[Transcriber's Note: Italic text is represented by _underscores_.
Small capitals in the original have been converted to all capitals.
Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text.]
A TREATISE
ON
HAT-MAKING AND FELTING,
INCLUDING A FULL
EXPOSITION OF THE SINGULAR PROPERTIES
OF FUR, WOOL, AND HAIR.
BY
JOHN THOMSON,
A PRACTICAL HATTER.
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY CAREY BAIRD,
INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHER,
406 Walnut Street.
LONDON:
E. & F. N. SPON,
48 Charing Cross.
1868.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
HENRY CAREY BAIRD,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA:
COLLINS, PRINTER, 705 JAYNE STREET.
CONTENTS.
Descriptions of furs, wools, hairs, &c. 11
The fulling mill 24
History of hats and hatting 25
The fashions 28
Preparation of materials 29
Stiffening and water-proofing materials 31
The blowing machine 35
The manufacture of hats 36
Shaving 44
Stiffening process 44
Ruffing or napping 45
Blocking 47
Dyeing 47
Pumicing or pouncing 48
Finishing 49
Silk hatting 52
Forming machines 56
Shoes and gaiters of felt 60
Printer's sheets 61
Cloth hats 63
Conclusion 65
TREATISE ON HAT-MAKING AND FELTING.
It is conceded as an axiom, that theory and practice, in the pursuit of
any object, are in their natures essentially different and distinct.
But at the same time they long for a mutual understanding each to
confirm the assertions of the other, the consummation of all practical
results being the mutual embrace and perfect reconciliation of these
two attributes.
The writer of these pages, being a practical hatter, desires to
describe intelligibly his calling, dispensing with all technical
terms, at the same time conscious of being liable to receive an unfair
criticism from his brother tradesmen, although perfectly innocent
on their part, resulting from the prejudices engendered by the many
would-be secrets that pertain to the different work-shops, together
with their various modes and methods of working, all of which most
generally are but trifles merely to gain a name.
The practice of a trade without a knowledge of the why and the
wherefore of certain usages is a sad defect in any workman, but
more especially in certain trades: Hatting being one of those which
depends upon _second_ causes for its proficiency, we venture here an
explanation with perfect confidence, hoping that the fraternity of
hatters will be indulgent, and that they may profit by an experience
of many years in the trade, and that for one error or omission in the
writing of these sheets they will find compensation in the new ideas
that will spring from their perusal, which may be an incentive to
further improvements in the business resulting beneficially to all.
Theory without practice, or practice without theory, is like groping in
the dark, and perfection in no trade can be attained till every effect
can be traced to its cause, and _vice versa_.
It is much to be regretted that practical operative workmen are so
diffident in writing and publishing their experience in their several
trades and occupations, quietly permitting theorists ignorant of
the business to glean as best they can from other parties the most
intricate and complicated particulars of a trade, and hence the attempt
to illustrate the most useful branches of an art often results in crude
and even erroneous descriptions of things of the greatest moment, and
the dissemination as correct, of that which is altogether at variance
with the truth. In confirmation of the above, we may instance the
manufacture of hats as described in a work of much merit, and which is
accounted as worthy of all confidence, wherein the error above spoken
of is but too plainly visible. Thus, in the supplement to the third
edition of that most respectable work the Edinburgh "Encyclopedia
Britannica," in the article Hat, an apology is made for the original
treatise upon that subject, it being acknowledged as both defective
and erroneous from the imperfect source of the information. Such
a confession, and from such a source, sufficiently exonerates any
one from egotism in an attempt to write a more perfect and correct
description, coupling theory with practice; relieving the felting
process from its misty obscurity by a faithful expose of the whole
system: well knowing that an increase of business, like free trade,
will be the result of a right understanding of a formerly supposed
mystery, viz., the True cause of Felting.
Felt and felted articles being already in use, in many trades in
addition to that of hat-making, necessitates a general and indeed a
very full and lucid description of the materials of which they are made.
Descriptions of Furs, Wools, Hair, &c.
Fur, properly speaking, signifies the skins of various species of
animals, dressed in alum or some other preparation with the hair on,
and made into articles of wearing apparel; but the term fur also
signifies the stuff that is cut from the skin, for the use of the
hatter, and in this sense alone it will be employed in the following
pages.
Hair, wool, fur, and animal down are simply slender filaments or
thread-like fibres issuing out of the pores of the skins of animals,
and all partaking of the same general nature, such as great ductility,
flexibility, elasticity, and tenacity, differing entirely from the
vegetable wools and downs, such as cotton, &c., which contain neither
of these four great characteristics to any valuable or appreciable
extent.
To characterize in a familiar way these several grades of material, it
may be said that fur is distinguished from wool by its greater fineness
and softness, and hair from wool by its straightness and stiffness.
The nature of all these bearing some relation to each other, it will
be necessary in this treatise to use the word hair occasionally to
designate one and all of them, that word being most convenient, and
tending to avoid confusion.
Simple as the idea may be, and though trifling in appearance, yet
the study of a single hair is particularly interesting, both to the
naturalist and the man of business, as will be seen when we mention
a few of its many peculiarities; hoping it will prove a source of
enjoyment to the one and a profit to the other.
Hair, wool, fur, &c., form quite an extraneous appendage to the skin,
or body producing them, not at all directly dependent on the life of
the animal for their own existence, for they have been known to live
and grow for some time after the death of the animal itself. We also
know that they live, grow, and die, showing all the signs of youth,
maturity, and old age. Hair possesses no sensation at any period of its
existence; of itself it has no feeling of touch, nor has it the power
of voluntary action.
The growth of hair is peculiar as it projects and grows in length from
the root, and not by the top as with vegetable productions, the lower
portion lengthens out, and the top is merely projected forward; and
when once cut, it never again resumes its tapering point.
Hair or fur of whatever quality, consists of a single slender filament,
without a branch or knot of any kind, and that filament is a tube,
which is filled with a fat oil, the color of the hair being derived
from this oil.
By the chemical analysis of hair it is found to consist of nine
different substances: 1st, gelatine or animal matter, which constitutes
its greater part; 2d, a white concrete oil in small quantity; 3d,
another oil of a grayish-green color more abundant, these oils
comprising about one-fourth of the entire weight; 4th, a few particles
of oxide of manganese; 5th, iron, the state of which in the hair is
unknown; 6th, phosphate of lime; 7th, carbonate of lime in very
small quantity; 8th, silex in greater abundance; 9th, and lastly, a
considerable amount of sulphur--such is the constitution of all furs,
wools, hair, &c., most of which may be dissolved in pure water heated
to a temperature above 230° of Fahrenheit, by which it is partially
decomposed. Hair is likewise soluble in alkalies, with which it forms
soap. Chlorine gas immediately decomposes it, producing a viscid mass.
It is worthy of particular remark, that of all animal products, hair
is the one least liable to spontaneous change, evidence of which may
be found in the fact that the Peruvian, Mexican, and Brazilian mummy
hair is still perfect, and is supposed to be from 2500 to 3000 years
old, and stands the hygrometric test with equal firmness. From this we
should suppose the body or substance of hair and wool to be exceedingly
hard and solid, which is really the case, as no pressure has yet been
applied sufficiently powerful to entirely deprive wool of the water
with which it has been washed--the interstices between the fibres of
the assemblage never having been closed by the power applied, as the
water therein collected may still be drained off when the pressure is
removed.
Although hair is of a tubular construction, yet all varieties are
not of a completely cylindrical form; a curl is the result of all
flat-sided or oval hairs, the exceeding oval being the unfailing
characteristic of the negro race. A cross section of a hair, if
circular, denotes the long, soft, and lank fibre of a cold northern
animal; but if the cross section shows an extreme flat-sided hair, that
hair will be crisp and frizzled, and of a tropical extraction. Quite
a gradual change in the form of the fibre of hair is observed in all
animals as we ascend from the equator to the highest latitudes, other
things being equal.
It has long been a desideratum how to discriminate between the various
qualities of hatters' _fine_ furs, and no really reliable test has
yet been obtained, superior to the judgment of the human eye, the
fineness of fibre for the hatter being of most essential importance,
particularly that allotted for the flowing nap upon the outside of the
hat. Although the thickness of the fibre of the finer furs has never
been properly gauged, it will be a source of some satisfaction to know
that the diameter of the human hair varies from the 250th to the 600th
part of an inch, while the fibre of the coarsest wool is about the
500th and the finest about the 1500th part of an inch.
Hair may be bleached on the grass like linen, after previous washing
and steeping in a bleaching liquid, after which it may be dyed of any
color.
It is very doubtful whether the growth of hair can by any artificial
means be expedited, or the hair itself increased in length, in quality,
or in density. A fine field of enterprise would be opened for the
fortunate inventor who could increase the produce of the finer and more
expensive furs. In contradistinction to this, however, it may be stated
that the inhabitants of some countries, the Malays, for instance,
purposely destroy their hair by using quick-lime.
We come next to describe minutely another peculiarity appertaining
to hair, upon which all felting or shrinking of a fabric depends;
that grand secret that has been a mystery in all ages, until within
a few years, or at best was only surmised. Upon this property alone
depends the whole art of hatting and of felt making, whether in sheets
or otherwise, as well as the fulling of cloth and the shrinking of
flannels, and all articles the material of which is made of wool, hair,
or fur.
As many branches of business depend for their success upon the
_non-shrinking_ quality of their goods, a study of the felting
principle becomes quite appropriate and interesting to those
manufacturers, whilst perusing that of the opposite. Pulled wools,
rather than cut or shorn wools, must always have the preference with
the one class of manufacturers; at the same time, the other class must
adhere tenaciously to those which have been cut, the roots of the hair
causing all the difference, for that remarkable quality, the felting
principle, is upon all the same whether pulled or cut.
A few familiar facts dependent upon this inherent felting quality of
hair will aid the illustration. When a hair is held by the top, it can
be severed with a razor much more readily than if held by the root.
Again, a hair held by the root, and drawn through between the finger
and thumb, feels quite smooth, but when held by the top, a rough and
tremulous motion is perceived.
Again, place a hair of three or four inches in length by the middle,
between the finger and thumb, and twirl it a few times, when the hair
will be found to proceed towards one end, as the twirling and rubbing
are continued, and invariably advancing root end foremost, whichever
way the hair is placed between the fingers. If two hairs are used in
this example, lay the root of the one to the top of the other, their
respective motions will be doubly discernible.
The cause of all these singularities of the hair it is now designed to
explain, which shall be done as explicitly and concisely as possible,
with a few proofs of its astonishing power in a collective capacity.
The above-mentioned phenomena are the result of that same long-hidden
property, and which is nothing more than a certain clothing or
covering, entirely surrounding the stem of every hair, in the form of
very minute scales, so very minute, indeed, that it requires the aid of
a very powerful microscope to enable the beholder to discern them, and
even then but faintly. These scales, which cover thickly every filament
of animal hair, wool, fur, &c., are thin pointed lamina, quite similar
to the scales on a fish, and overlapping each other as do the shingles
or slates upon a house. This state of the hair being understood, the
_modus operandi_ of the above examples may be thus explained: When the
hair was held by the point, it was easily cut by the edge of the razor
entering under the scales; but when held by the root, the instrument
slipped smoothly over them; and the hair that was drawn through the
fingers, when held by the point, felt rough and tremulous, from the
jagged points of the scales, but smooth when drawn in their own
direction.
The twirling of the hairs between the finger and thumb, resulting in
their travelling motion, was on account of the points of the scales
catching on the fingers, in the act of rubbing, similar to the heads of
wheat or barley at harvest time which school-boys put into the sleeves
of their coats, and which are sure to come out at some other extremity
to that at which they were put in, caused by the working of the boy's
arm upon the jaggy beard or awn of the barley head.
The task of counting the number of these lamina that clothe the body
of these hairs, must have been both tedious and difficult, from their
very minuteness and profusion. On a single filament of merino wool,
as many as 2400 barbed scales, like teeth, projecting from the centre
stem, have been counted in the space of one inch. On Saxony wool there
were 2700, while other wools were as low as 1860, and none were found
to have so few as 1000 to the inch.
No vegetable wools whatever, such as cotton, &c., have any such
appendage upon their fibres, and, consequently, cotton or cotton goods
never shrink in the act of washing, as woollen goods do. Cotton,
therefore, never can become a suitable material for felting purposes,
every fibre being smooth from end to end in either direction, and in
contradistinction to fur, which, though equally smooth as the cotton in
one way, rebels triumphantly when irritated in the contrary direction,
as already described. Mechanically speaking, cotton is smooth, solid,
and triangular, whilst wool is rough, tubular, and cylindrical.
The grand cause of that mysterious and curious operation called
felting, fulling, shrinking, thickening, and solidifying of a fabric,
whether of original loose wool, fur, or other stuff, or of that spun
into yarn and woven into cloth, is the presence of these scales.
Till lately, the best operative hatter and the investigating
philosopher were equally at a loss to explain upon what principle
such effects were produced. Take, for instance, a handful of wet fur
or wool, which is merely an assemblage of hairs; squeeze and press
it, work it a little in the hand, and then observe the effect; for
immediately upon pressing it a certain locomotion is thereby conferred
upon every fibre of that assemblage, which is increased by every turn
of position that is given to the body of wool. The rolling and pressing
change the position of each fibre. A friction is produced upon every
member composing the mass; a footing as it were is obtained from
the scales of each, and the fur or wool being all bent or curled, a
progressive motion goes on, interlacing each other in their travels,
resulting in a compact, dense body, which may well challenge the
goddesses of both patience and perseverance to undo. Every hair has
been travelling in its own individual direction, boring, warping,
grasping, holding, and twisting amongst its fellows like a collection
of live worms.
The power of combination, like the fable of the bundle of sticks, is
strikingly illustrated in the case of the hair, which when viewed
singly seems so very insignificant, but collectively, and when pressed
by the hand of oppression, hardship, and ill treatment, they combine
and become strong and defiant, clasping each other in their embrace,
tenaciously clinging to each other the more they are tortured, as if
they were living rational beings, conscious of their innocence, and
free from guilt.
Stockings, for instance, that are knit with soft-spun wool, for the use
of whale fishermen in northern latitudes, are large enough, when first
formed, to hold the whole man, but are felted down to the required
size in the fulling mill, where they are battered, tossed about, and
tortured to that degree that is required by their tormentors. The
writer has seen a millful of these stockings whose sides were felted so
firmly together, from a neglect of the workmen to turn them inside out,
in due time, during the felting operation, that a knife was required to
open them, and which actually failed in several instances, so firmly
had their two sides grown together; common tearing having no effect
whatever, each and every single hair had embraced its neighbors, and
their mutual action defied all attempts to open these stockings.[A]
There are instances of ruminating animals having died from the effect
of balls of hair having formed within their stomachs, hair by hair
having accumulated while licking themselves with their tongues. These
balls are all found to be as perfectly felted as the natural bend of
the several hairs composing them would allow, the felting having been
accomplished by the motions of the intestines of the animals. The
disgorged balls from the stomachs of nocturnal fowls are all of the
same nature.
As has been said, felt may be made of any kind of animal fur, wool, or
hair, provided it be bent, crimped, or curled, for if straight as a
bristle it would work out of the mass as readily as into it, and lose
itself in the operator's hands.
All materials intended for felting must be cut from the pelt or skin,
and not pulled, for the obvious reason that a pulled hair invariably
brings with it its root, in the form of a button or bulb, which would
greatly impede its progressive motion in the act of working, as each
and every hair under the operation of felting bores into and amongst
the other filaments of the fur composing the mass, root end foremost, a
sharp point therefore is obtained by cutting. This rule is universally
and invariably adopted by all hat furriers.
Wool of any great length of staple, after being carded, is pressed, and
either clipped, cut, or chopped into shorter lengths, which facilitates
the felting operation, and improves the solidity of the felt that is
produced.[B]
The various materials most used in hat-making are the furs of the
beaver, the otter, the rabbit, the hare, a species of the muskrat,
a species of the monkey, a species of the seal, and a few others,
together with Saxony and Spanish wools and the hair of camels and
goats. Numerous as are these various names, most of the animals produce
five or six different qualities of stuff, from particular parts of the
same skin, varying greatly in price or value.
The finest furs all come from those animals that inhabit the coldest
climates, and the season of the year in which any of them are killed
greatly influences the quality of the fur; a summer skin of some of
these animals being comparatively valueless, however excellent it
might be in the winter season. And what is particularly worthy of the
hatter's attention is, that fur that has been kept one or two years,
after being cut from the skin, produces a better working, and a more
solid article of felt, than fur from a newly-killed animal. The lamina
of such fur seem to rise and erect themselves upon the stem of the hair
by being kept, which may account for its better felting quality. This
would appear to be confirmed by the well-known fact that the 5 lb. bags
in which old fur stuffs have been kept are generally burst open.
One or two properties peculiar to furs and wools may still be
mentioned, as, for instance, all felting, by whatever means
accomplished, necessitates either a damp or wet process with the aid
of heat, and the facility of thickening or solidifying is accelerated
by the application of soap to the material under the operation. Or the
water may be acidulated for the same purpose with a little sulphuric
acid, as either of these acts as a penetrating solvent upon the natural
oil of the animal which still remains between the stem and lamina or
scales of the hair, thus baring the barbed points of the crusty scales,
the better to catch and hold their grip upon each other.
Oil or grease, on the contrary, when applied directly upon wool, covers
up these lamina or scales, thereby destroying their felting power, as
is well known to all wool spinners, however little they may understand
the real cause of its being so, further than the fact of giving to it a
smooth gliding effect, so necessary for the object of their business.
It may be amusing, whether true or not, to know that the rude Turcomans
are said to dwell, even to this day, in tents covered with felt, which
they make by treading with their feet the raw material of which it is
made, whilst it lies upon the ground, thus favoring the supposition
that felting was invented prior to weaving.
However, so far as we can learn, a real systematic method of felting
is comparatively of a late date, and until within a few years felt has
been chiefly employed for hats and hats alone. This is, however, now
but a branch of the felt manufacture, for plaids, coats, vests, pants,
leggings, shoes, gaiters, slippers, mittens, and caps, the covering
of steam cylinders and boilers, carpets, polishing cushions for
jewellers and marble cutters, covering for the roofs of houses which is
afterwards waterproofed, as also linings of water-tight compartments
in ships and ship sheathing, and the covering for the blocks of calico
and other printing, &c. &c., are now made of this material. As the
nature of hair and the principle upon which its felting property
depends become better known, the manufacture of felt will be stimulated
and increased, and applied to many purposes other than those above
enumerated, and not imagined at the present time.
The high price of the finer furs, resulting from the indiscriminate
destruction of the animals which produce them, forms the only apology
for the introduction of an inferior material into the body of the
manufactured article. Cotton, which is of quite a limber nature, is too
pliable, as indeed are all vegetable products when mixed with fur. They
lie dead within the body of the mass, and if the labor be continued
beyond a certain time, the active principle of the fur will be seen to
have clung to itself, leaving the cotton quite exposed on the outside.
Even under the most perfect manipulation, a mixture of cotton, from its
want of elasticity, will give a product which is to a corresponding
degree deteriorated.
There was a time when beaver skins were bought from the natives, by the
Hudson Bay Company, at the regular price of 14 skins for a gun, 7 for a
pistol, 2 for a shirt or one pair of stockings, 1 for a comb, or twelve
needles, &c. &c., less than the hundredth part of their real value, and
all the other fur-bearing skins belonging to that country were rated by
that of the beaver.
"The Scientific American" of New York for Dec. 1859 says that, not much
more than half a century ago, not a pound of fine wool was raised in
the United States, in Great Britain, or in any other country except
Spain. In the latter country the flocks were owned exclusively by the
nobility, or by the Crown. In 1794, a small flock was sent to the
Elector of Saxony, as a present from the King of Spain, whence came
the entire product of Saxony wool now of such immense value. In 1809,
during the second invasion of Spain by the French, some of the valuable
crown flocks were sold to raise money. The American Consul at Lisbon,
Mr. Jarvis, purchased fourteen hundred head, and sent them to this
country. A portion of the pure unmixed merino blood of these flocks is
to be found in Vermont at this time. Such was the origin of the immense
flocks of fine woolled sheep in the United States.
The same authority further adds that the simplest and most easy method
of judging of the quality of wools, is, to take a lock from a sheep's
back and place it upon an inch rule; if you can count from 30 to 33 of
the spirals or folds in the space of an inch, it equals in quality the
finest Saxony wool grown. Of course as the number of spirals to the
inch diminishes, the quality of the wool becomes relatively inferior.
Cotswold wool, and some other inferior wools, do not measure more than
nine spirals to the inch.
The Fulling Mill.
Having alluded to the fulling mill as a felting machine, it is only
necessary to remark here, that it is a rude looking but effective
method of condensing a _previously formed article_. It consists of
a trough six or eight feet long, and two feet wide, varying in size
according to the kind of goods to be operated on. The bottom is of a
semi-circular form, having a radius of five or six feet, with sides
rising three or four feet high, a strong solid heading, but no end
piece. There is a heavy wooden battering-ram suspended from above, at
a height answering to the curve of the trough; its immense head has
a flat face fitting the trough in which it is made to play freely,
similar to the pendulum of a clock. The goods are tumbled promiscuously
into this trough in front of the ram, with warm water, fuller's earth,
and soap, in sufficient quantity to saturate and wash the material, a
small stream of water from a boiler being admitted for that purpose.
The power of a water-wheel or steam engine draws back the ram out of
its perpendicular, to its allotted distance, whence it falls by its own
gravity, with a momentum that sweeps the goods before it with a fearful
crash, upon the solid heading of the trough. On the withdrawal of this
enormous hammer for a second onset, the goods roll over, resuming their
quiescent state, but differently disposed, which is no sooner done than
back comes the ram, repeating its dashing blows upon its unoffending
and unresisting victims in the trough, washing, scouring, and
buffeting them about, till they become not only clean, but completely
felted.
All of our broadcloths have been subjected to its action, in the
process of which the hairs of the weft and those of the warp have
become mutually entangled, and each with one another, as with hatting
in the regular hand process of loose wool or fur felting. Indeed,
every hair composing the whole piece of cloth has its individual and
independent progressive motions, combining the threads of both warp and
weft together to such an extent that these cloths never unravel, and no
hemming of a garment is required in the making of our clothes.
Twelve hours in the mill will reduce a piece of cloth two-fifths of its
breadth and one-third of its length.
The progressive travelling motion of the hair resulting in the
entanglement of the fibres and consequent felting and shrinking of the
cloth, is further exemplified in the comfortable soft half-dress caps
of the British soldiers, and in the bonnets and caps of the Scottish
peasantry generally, which have all been first knitted very large with
soft spun yarn, and afterwards felted down to the required size in the
fulling mill. During the fulling of any and all kinds of goods, they
must be frequently taken out of the trough, to be stretched, turned,
the folds straightened, and generally inspected.
History of Hats and Hatting.
The word hat is of Saxon derivation, being the name of a well-known
piece of dress worn upon the head by both sexes, but principally by the
men, as a covering from the hot sun of summer, the cold of winter,
a defence from the blows of battle, or for fashion. Being the most
conspicuous article of dress, and surmounting all the rest, it has
often been ornamented with showy plumes, and jewels, and with bands
of gold, silver, &c. It is generally distinguished from a cap by its
having a brim, which a cap has not, although there are exceptions even
to this rule of distinction, for there are hats that have no brims,
and there are also caps that are provided with a margin. Those hats
that are made of fur or wool have all been felted, and felt strictly
speaking is a fabric manufactured by matting the fibres together,
without the preliminary operation of either spinning or of weaving.
We find but little of hat-making recorded in history, and anything
relating to hats is extremely meagre, although their partial use may be
traced back to the time of ancient Greece amongst the Dorian tribes,
probably as early as the age of Homer, when they were worn, although
only by the better class of citizens when on a distant journey. The
same custom prevailed among the Athenians, as is evident from some of
the equestrian figures in the Elgin Marbles.
The Romans used a bonnet or cap at their sacrifices and festivals,
but on a journey the hat with a brim was adopted. In the middle ages
the bonnet or cap with a front was in use among the laity, while the
ecclesiastics wore hoods, or cowls.
Pope Innocent, in the thirteenth century, allowed the cardinals the use
of scarlet hats, and about the year 1440, the use of hats by persons on
a journey appears to have been introduced into France, and soon after
became common in that country, whence probably it spread to the other
European States.
When Charles VII. of France made his triumphant entry into Rouen in
1440, he wore a felted hat.
Hatters of the present day most generously ascribe the honor of the
invention of felting, and of its prospective introduction to that of
hat-making, to the old renowned Monk St. Clement, who when marching at
the head of his pilgrim army obtained some sheep's wool to put between
the soles of his feet and the sandals that he wore, which of course
became matted into a solid piece. The old gentleman, philosophizing
upon this circumstance, promulgated the idea of its future usefulness,
and thus it is said arose the systematic art of felting and of
hat-making.
However all this may be, still the invention of felted fabrics for the
use of man may have been, as some assert, very ancient and of quite
uncertain origin. The simplicity of its make, as compared with that of
woven cloth, shows all speculative assertions to be rather uncertain.
However obscure the origin may be, we learn that the first authentic
accounts of hatters appeared in the middle ages, in Nuremburg in 1360,
in France in 1380, in Bavaria in 1401, and in London in 1510.
The hatting trade of the United States of America is noticed first in
the representations made by the London Board of Trade to the House of
Commons in the year 1732, in which they refer to the complaints of
the London hatters, regarding the extent to which their particular
manufacture was being carried at that time in New York and in the New
England States.
The Fashions.
A look at the fashions and mode of dressing in ancient times causes
amusement. So capricious is the fancy of man that nothing is immutable,
all is change, and hats have been of all conceivable shapes and colors,
and dressed with the most fanciful decorations, plumes, jewels,
silk-loops, rosettes, badges, gold and silver bands and loops, &c. &c.
The crowns and brims having been in all possible styles from the
earliest period. It would appear that nothing is left for the present
and all coming time, but the revival of what has already been, even to
the fantastical peaked crown that rose half a yard above the wearer's
head.
In the fifteenth century, hats in Great Britain were called vanities,
and were all imported, costing twenty, thirty, and forty English
shillings apiece, which were large sums of money at that early period.
The most extreme broad brims were worn about the year 1700, shortly
after which the three-cornered cocked hat came in, and about this time
feathers ceased to be worn, the lingering remains being left for the
badge of servitude to the gentleman's attendant. Metal bands and loops
were only regarded as proper for naval and military men of honor.
It is a singular historical fact that the elegant soft hat of the
Spaniard has remained the same from the earliest period to the present
day, while among all other civilized nations a transformation in the
style of that article has taken place. Comfort in the wear seems to
have given place at all times to fancy and the demands of fashion.
Queen Elizabeth's patent grant to the hatters of London is still
recognized in England, and the 23d of November is the hatters' annual
festival, that being St. Clement's day, the patron of the trade.
Preparation of Materials.
Previous to cutting the fur from the various skins, they must be
moistened, straightened, and cleaned; the projecting long coarse hairs
that are interspersed throughout the fur, removed either by pulling,
clipping, or shearing; those of the rabbit, &c. being pulled, while
those of the hare, &c. are clipped. To pull these superfluous hairs by
the hand, the person sits with the skin laid over the knee, strapped
down to the foot, and with a dull-edged knife in hand, the thumb
being covered with a soft shield, the obnoxious guests are dextrously
uprooted. If done by machinery, they are pulled out by being nipped
between two revolving slender rollers. The skin is drawn over a
sharp-edged board, which causes these hairs to project, and the rollers
placed in the proper position and distance, frees the fur of its
deteriorating associates with great facility, without disturbing the
fur.
Furs intended for body-making undergo a process called carroting or
secretage, which is an artificial method of increasing the felting
quality of the fur, enabling the hatter to work at a kettle with clean
pure water, dispensing with all acids and the like, and using boilers
other than those of lead.
It is only of late years that carroting has been invented. It is
a chemical operation or method of twisting or bending the natural
straight-haired furs, and possesses also the property of raising or
lifting the points of the scales which clothe the fibres of the fur,
thereby facilitating the operation of felting; while the fur in its
original straight state could be used with satisfaction only as an
outside flowing nap upon the hat.
The method pursued to accomplish this result is, to dissolve 32 parts
of quicksilver in 500 parts of common aqua-fortis, and dilute the
solution with one half or two-thirds of its bulk of water according
to the strength of the acid. The skin having been laid upon a table
with the hair uppermost, a stout brush, slightly moistened with the
mercurial solution, is passed over the smooth surface of the hairs
with strong pressure. This application must be repeated several times
in succession, till every part of the fur is equally touched, and till
about two-thirds of the length of the hairs are moistened, or a little
more should they be rigid. In order to aid this impregnation, the skins
are laid together in pairs with the hairy sides in contact, and put in
this state into the stove-room, and exposed to a heat in proportion to
the weakness of the mercurial solution. The drying should be rapidly
effected, as otherwise the concentration of the nitrate of mercury will
not produce its effect in causing the retraction and curling of the
hairs.
No other acid or metallic solution but the above has been found to
answer the desired purpose of the hat-maker, although sulphuric acid
without the quicksilver has a limited effect when the skins are treated
as those above described. For other purposes, such as that of the
upholsterer, hair is curled by first boiling and then baking it in an
oven; or it may be spun into ropes and baked, after which it is teased
asunder.
Preparatory to cutting the fur from the pelt, the skins are dampened
and flattened; they are thus made smooth and ready for the operation,
which is performed by hand, with knives about two inches long by
four wide, having a short upright handle. The skins are held upon a
cutting-board, and the pelt kept moistened with water; a sheet of tin
is laid upon the skin, pressed down by the left hand, whilst the knife
in the right hand, being guided by the edge of the tin, is run rapidly
forward and backward across the skin, gradually sliding the tin toward
the tail; by this means the fur is gathered up, and kept in one fleece.
The pelts are appropriated to the manufacture of gilder's cement, or
will make excellent glue. Machines in the form of revolving shears,
similar to those used for dressing cloth, are employed for such skins
as are uneven in the pelt, and which cut the pelt from the fur in
slender shreds, being quite the reverse of the hand method, which cuts
the fur from the pelt.
Stiffening and Water-Proofing Materials.
There is reason to suppose that when hats were first invented and long
subsequently, the quantity of stuff or material weighed out for a
single hat was of itself considered sufficient to stand unharmed the
drenchings which it was likely to encounter.
However, such a hat in the warm season being unpleasant, a lighter body
was proposed, to contain some stiffening substance as a substitute,
and the attempt proved quite successful. A search was instituted
for something suitable for the purpose that would harden the hat
sufficiently, without increasing the weight, but rather diminish it.
In those times chemistry was comparatively unknown, and glue being at
hand, our predecessors in the hatting trade commenced the stiffening of
their hats with that material, which long continued the only article
likely to succeed. Latterly, however, glue has become quite obsolete,
having been entirely superseded by the various gums and resins, which,
when properly prepared, enable the manufacturer to put into the market
a much superior hat, and one more pleasant to wear, weighing 3 oz.
which in former times would have weighed full half a pound.
The solubility of glue in water was its defect, and the ultimate
cause of its rejection. Our spirited predecessors in the business, by
a knowledge superior to that of their predecessors, coupled with a
devoted spirit and unfailing resolution, after many vexatious trials
but little known to our modern workers, succeeded in rendering a hat
not only stout, light, and water-proof, but cheaper and more beautiful
to look at, ventilated, and altogether pleasanter to wear.
Upon a retrospective view, and considering the total of these
improvements, we may well excuse the many secrets and partialities
existing in the trade, for before any new admixture of stiffening
materials or method of applying them, whether before or after dyeing,
&c., could be properly proved, many dozens of hats were under way. It
required a length of time to enable a proper judgment of the experiment
to be pronounced; thus, if unsuccessful, involving the character of the
manufacturer as a tradesman, and his pecuniary affairs at the same time.
The result, however, was at last satisfactory, and now there are
several methods of stiffening with a water-proof stiff, which possesses
all the requisite qualifications.
There is no department in the hatting trade of more importance than
that of stiffening, as the kind, quality, and quantity of the stiff
must be regulated according to the country in which the hats are to be
worn.
England, for instance, where there is so much moisture in the
atmosphere, requires a much harder stiff than we do in America.
American manufacturers finding that shellac possesses every requisite
for both stiffening and water-proofing, now for their best hats use
that gum only dissolved in alcohol.
20 lbs. orange shellac being dissolved with 5 gallons alcohol in a
close vessel, _cold_,
attending carefully to stir it up repeatedly to keep it from lumping
and sticking to the bottom. The vessel commonly is used in the form
of a barrel or some sort of churn. When fully melted the stiff is
ready for use by being thinned down to the desired consistency with
additional alcohol and put into the hat with a stiff brush.
A cheaper, called alkali-stiff, and much used for inferior hats, is--
9 lbs. shellac, dissolved with 18 oz. of sal soda in 3 galls. water
in a tin vessel.
The vessel with the water is set into another containing boiling water,
and heated; the soda is introduced gradually, and is soon dissolved,
and the lac is then put in and stirred occasionally for about an hour,
by which time the lac will be dissolved. The whole is then left for an
hour or two, when it may be taken out and set to cool. It is better if
allowed to remain a few days after having been made. When used, it is
reduced to the required strength with more water, a hydrometer being
employed as a test.
The bodies are simply immersed in the liquor, and passed between
a pair of rollers one by one, thereby sweeping off the superfluous
compound, but leaving them completely saturated. The hats with this
stiffening must be immediately and rapidly dried in the stove.
This stiff is rendered the more popular by adding 3 oz. of common salt
to the mixture before using it, as the salt neutralizes the soda, and
the hats may be blocked immediately after being stiffened, thereby
saving time and dispensing with the use of the stove.
The two following receipts are given as good and reliable English
methods of stiffening hats:--
7 lbs. of orange shellac.
2 lbs. of gum sandarac.
4 ozs. gum mastic.
1/2 lb. of amber resin.
1 pint of solution of copal.
1 gallon of alcohol or of wood naphtha.
The lac, sandarac, mastic, and resin are dissolved in the spirit, and
the solution of copal is added last.
This is called spirit proof, and like our own is put into the body with
a stiff brush, and, being fully saturated, is set to dry.
A cheaper stiffening, also like our own called alkali or water
stiffening, is--
7 lbs. of common black shellac.
1 lb. amber rosin.
4 ozs. gum _thus_.
4 ozs. gum mastic.
6 ozs. borax.
1/2 pint solution of copal.
The borax is first dissolved in 1 gallon of warm water.
This alkaline liquor is now put into a copper pan heated by steam, or
it may be set into another vessel containing boiling water, and the
shellac, _thus_, and mastic added. This is allowed to boil for some
time, more warm water being added occasionally, until it is of a proper
consistence, which is known by a little practice. When the whole of the
gums seem dissolved, half a pint of wood naphtha must be introduced,
and also the solution of copal, the liquor should be passed through a
fine sieve, when it will be perfectly clear and ready for use. This
stiffening is used hot with the following preparations.
The hat bodies, before they are stiffened, should be steeped in a weak
solution of soda, to destroy any acid that may have been left in them.
If sulphuric acid has been used in the making of the bodies, after they
have been steeped in the alkaline solution they must be perfectly dried
in the stove before the stiffening is applied.
When stiffened and stoved, they should be steeped all night in water to
which a small quantity of sulphuric acid has been added. This sets the
stiffening in the hat body and finishes the process.
If the proof is required cheaper, more shellac and rosin may be
introduced.
The Blowing Machine.
In the manufacture of the finest kinds of fur hats, namely, those with
a flowing nap, the stuffs of which they are made must be thoroughly
refined.
The clipping and pulling operations, to which the skins were subjected
previous to cutting off the fur, never free the fur entirely of the
coarse hairs that are intermixed with the finer; and to separate the
coarse from the fine, the fur, as it came off the skin, is placed
under the action of the blowing machine, which consists of a long,
close, narrow, wooden box, divided into a number of apartments, the
divisions between each of them having an open space at the top or
bottom, so that a blast of wind can be propelled through the whole
length of the trunk. The fur is put into one of these receptacles at
one end, where it is teased and tossed by revolving brushes set in
the bottoms of several of them, and a revolving fan is placed at the
head. The whole being set in motion by some first power, the blast of
wind from the fan seizes the loose thrown up fur that is tossed by
the revolving breakers and brushes, and the stream of flying fur is
transmitted from division to division, along the whole length of the
wooden box. In this operation, the fur is graded as it is blown along
and deposited gradually in the respective places, lodging in the most
regular order, from the one end of the wooden trunk to the other, the
dust and dirt falling down below, the heavier portion of fur not being
blown to the same distance as that of the finer, which reaches the
farther end, where the finest of all is received entirely refined of
its impurities. But the cutting and blowing of fur are both independent
and distinct branches of business, although relatively connected with
that of hatting, and the various grades of fur are bought by the
hatters from the professional hat furriers or their agents.
The Manufacture of Hats.
Before commencing a detail of the processes of the trade, it will be
necessary to bear in mind that hatting is universally divided into two
great divisions, viz., the making, and the finishing departments, each
of which as a matter of course has its subdivisions.
With the exception of encyclopædias which give detached and very
abridged descriptions of felt making and of hatting generally, there
has been no specific account published in either pamphlet or book-form,
so far as the writer is aware, of the manner in which felt hats are
made, or of the principle of felting by which they are produced.
This is considered by the writer a sufficient inducement to illustrate
to the best of his ability a principle entirely belonging to natural
history, viz., the natural scaly clothing that is upon all hair, and
hitherto but little known, and upon which several important branches
of business depend. Indeed, it seems almost absurd to think that a
hair, puny as it is in itself, bears upon its sides a something of such
importance, so very minute as to require the utmost attention with
the aid of the best microscopes to be seen at all, and yet upon that
something is based the art of felting and of course of hat-making,
besides several branches of other trades, some of which have already
been mentioned.
Hat-making was long considered a business to which machinery never
could be applied, but the inventions of man have at last dispelled
this illusion, and machinery is now employed in several of the most
important departments of the trade.
The reason why this idea obtained such general credence was, first, on
account of the close attention requisite, while the hat is under the
operation of sizing.
Second, the known impossibility of napping or ruffing a hat by any
means with machinery, also, the acknowledged failures of several
attempts to substitute carding for that of bowing, and various futile
attempts with the irons in the finishing department.