HAT MAKING. 



rated. The quantity thus treated at 

 once is called a batt, and never exceeds 

 half the "quantity required to make one 

 hat. 



When the batt is sufficiently bowed, it 

 is ready for hardening-, which term de- 

 notes the first commencement of felting. 

 The prepared material being evenly dis- 

 posed on the hurdle, is first pressed down 

 by the convex side of the basket, then 

 covered with a cloth, and pressed suc- 

 cessively i its various parts by the hands 

 of the workman. The pressure is gentle, 

 and the hands are very slightly moved 

 backwards and forwards, at the same 

 time, through a space of perhaps a quar- 

 ter of an inch, to favour the hardening 

 or entangling of the fibres. In a very 

 short time, indeed, the stuff acquires suf- 

 ficient firmness to bear careful handling. 

 The cloth is then taken off', and a sheet 

 of paper, with its corners doubled in, so 

 as to give it a triangular outline, is laid 

 upon the batt, which last is folded 

 over the paper as it lies, and its edges, 

 meeting one over the other, form a coni- 

 cal cap.* 



The joining is soon made good by 

 pressure with the hands on the cloth. 

 Another batt, ready hardened, is in the 

 next place laid on the hurdle, and the 

 cap here mentioned placed upon it, with 

 the joining downwards. This last batt 

 being also folded up, will consequently 

 have its place of junction diametrically 

 opposite that of the inner felt, which it 

 must therefore greatly tend to strengthen. 

 The principal part of the hat is thus pat 

 together, and now requires to be worked 

 with the hands a considerable time upon 

 the hurdle r the cloth being also occasion- 

 ally sprinkled with clear water. During 

 the whole of this operation, which is 

 called basoning, the article becomes 

 firmer and firmer, and contracts In its 

 dimensions. It may easily be under- 

 stood, that the chief use of the paper 

 is to prevent the sides from felting toge- 

 ther. 



The basoning is followed by a still 

 more effectual continuation of the felting, 

 called working. This is done in another 

 shop, at an apparatus called a battery, 

 consisting of a kettle (containing water 

 slightly acidulated with sulphuric acid, 

 to which, for beaver hats, a quantity of 

 the grounds of beer is added, or else 

 plain water for rinsing out,) and eight 

 planks of wood joined together in the 

 form of a frustrum of a pyramid, and 

 meeting in the kettle at the middle. The 



outer or upper edge of each plank is 

 about two feet broad, and rises a little 

 more than two feet and a half above the 

 ground ; and the slope towards the ket- 

 tle is considerably rapid, so that the 

 whole battery is little more than six feet 

 in diameter. The quantity of sulphuric 

 acid added to the liquor is not sufficient 

 to give a sour taste, but only renders it 

 rough to the tongue. In this liquor, 

 heated rather higher than unpractised 

 hands could bear, the article is dipped 

 from time to time, and then worked on. 

 the planks with a roller, and also by fold- 

 ing or rolling it up, and opening it again; 

 in all which, a certain degree of care is 

 at first necessary to prevent the sides 

 from felting together; of which, in the 

 more advanced .stages of the operation, 

 there is no danger. The imperfections 

 of the work now present themselves to 

 the eye of the workman, who picks out 

 the knots, and other hard substances, 

 with a bodkin, and adds more felt upon 

 all such parts as require strengthening. 



This added felt is patted down with 

 a wet brush, and soon incorporates with 

 the rest. The beaver is laid on towards 

 the conclusion of this kind of working. 

 Some workmen say that the beer grounds 

 used with beaver hats, by rendering the 

 liquor more tenacious, the hat is ena- 

 bled to hold a greater quantity of it, for 

 a longer time ; but others say that the 

 mere acid and water would not adhere 

 to the beaver facing, but would roll oft" 

 immediately when the article was laid on 

 the plank. It is probable that the manu- 

 facturers, who now hold the established, 

 practice, may not have tried what are the 

 inconveniences this addition is calculated 

 to remove. 



The acid, no doubt, gives a roughness 

 to the surface of the hair, which facilitates 

 the mechanical action of felting. Nitrous 

 acid is used in a process called carrot- 

 ting ; in this operation the material is put 

 into a mixture of the nitrous and sulphu- 

 ric acids in water, and kept in the digest- 

 ing heat of a stove all night. The hair 

 acquires a ruddy or yellow colour, and 

 loses part of its strength. It must be 

 remembered, that our hat still possesses 

 the form of a cone, and that the whole of 

 te several actions it has undergone have 

 only converted it into a soft flexible felt, 

 capable of being extended, though with 

 some difficulty, in every direction. The 

 next thing to be done is to give it the 

 form required by the wearer. For this 

 purpose, the workman turns up the edge 



