MANUFACTURE OF HATS. 91 



closely together when worked, that very substantial tissues may 

 he formed of them, and it is in this way that what is termed felt 

 is produced. 



77. Fur hats are manufactured principally from the down of 

 the Rabbit and Hare; formerly a great deal of the hair of Cas- 

 tors was employed, but its high price has driven it almost entirely 

 out of use. 



78. [The manufacture of hats of felt is quite simple, con- 

 sisting of a scries of three operations, namely; the cutting 

 and preparation of the hair, pressing, and dressing. In France, 

 women are usually employed in the first part of the work : they 

 first remove the hair that covers the fur, and then pass the skin 

 to a workman whose business it is to wet the fur or down with 

 a liquid, composed of quicksilver dissolved in weak nitric acid. 

 The object of this operation is to increase the felting property of 

 the hair. When this is done, the skins are dried by a stove, and 

 then handed to the cutters or shearers, who, provided with a 

 cutting instrument of a particular form, detach the down from 

 the back and flanks of the skin. The hair thus prepared is de- 

 livered to the hatter who proceeds to felting For this purpose 

 he places on a table a quantity of down sufficient to make a hat, 

 and begins the work by an operation called bowiuy: he is pro- 

 vided with a sort of large bow, which is suspended from the 

 ceiling, the string of which he passes into the heap of hair and 

 causes it to vibrate. By this means he throws into the air all 

 the delicate filaments which constitute the down, separates, and 

 mixes them in every way. The light mass thus obtained is then 

 spread on a cloth or leather, and pressed in every direction. By 

 this process the hair is by degrees more intimately mixed, and be- 

 gins to felt. When this is over, we have a large slightly consis- 

 tent cake which is then kneaded or worked, taking the precaution 

 to dip it, from time to time in hot water slightly sharpened with sul- 

 phuric acid. This kneading or working is performed on an inclined 

 table or board placed around the boiler, and is executed by the 

 hand, -a wooden roller or a brush. In proportion, as the hair felts, 

 the cake becomes more and more dense, and by working it in one 

 direction more than the other, it is made to assume an oval shape. 

 Generally a cake or foundation of common hair is first prepared, 

 and afterwards gilded; that is to say, there is incorporated 

 upon its surface a coat of finer hairs, which are kneaded much 

 less, so that they remain partially free, and constitute a bed or 

 layer of soft down, which hatters call the feather or nap. For 

 the giUjiug, they use about an ounce of the fine fur of the Russian 



77. What annuals furnish the materials for the manufacture of fur aats? 



78. What is the process of manufacturing hats? 



