HAT. 
acid.) This liquor, afting only or one fide of fhe fub- 
llance of the hairs, changes their dire&ion from a right 
line, and gives them that difpofition to felting which 
wool naturally pofleires. When the hairs are not in¬ 
tended to enter into the body of the mafs, but are only 
to be employed in making a fort of external coating, 
inch as is given to the outer furface of hats with a long 
flow or nap, the operation juft mentioned need not be 
performed ; but the felt on which they are to be fixed 
being finilhed, the hair is uniformly fpread upon the 
furface to which the coating is to be applied 5 and, be¬ 
ing covered with a cloth, it is prefled with the hands, 
and agitated for a certain time. By thefe means, the 
hairs introduce themfelves, by the root, a certain depth 
into the felt, and are there fixed by their lamella in fuch 
a manner as not to be eafily extracted. A particular 
dire&ion is afterwards given to them by means of a 
brufii, and they are made to keep this direction by hav¬ 
ing a hot iron palled over them. If the agitation were 
continued for a longer time, thefe hairs, not having their 
ftraightnefs deftroyed by the operation above defcribed, 
•would pafs entirely through the felt, going out at the 
oppofite furface ; as each hair follows exactly the di¬ 
rection it acquired at the beginning. It is owing to the 
very fame circumftances which make wool and hair ca¬ 
pable of felting, that woollen cloth is thickened by full¬ 
ing. This is the.procefs given by the ingenious and in¬ 
telligent profeffor Monge. 
When the felt has acquired the neceflary firmnefs and 
confiftency intended to be given to it by the above-men¬ 
tioned agitation and preflure, the cloth is taken off, and 
a flieet of paper, with its corners doubled in, fo as to 
give it a triangular outline, is laid upon the batt, which 
iaft is folded over the paper as it lies, and its edges, 
meeting one over the other, form a conical cap. The 
joining is foon made good by preflure with the hands on 
the cloth. Another batt, ready hardened, is in the 
next place laid on the hurdle, and the cap here men¬ 
tioned placed upon it, with the joining downwards. 
This lalt batt, being alfo folded up, will confequently 
have its place of junction diametrically oppofite to that 
of the inner felt, which it muft therefore greatly tend 
to ltrengthen. The principal part of the intended hat 
is thus put together, and now requires to be worked 
with the hands a conliderable time upon the hurdle, the 
cloth being alfo occafionally fprinkled with clear water. 
During the whole of this operation, which is called ba- 
foning, the felt becomes firmer and firmer, and contracts 
in its dimenfions. It may eafily be underftood, that the 
chief ufe of the paper is to prevent the lides from felt¬ 
ing together. A fuperior method is faid to be, that af¬ 
ter the bowing, and previous to the bafoning, a harden¬ 
ing Jkin of leather, alumed or half tanned, Ihould be ufed 
inftead of the cloth, and prefled upon the batt, to bring 
it by an eafier gradation to a compaCf appearance. This 
operation of bafoning , derives its name from the procefs 
or mode of working being the fame as that praCtifed upon 
a wool-hat after bowing; the lalt being done upon a 
piece of caft metal, four feet acrofs, of a circular ihape, 
called a bafon: the joining of each batt is made good here 
by the motion of the hand, that is, by rubbing, the 
edges of each batt folded over tiie other to excite the 
progreffive action of the filaments in felting, and to join 
the two together. Many hatters, to hurry this work, 
ufe a quantity of vitriol (fulphuric acid), and then, to 
make the nap rife and'flow, they kill the vitriol, and 
open the body again-by throwing in a handful of oat¬ 
meal ; by this means they expedite their hats, but at 
the fame time they leave them quite grainy from the 
wantof labour. This, in handling the dry grey hat when 
made, may be in part dilcovered. 
The bafoning is followed by a ftill more effectual con¬ 
tinuation of the felting, called working. This is done at 
an apparatus called a battery,- confifting of a kettle (con- 
251 
taining water flightly acidulated with fulphuric acid, to 
which, for beaver hats, a quantity of wine-lees or the 
grounds of beer is added, or elfe plain water for rinfing 
out,) and eight planks of wood joined together in the 
form of a fruftum of a cone, and meeting in the kettle 
at the middle. The outer or upper edge of each plank 
is about two feet broad, and riles a little more than two 
feet and a half above the ground ; and the (lope towards 
the kettle is confiderably rapid, fo that the whole bat¬ 
tery is little more than fix feet in'diameter. The quan¬ 
tity of fulphuric acid added to the liquor is not fuffi- 
cient to give a four tail'd, but only renders it rough to 
the tongue. Jn this liquor, heated rather higher than 
unpraCtifed hands could bear, the felt is dipped from 
time to time, and worked on the planks with a roller ; 
after which it is plunged into the boiling kettle till fully 
faturated with the liquor, called foaking ; and is then 
laid on the plank to cool. The imperfections of the 
felt now prefent themfelves to the eye of the workman,* 
who picks out knots and other hard fubftances with a 
bodkin, and adds nlore fur upon all fuch parts as re¬ 
quire ftrengthening. This added fur is patted down 
with a wet brufh, and foon incorporates with the reft. 
The beaver for the nap is laid on towards the conclu- 
fion of this kind of working. The hat now poflelFes the ' 
form of a cone, and the whole of the feveral aCtions it 
has undergone have converted it into a loft flexible felt,- 
capable of being extended, though with fome difficulty, 
in any or every direction; therefore the next thing to- 
be done, is to give it the form required by the wearer. 
For this purpol'e, the workman turns up the edge or 
brim to the depth of about an inch and a half, and then 
returns the point back again through the centre or axis 
of the cap, fo far as not to take out this fold, but to 
produce another inner fold of the fame depth. The 
point being returned back again in the fame manner,, 
produces a third fold, and thus the workman proceeds 
until the whole has acquired the appearance of a flat 
circular piece, confifting of a number of concentric un¬ 
dulations or folds, with the point in the centre. This 
is laid upon the plank, where the workman, keeping the 
piece wet with the liquor, pulls out the point with his 
fingers, and prefles it down with his hand, at the fame 
time turning it round on its centre in contaCt with the 
plank, till he has, by this means, rubbed out a flat por¬ 
tion equal to the intended crown of the hat. In the 
next place, he takes a block, to the crown of which he 
applies the fiat central portion of the felt, and bv forcing 
a firing down the fides of the block, he cattles the next 
part to atTume the figure of the crown, which he con¬ 
tinues to wet and work, until it has properly difpofed 
itfelf round the block. The brim now appears like a 
flounced or puckered appendage round the edge of the 
crown ; but the block being let upright on the plank, 
the requifite figure is foon given by working, rubbing, 
and extending this part. Water only is ufed in this 
operation of falhioning orblocking; at the conclufion 
of which it is prefled out by the blunt edge of a copper 
implement ufed for that purpofe. 
Previous to the dying, the nap of the hat is railed or 
loofened out with a wire brulh, or carding inllrument. 
The fibres are too rotten after the dying to bear this 
operation. The dying materials are logwood, a little 
oak-bark, and a mixture of the lulphats of iron and of 
copper, known in the market by the common names of 
green copperas and blue vitriol. The hats are boiled 
with the logwood, and afterwards imiherfed in the fa- 
line folution. The dyed hats are, in the next place, 
taken to the ftiffening-lhop. One workman, aflifted by 
a boy, does this part of the bulinefs. He has two vefi. 
leis, or boilers, one containing the grounds of ftrong 
beer, and the other containing 'melted glue, a little 
thinner than -what is ufed by carpenters. The beer- 
grounds are applied in the iniide of the crown to pr&- 
