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.