Part 4

These felted bodies or shells, as they are called, when dry are steamed generally over the hatter's hot iron, and pulled when warm and soft over the finishing block. A cord is then run tight round the shell, and the block withdrawn; the prepared pasteboard tip is inserted into the crown, and the block reset; after which the body receives a regular hot ironing all over. In this operation the inserted tip adheres to the felt, and the whole body assumes the exact counterpart of the block, both crown and brim. The rough hairs are now to be removed by sand or emery paper and the block withdrawn. The body next receives a coat of the best size, and when dry two coats of seed-lac, or copal varnish which finishes the making of this kind of body.

Those bodies that are made of muslin, when first invented, were called gossamer, from their extreme lightness, and though they have increased in weight, they still retain the name of gossamer hats.

In preparing for the body, a few yards of muslin are extended upon a frame, and saturated with liquefied shellac, or water stiff, which when dry is cut bias into strips for sides, tips, and brims. One side of these side and tip pieces of muslin is overlaid with the silk intended for the inside lining of the hat, and pressed to adhesion; or this may be done while in the web before being cut into strips. The block being set upon the bottom-board, one of these extra prepared sides is wound tight round the side-crown of it, and the two ends stuck together by overlapping. A piece of the prepared tips is next laid on, and made to adhere to the side-crown.

The brim consists of three thicknesses of stout muslin of a circular form, each with a hole in the centre, all of which are slipped over the crown down to their place of destination with a quarter of an inch of the edge rising up on the side. A second side-crown and another tip are now applied, covering the others, and the whole of these cemented together with the hot iron, the shellac with which they were stiffened acting as a cement. After receiving a coat of size and one of varnish, this body will be ready, like the other FUR body, for the finisher. In preparing these bodies, cover the block with a soft shell.

Before commencing the finishing, however, we will describe the sewing of the silk plush cover, which is quite a nice and particular piece of work. The strip of plush for the side-crown is cut from the web bias and of a width the depth of the intended hat; the tip piece which is to mate this side-crown is of course circular, and a quarter of an inch larger all round than the tip of the hat. These two pieces are to be sewed together by hand face to face, the edges being folded back, and the plush put well through to the proper side with the needle as the sewers proceed, so that the seam when the hat is finished may not appear bare for want of plush.

In finishing, whether the hat body be of fur or gossamer, the first thing is the putting on of the under brim, which we shall suppose to be plush, satin, or merino. A strip is cut from the web or piece at about an angle of forty-five degrees, and having the length reduced to suit the size of the hat; the two ends are then sewed together, and having been laid on the hat, one of the edges is made fast to the edge of the brim with the iron, all round, and smoothly laid down, the bias allowing this to be done by stretching. It is next to be steamed with a damp cloth under the hot iron and the inner edge stuck inside of the hat with the nose of the iron.

The upper brim is next in order. A strip of silk plush the requisite width is run on, slightly, in much the same manner as with the under brim, but dispensing with both the cloth-steaming and often with the sewing. The one end of this upper brim being cut with the scissors and the other with the knife, a good invisible seam may be made.

The brims being now on, the tip of the hat is wetted inside, and the block put in. The silk plush cover, having been previously spread with gum tragacanth, about where the side seam is likely to be, and now dry, is carefully drawn over the crown and fitted to the hat; the two ends of the cover being folded back and marked for the seam. The cover is then removed, the plush brushed back at the folding, and the cloth cut for the seam with a pair of sharp scissors; the top of the seam is cleaned or dressed off and the cover replaced on the hat body. The tip and side crown are now to be stuck with the hot iron to the body with particular care, so as to make a good joining at the seam, and not to draw through the varnish. The making of a good seam is the test of a good workman.

The dressing and polishing of the hat now commence; and while it remains upon the block, this is done by means of brushes, wettings, ironings, &c., once, twice, or three times in succession, after which it is fixed on the veluring machine where it is revolved rapidly, for the purpose of freeing the nap of all impurities by means of the hair-cloth velures that are applied.

The hat is next taken back to the bench, where it receives its final dry-ironing, veluring, &c., and the crown is papered up.

The brim is yet to be finished, which is done by hand, with the brushes, sponge, iron, &c., and made to shine like the crown; after this it is given to the trimmer to be trimmed and bound, when it comes back to be curled and properly shaped in the brim, suiting the taste of the wearer. The workman who gives the hat its final touches makes use of a number of tools, which, though of seemingly trifling appearance, are nevertheless necessary for his department, which requires a refined taste.

Forming Machines.

Such is hat-making, but we cannot conclude without remarking that there have been many patents granted in this and other countries for improvements in hatting, that we cannot notice. Nevertheless there are two, of decided merit, claiming attention, as having entirely revolutionized one-half of the making department, and which may be modified and extended to answer many purposes, in addition to that of hat-making.

The first and most ingenious is called the pneumatic process of forming the bodies, hence in all large cities the bowing operation is not employed. It is as follows: A cone of sheet copper punched full of small holes, and set upright, revolves slowly upon its axis; beneath this or attached to it an exhausting fan is placed, causing by its rotation a current of air to draw through the holes from the outside. A trunk or box with an opening facing against this revolving cone, discharges the fur which is fed into it at the other end by a feeding apron, in quantity just sufficient for one hat-body. It is drawn into this trunk between two rollers that are covered with leather or felt, and immediately seized by a cylinder revolving about four hundred times in a minute, furnished with a number of stiff brushes. This generates a current of air which scatters the fur and blows it out of the mouth of the trunk, where floating in the air it is speedily drawn upon the perforated cone, and evenly spread over the top and sides of the same, in quantity enough for one hat-body in so many revolutions. The discharging trunk is so adjusted that any desired quantity of fur can be deposited on any particular portion of the cone. When the cone has got the fur for one hat-body, the workman wraps over it a wet cloth and slips a metallic cover over the whole, which he removes into a tank of hot water. A new cone is immediately set in its place to receive another coating of fur. The hot water into which it has been dipped tends to make the mat more tenacious, which is next slipped off the cone, taken to a table, gently worked by hand-rolling in a piece of blanket, squeezed and pressed, and folded into a convenient shape and sent to the regular hatter to be felted at the ordinary plank kettle.

The cost of hat-bodies is reduced, it is computed, by this process as five or six to one of the old bowing system, and the rapidity of production is as thirty to one.

It will not have escaped observation that this ingenious piece of machinery is applicable only for fur, the filaments of which are short and less inclined to tangle than those of wool, but another and no less useful piece of mechanism has been invented for forming the bodies of wool hats, and like the other has entirely superseded the use of the bow in all large factories where wool hats are made. It consists of a modified common carding machine, the sliver from which is conducted to a set of double conical blocks that are placed base to base, and which slowly revolve upon their axes in front of the carding machine, and the sliver is received and wound upon these combined blocks to the required thickness, sufficient for one hat, both blocks being covered at the same time. This machine which carries the blocks has a horizontal vibratory motion, or swaying backwards and forwards, that enables the sliver to be wound in a systematic manner on the cones, with a varied thickness of material for brims and crowns, and causing also the fibres of the wool to lie in a diagonal position, as layer upon layer covers the blocks. The bodies of the two hats, each of a conical figure, are thus made over the surface of a double cone which are separated by cutting them along their middle or base line, and slipping them off at the end. They are now ready to be wetted, shrunk, and felted in the usual manner by the regular hatter.

Shoes and Gaiters of Felt.

We will here describe the making of felted gaiters and shoes, which is similar to the art of hatting. There may be other and better methods, as the expansive stretching nature of felt may admit of other modes.

The wearer of these gaiters may walk upon the slippery pavement with comfort and full confidence, and if furnished with a leather or rubber under-sole, they are a neat, easy, comfortable cover for the feet.

A given quantity of wool calculated for one pair of shoes is weighed out, which is divided into four equal portions, two of them for each shoe. One at a time is laid upon the hurdle, and with the proper bow it is bowed as if for a hat, and disposed of in exactly an equilateral triangle, which being gathered together with the basket, is pressed, and temporarily solidified, laid aside, and the other portion treated in the same manner. A piece of coarse brown paper is now folded into a triangular shape, a little smaller than the bats just bowed; all the three edges are to be folded together with the paper inclosed. The use of the inclosed paper is to prevent the inner surfaces from felting together, and to keep the inside open. The intended shoe is next lapped in a sheet of cloth, and hardened at the hot basin (the basin is a disk of solid iron with a fire beneath). Water sprinkled on the sheet when turned upon the basin, sends steam all through the mass, and when rubbed slightly by hand, friction is communicated to the surface fibres, which in a short time become smooth, when the position of the triangular wool should be changed and the rubbing continued. A few crossings and rubbings give it a consistence sufficient for handling at the plank kettle, where we shall suppose both shoes to have arrived.

The felting operation at the kettle is performed in quite the same manner as that of a hat, by pressing, rolling, folding, and unfolding, &c., with its dippings into the hot water, until the material has assumed a hardness and solidity quite astonishing to the casual observer.

This operation finished, the shoe still in the triangular shape, one corner is now to be cut off to make an opening, and the confined paper taken out, which is quite a soggy spongy lump of pulp. The mate to this shoe having been advanced to the same forwardness, they are to be pulled upon their respective lasts and dried, and perhaps dyed, after which they are pounced, and finally trimmed.

Printers' Sheets.

The making of _sheet_ felt for calico and other printers is a business that fell into the hands of the hatters at the introduction of the water-proofing of hats, as previous to that time the thick stout old hats of former times were quite sufficiently thick for the fittings of their blocks, so that when no more of them could be gotten, recourse was had to the new article, although it should be at a slight sacrifice.

Felt is employed in this business because of the facility with which it lifts and carries from the color sieve, the colors that are to be applied to the cloth. Wood and Copper blocks or rollers require two different thicknesses of felt, and though various qualities are made, a solid body and clear smooth surface and edge when cut and pounced by the block-cutter, are absolutely necessary, as otherwise, a ragged edge to the printed figures on the cloth will be the result.

The following makes a very good article:--

7 ozs. best backs of coney wool, and 6 ozs. of Saxony lamb's wool.

The coney is first well broken over with a light bow, upon the hurdle, and then by means of the heavier wool bow, the well-carded Saxony is intimately mixed with it. This thoroughly accomplished, the whole is to be divided into two portions; the one a little heavier than the other, which is laid upon the hurdle, and with the same wool bow, strung with stouter cat-gut, the hatter disposes of the mixture in a perfectly even flat form, of an oblong square, which when gathered by the hatter's basket, measures 18 inches wide by 3 feet long. A cloth is then spread over it, and the whole turned upside down; the sides and ends of the cloth are lapped over, so that this bat as it is called is completely enveloped. A stiff skin is now thrown over it, and pressed and rubbed for some time in an even manner, to reduce its thickness. The skin having been removed, the sheet with its bat is rolled and pressed still more, then laid aside while the other half undergoes exactly the same operation, but is made three inches shorter in length.

These two sheets, which are destined to form but one, are connected thus. The shorter is first folded over upon itself, and the two ends joined by overlapping with a proper inlayer of paper; then the larger bat is laid upon this one, and the whole turned upside down, so that the joinings of the two bats will be upon opposite sides of the sheet of felt. After these joinings are carefully made, the would-be sheet appears exactly like a lady's muff, and is again to be enveloped in the cloth, for the hardening process, at the hot basin, where it receives a partial steaming, rubbing, re-folding, &c., till finally it is carried to the plank kettle, where the severest labor must be applied; the object being to condense the materials of which it is made to the utmost degree of tension. It is then cut open, dried, and receives an application of a weak solution of size; when again dry it is well pounced with pumice stone, and the edges cut straight, which finishes a first class printers' sheet of felt, the size being 33 or 33-1/2 inches long by 12 inches wide. Sheets for _copper_ blocks or rollers require a thickness of a quarter of an inch, and those for _wood_ three-sixteenths of an inch. Some prefer a sheet altogether of Saxony _wool_.

Cloth Hats.

After the introduction of gutta-percha into the arts, and the manufacture of it into thin sheeting, a new kind of hat was introduced, made of gutta-percha cloth, and from the variety of shades, &c. seemed for some time to supersede the soft low-crowned FELT article. But the cupidity of some of the manufacturers destroyed the business almost entirely when in its infancy, some say purposely, by making them so very inferior and at the same time so perfect a counterfeit, that the really good and perfectly made hat became universally distrusted, and hence the result.

We shall refrain from all notice of the methods employed tending to this deterioration of the new article, and merely describe the making of the honest, sound, and valid hat, the revival or resuscitation of which is well worthy of consideration.

A dry, thin, and soft fur or wool body is to be drawn upon the proper block, generally 3 or 4 inches deep with either a square or round crown, and the brim spread out upon the bench or bottom board. A circular piece of gutta-percha gum the size of the intended brim, having its centre cut out, is to be slipped over the crown down on to the felt brim; a similar piece of good cloth is likewise slipped over in the same manner to cover the gum, and now the extreme outer edges of the felt and cloth are to be carefully cemented together by means of the gum, by passing round a hot iron. The usual stirrup or bridle is then thrown over the hat, girding the inner edge of the cloth to the block, and stuck with the heel of the iron. This partially stuck brim is finally overlaid with a wet loose brim-cloth and properly ironed, the heat of the steam from the damp cloth softens the gutta-percha gum and effects the adhesion of the cloth to the fur body. About half an inch of cloth will project up on the side crown, which is also made to adhere to the felt body by the heated iron.

The block is now to be withdrawn, and the hat turned inside out, which reverses this would-be upper brim to the under side. The hat is next to be re-blocked, a repetition of the gum and cloth is to be applied to this side of the brim exactly as with the other, and then succeeds the covering of the crown, which is to be wholly laid over first with the gutta-percha and then with the previously prepared cloth cover as a crown piece, these being held tight by means of the blocking-cord. The whole crown, both tip and sides, is to be cemented and finished, never omitting the wet finishing-cloth between the hat and the hot iron, and the hat is now complete and ready for lining and trimming.

The above makes a good soft pliable cloth hat. But if a stiffer and firmer hat is wanted of the same material, the felt body is to be put through the process of the alkaline bath, similar to that of fur hats, and when dry, proceeded with as above.

Another method of making these cloth hats is to dispense with the fur body entirely, the block being covered with two thicknesses of cloth and having a ply of gutta-percha gum between, which are cemented together by steaming and pressing, using at all times a wet cloth under the hot iron. The brim is separate and distinct from the crown when made, and consists of a piece of thick wool padding, which is to be covered on both sides with the proper cloth, cemented together with the gum, first one side and then the other, after which the crown and brim are sewed together.

In all these cases, the gutta-percha gum acts not only as a cement but also a water-proofing to the hat.

Conclusion.

In this treatise upon the history of hats and hat-making, of furs, wools, &c., and the manufacture of felt, we are well aware of the impossibility of illustrating in full the hatting trade of America, as this country stands alone as compared with others, on account of the mixed population that is here collected. As we have representatives in this, as in every other line of business, from every civilized nation upon earth, with all their various methods of working in their own accustomed ways, the prejudices naturally engendered and entertained through habit being hard to combat, so that the judges of this work may be numerous and various, and no doubt profusely severe in some of their criticisms.

But there is going on a rapid amalgamation of all that is best in the trade of hatting, resulting from the continued flow of immigration, and heightened greatly by the wanderings of hatters generally, from shop to shop, and from town to town, that must ultimately bring together in this our beloved land, a perfection in the trade that cannot be attained by any other nation.

FOOTNOTES.

[A] The most familiar instance of mutual association and combination, resulting in real utility, though not so striking on account of our familiarity with it, is the broadcloth of which our clothes are made, which when cut by the tailor will never unravel. This result is wholly the effect of its felting in the fulling mill during the operation of scouring and washing, every fibre of the wool of which the cloth is made, having clung to its immediate neighbors, both warp and weft, and with the spirit of true friendship they still remain in each other's embrace, and the cloth is transformed from a loose to a solid fabric.

Another instance of the power of combination is the mysterious Gordian knot that we read of in history, which promised the empire of the world to him who could unloose it, and which Alexander the Great is reported to have cut with his sword, because he failed in the attempt. If not a fabulous story, that compound knot the illustrious Gordius is supposed to have cunningly felted previous to hanging it up in the temple.

[B] The reason why wool and woollen goods felt and solidify more readily than any straight fibred furs, is owing to the natural curl or frizzle possessed by wool, each and every bend of every individual filament assuming an inclination for travel independent of each other and of the general inclination of the perfect fibre.

[C] Hatters' kettles for FUR hatting are made of copper, as they take less firing than those that are made of lead. But lead must be the metal if sulphuric acid, no matter in how small quantity, is used in the water. It is generally resorted to by the men in sizing WOOL hats, as it facilitates the felting operation. This acid (vitriol), having no affinity for lead, does not affect the kettle, while it would soon eat the one of copper through. Care, however, must be taken that no stone be let fall into the water of the lead kettle, for a hole will soon result from such an accident.

[D] As every hat must be finished upon a block of some particular form, upon which the hat assumes the exact counterpart, it becomes necessary with those having broad tops, that the block be in five separate pieces, so as to get them out or into the hat, the centre piece acting as a wedge to the whole.

INDEX.

Acid aids fulling, 21

Alkali stiff, 33

Analysis of hair, 12

Ancient hats, 26

Basket, hat, 40

Battery for sizing, 41

Bleaching of hair, 14

Block for hats, 47

Blocking, 47

Blowing machine, 35

Body making, 41

Bowing, 39

Bow-pin, 39

Broadcloth, properties of, 19

Cardinal's hats, 26

Carroting, 29

Cassimere hats, 48

Chemical analysis of hair, 12

Cloth hats, 63

Coloring, 47

Conclusion, 65

Construction of hair, 16

Cotton, why it does not felt, 17

Description of furs, wools, hair, &c., 11

Dressing, 56

Dyeing, 47

Dyes, 48

Elizabeth, Queen, patent, 28

Familiar proofs of felting, 17

Fashions, 28

Felting, 14 familiar proofs of, 17 inventor of, 27 when invented, 22

Felt made by Turcomans, 21 uses of, 22

Festival of hatters, 29

Fine wool, introduction into the United States, 23

Finishing, 49

First account of hatters, 27

Flowing nap, 43

Forming, 56 machines, 57-59

Fulling, 14 acid aids, 21 mill, 24 oil prevents, 21 process of, 25 soap aids, 21

Fur, kinds of, 20 qualities of, 14

Furs, description of, 11 how prepared, 29 inferior articles employed with, 22 low prices of in early times, 23

Gaiters of felt, 60

Glue, pelts used for, 31

Goods, shrinking of, 15

Gordian knot, 19

Gossamer hats, 53

Grease prevents fulling, 21

Hair balls in the stomach, 19 bleaching of, 14 chemical analysis of, 12 construction of, 16 description of, 11 how it grows, 12 peculiar properties of, 15 why it felts, 14

Hairs, number of, 17

Hat basket, 40 block, 47 bow, 39 iron, 49