HAT MANUFACTURE 785 



of the planks, B, c, which are sloping planes, usually eight in number, one being 

 allotted to each workman. The half of each plank next the kettle is made of lead, 

 the upper half of mahogany. In this liquor the hat is occasionally dipped, and 

 wrought by the hands, or sometimes with a roller, upon the sloping planks. It is 

 thus fulled or thickened during four or five hours ; the knots or hard substances 

 are picked out by the workman, and fresh felt is added by means of a wet brush to 

 those parts that require it. The beaver is applied at the end of this operation. In 

 the manufacture of beaver hats, the grounds of beer are added to the liquor in the 

 kettle. 



Stopping, or thickening the thin spots, seen by looking through the body, is per- 

 formed by daubing on additional stuff with successive applications of the hot acidulous 

 liquor from a brush dipped into the kettle, until the body be sufficiently shrunk and 

 made uniform. After drying, it is stiffened with varnish composition rubbed in with 

 a brush ; the inside surface being more copiously imbued with it than the outer ; 

 while the brim is peculiarly charged with the stiffening. 



When once more dried, the body is ready to be covered, which is done at the battery. 

 The first cover of beaver or napping, which has been previously bowed, is strewed 

 equably over the body, and patted on with a brush moistened with the hot liquor, 

 until it gets incorporated ; the cut ends towards the root being the points which 

 spontaneously intrude. The body is now put into a coarse hair-cloth, then dipped 

 and rolled in the hot liquor, until the root ends of the beaver are thoroughly worked 

 in. This is technically called rolling off, or roughing. A strip for the brim, round 

 the edge of the inside, is treated in the same way ; whereby everything is ready for 

 the second cover (of beaver), which is incorporated in like manner ; the rolling, &c., 

 being continued till a uniform, close, and well-felted hood is formed. 



The hat is now ready to receive its proper shape. For this purpose the workman 

 turns up the edge or brim to the depth of about l inch, and then returns the point 

 of the cone back again through the axis of the cap, so as to introduce another inner 

 fold of the same depth. A third fold is produced by returning the point of the cone, 

 and so on till the point resembles a flat circular piece having a number of concentric 

 folds. In this state it is laid upon the plank, and wetted with the liquor. The work- 

 man pulls out the point with his fingers, and presses it down with his hand, turning 

 it at the same time round on its centre upon the plank, till a flat portion, equal to the 

 crown of the hat, is rubbed out. This flat crown is now placed upon a block, and, by 

 pressing a string called a commander, down the sides of the block, he forces the parts 

 adjacent to the crown, to assume a cylindrical figure. The brim now appears like a 

 puckered appendage round the cylindrical cone ; but the proper figure is next given 

 to it, by working and rubbing it. The body is rendered waterproof and stiff by being 

 imbued with a varnish composed of shellac, sandarach, mastic, and other resins dis 

 solved in alcohol or naphtha. 



The hat being dried, its nap is raised or loosened with a wire brush or card, and 

 sometimes it is previously pounced or rubbed with pumice, to take off the coarser 

 parts, and afterwards rubbed over with seal-skin. The hat is now tied with pack- 

 thread upon its block, and is afterwards dyed. 



The dyed hats are now removed to the stiffening shop. Beer-grounds are next 

 applied on the inside of the crown, for the purpose of preventing the glue from 

 coming through ; and when the beer-grounds are dried, glue (gum Senegal is some- 

 times used), a little thinner than that used by carpenters, is laid with a brush on the 

 inside of the crown, and the lower surface of the brim. 



The hat is then softened by exposure to steam, on the steaming-basin, and is 

 brushed and ironed till it receives the proper gloss. It is lastly cut round at the 

 brim by a knife fixed at the end of a gauge, which rests against the crown. The 

 brim, however, is not cut entirely through, but is torn off so as to leave an edging 

 of beaver round the external rim of the hat. The crown being tied up in a gauze 

 paper, which is neatly ironed down, is then ready for the last operations of lining and 

 binding. 



The furs and wools of which hats are manufactured contain in their early stage of 

 preparation, hemps and hairs, which must be removed in order to produce a material 

 for the better description of hats. This separation is effected by a sort of winnowing 

 machine, which wafts away the finer and lighter parts of the furs and wools from the 

 coarser. 



The annexed figures represent Mr. Ollerenshaw's machine, generally employed for 

 ironing hats. Fig. 1128 is the framework or standard upon which three of these 

 lathes are mounted, as A, B, c. The lathe A is intended to be employed when the 

 crown of the hat is to be ironed. The lathe B, when the flat top, and the upper side 

 of the brim is ironed, and lathe c, when its under side is ironed ; motion being given 

 to the whole by means of a band passing from any first mover (as a steam-engine, 



YDL. II. 3 E 



