222 TEXTILE FIBRES. 



a silk hat centre. The town of Bury is largely engaged in hatting, but, 

 like Stockport, its industries are divided between that and paper and 

 cotton manufacture. Romiley and Hyde, both in Cheshire, are engaged 

 in hatting. Bury, Hyde, and Stockport are corporate towns ; but Denton, 

 Failsworth, Romiley, and Hurst are all governed under the management 

 of Urban District Councils. 



The subject of hat manufacture is taught at the Stockport Technical 

 School, and students from Denton and other districts are permitted to 

 attend the lectures in the practical department. 



HAT MANUFACTURE. 



THIS subject has for some years engaged the attention of the Examina- 

 tion Board of the City and Guilds of London Institute. The board have 

 wisely appointed Mr. Walter M. Gardner and Mr. Benjamin Woodrow as 

 examiners in this subject. 



I am sorry to state that in May 1899 no examination was held in 

 any hatting centre, owing to the fact that too limited a number of 

 students intimated their willingness to sit for examination. This state of 

 things is capable of some improvement, particularly in Bury and Stock- 

 port, which have finely equipped Technical Schools and energetic County 

 Councils to encourage them in pushing forward their own industries. 

 The study of the hat manufacture must necessitate some knowledge of 

 silk, wool, and fur. 



The silk is utilised in preparing the material for the " Gossamer 

 body " of tall hats, and the getting up of the silk plush with a smart 

 polish and finish of the whole hat structure. The wool fibres are still 

 used for felt hat-making, either as noils or wool waste ; or the wool 

 (preferably Australian) is bought in the greasy state, and undergoes the 

 several processes of washing, carding, blowing, settling, and planking; 

 also pouncing, proofing, steaming, finishing, curling, shaping, and 

 trimming. 



The presence of foreign substances in the fur or wool, such as burs, 

 seeds, and pitch, and the best methods by which they can be easily 

 destroyed chemically without damaging the fur or felt material, has 

 almost become a science. Of great importance, too, are methods of detect- 

 ing impurities in the water used, and of determining relative hardness and 

 softness of waters, and their influence upon the material intended for 

 making into hats. 



Beaver, The (Castor fiber, Linn.). The fur fibres of the beaver are 



