HAT MANUFACTURE 



789 



Upon a brick or other suitable base, a furnace or fireplace a, is made, having a 

 descending flue b, for the purpose of carrying away the smoke. A pan or shallow 

 vessel c c, formed of lead, is placed over the furnace ; which vessel is intended to 

 contain a sour liquor, as a solution of vitriolic acid and water. On the edge of this 

 pan is erected a wooden casing d d d, which encloses three sides, leaving the fourth 

 open for the purpose of obtaining access to the working apparatus within. A series 

 of what may be termed lantern-rollers, e e e, is mounted on axles turning in the 

 side casings ; and another series of similar lantern-rollers, ///, is in like manner 

 mounted above. These lantern-rollers are made to revolve by means of bevel pinions, 

 fixed on the ends of their 



axles, which are turned by 1135 



similar bevel-wheels on the 

 Literal shafts, g and h, driven 

 by a winch, , and gear, as 

 shown in jigs. 1135 and 1136. 



Having prepared the bodies 

 of the hats, and laid upon 

 their surfaces the usual coat- 

 ings of beaver, or other fur, 

 when so prepared they are to 

 be placed between hair-cloths, 

 and these hair-cloths folded 

 within a canvas or other suit- 

 able wrapper. Three or more 

 ha^s being thus enclosed in 

 each wrapper, the packages 

 are severally put into bags or 

 pockets in an endless band of 

 sackcloth, or other suitable 

 material ; which endless band 

 is extended over the lantern- 

 rollers in the machine. 



In the first instance, for the 

 purpose of merely attaching 

 the furs to the felts (which 

 is called slicking, when per- 

 formed by hand), Mr. Carey 

 prefers to pass the endless 

 band k k k, with the covered 

 hat-bodies, over the upper 

 series ///, of the lantern- 

 rollers, in order to avoid the 

 inconvenience of disturbing 

 the fur, which might occur 

 from subjecting them to im- 

 mersion in the solution con- 

 tained in the pan, before the 

 fur had become attached to 

 the bodies. 



After this operation of 

 slicking has been effected, he 

 distends the endless band, 

 k k k, over the lower series of 

 lantern -rollers eee, and round 

 a carrier-roller I, as shown in 

 jig. 1137; and, having with- 

 drawn the hat-bodies for the 

 purpose of examining them, and changing their folds, he packs them again in a 

 similar way in flannel, or other suitable cloths, and introduces them into the pockets 

 or bags of the endless bands, as before. 



On putting the machine in rotatory motion in the way described, the hats will be 

 carried along through the apparatus, and subjected to the scalding solution in the pan, 

 as also to the pressure, and to a tortuous action between the ribs of the lantern-rollers, 

 as they revolve, which will cause the ends of the fur to work into the felted bodies of 

 the hats, and by that means permanently to attach the nap to the body : an operation 

 which when performed by hand, is called rolling-off. 



A varnish made by dissolving shellac, mastic, saudarac, and other resins in alcohol, 



1137 



