably, with borrowed capital, into a bufinefs of which he knows nothing, or depend on 

 the knowledge, the candour, and the integrity of a manufadlurer for his gains, or the repayment 

 of his labour and expence. 



Thefe are the motives for caution which ought certainly to prefent themfelves in the firft 

 contemplation of an underuking of this kind. But, on the other hand, it is too well known in 

 Ihis aftive manufafturing country, that improvements, if made and conducted with ikill and in- 



E 2 tcUigencc, 



