US231062A - Felt hat - Google Patents

Description

E. M, LE-BKICHER.

Pelt Hats.

No. 231,062. Patented Aug. 10

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

EDWIN M. LEBKIOHER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

F E LT H AT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 231,062, dated August 10, 1880.

' Application filed January 21, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN M. LEBKIOHER, of the city and county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Felt Hats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part hereof.

The nature of my invention willfully appear from the following specification and claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of my stiffened lining; Fig. 2, a vertical sectional view of my hat after the rim is stiffcued, showing the soft body; Fig. 3, a similar view of my finished hat, the heavy black line around the inside of the crown or body representing the stiffened lining stuck or adhering to the crown.

A is the inside lining, of gossamer or other suitable material, stiffened with shellac or other desirable stiffening agent. B represents the felt rim, stiffened with shellac, and forming part of the soft crown 0, being in one piece therewith.

I make my lining A as follows: The gossamer is stiffened in sheets of various sizes by being dipped in shellac and varnished with the same upon one side or face. Ne call this varnish seed-lac varnish. It is made from shellac. I then take a block of the same shape as the crown of the hat which I propose to line and cover it with what is known to hat-manufacturers as a felt stocking, then, cutting some strips or pieces of gossamer from the sheet, I press them around and over this block with a hot finishing-iron. I prefer to use two pieces of gossamer, one to pass around the sides of the block and one for the crown proper. The action of the hot iron is to soften the shellac and to unite the edges of the gossamer pieces together, the shellac being sticky in a soft state, and also to conform the whole to the shape of the block. The lining thus formed is allowed to cool. The varnished side of the gossamer is kept on the outside. When cool it is hard and in condition to receive its felt covering. I then take a hat-body of felt, the rim of which has been stiffened with shellac in the usual way, the body or crown to be lined being soft, and draw the crown down over the lining as it rests upon the block. After drawing it down tightly I take a hot finishing-iron and carefully iron over the whole surface of the crown or body, top, and sides. This makes the body of felt even and smooth and softens the shellac in the lining and the varnish thereon, and the latter sticks to the inner surface of the felt and makes it adhere to the lining. The felt rim is then ironed up with a hot iron and shaped. The lower edges of the lining are trimmed off evenly, and the hat is ready to be trimmed.

As, through my invention, it is not necessary to charge the body of the hat to stiffen it, there is no possibility of the shellac going through and destroying the color of the h at, or in anywise affecting it, and the body is not so liable to break. If it should break it can be quickly and easily ironed into shape again in the same manner as a silk hat.

I can use one or more pieces of gossamer in shaping my lining, or it may be of several thicknesses where great stiffness and strength are desired. Thin felt may be stiffened and used in place of the gossamer lining, or muslin or other suitable substance may be used.

I am well aware that pull-overs have been heretofore used having a gossamer-stiffened rim and crown or body; but such a rim is too stiff and unyielding for comfort in wearing, stiffened felt being much more accommodating to the head; and I do not claim the pull-over as my invention.

The felt body may be pulled down over the lining closely and not stuck thereto, and in this case I make my lining of several layers of gossamer to secure stiffness.

I am aware of the Letters Patent of the United States heretofore granted, No. 219,257, dated September 2, 1879, and I do not claim anything described in the same, the object of my invention being to support a soft felt crown by means of a hard and stiff lining, which in every case conforms to the exact shape of the felt crown, and is only so much smaller than the crown as to fit snugly within the same. My first clause of claim, as will be hereinafter seen, is intended to cover such a construction when the said lining is stuck to the felt crown,

and the second when the crown is pulled down closely over it, whether pasted to it or not.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, a felt hat composed of the combination of a felt rim stiffened with shellac, or its equivalent, a soft felt crown or body in one piece with the rim, 10 and an inner contained stiffened lining to the body to which the latter is stuck, the said lining conforming to the shape of and touching the inside of the felt crown in every part, whereby the soft felt body is retained in shape, 15 substantially as described.

EDWIN M. LEBKIOHER.

Witnesses GEO. E. BUCKLEY, WM. H. CARSON.

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