hatter John Thomson

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ All materials intended for felting must be cut from the pelt or skin, and not pulled, for the obvious reason [20] 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. ”

“ When a hat arrives at that state of forwardness ready for finishing, it is a very unsightly object to any person but a hatter. Most of its processes have been wet ones, but now it is to assume a genteel and prepossessing appearance, under the artistic appliances of brushes, cloths, hot irons, and labored exercise. ”

“ Upon this property alone depends the whole art of hatting and of felt making, whether in sheets or otherwise, as [15] 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 ”

“ Quite a gradual change in the form of the fibre of hair is observed in all animals as [14] 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. ”

“ An inexperienced workman in thus ruffing a hat is liable to continue his work too long, until the beaver napping has burrowed quite through to the inside of the hat, where it is lost. [C]
In the various operations of the hatter with hot water, whether in body-making, napping, or dyeing, &c., the water should not be allowed to boil, for independent of the damage to some kinds of stiffening, as hair contains a large portion of gelatine in its substance (to which alone it owes its suppleness and toughness) , this gelatine will be separated from the hair. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As much sleight of hand is required in this department, it naturally follows that a good workman is a valuable and appreciated artisan.
The bodies used for this kind of hat have been so various, that a full, or even succinct, description of them would be quite superfluous. Wool and fur bodies, straw and leghorn, cork, whalebone and muslin, &c., even stretchers similar to umbrellas without a body at all have been adopted, and all of them have had their day. At present, however, the trade seems to have settled down to the two kinds—fur and muslin. ”

“ All FELT hats, of whatever texture, nature, or name, must have undergone the above described operations, and many have to go back a second time to the plank kettle, and there undergo an additional teasing and ducking in the scalding water. For instance, all those destined to receive a coat of fur upon the outside finer than that of which the body is made, and constituting the flowing nap of the hat, which is merely a kind of veneering or outside plating, which will shortly be described.
A very good hat is made having a flowing nap that is raised directly from the body itself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the process of fur felting there is a constant tendency for the strong straight hairs of the body to work to the outside, so that whether the hat is designed to receive a BARE finish afterwards, or to get a plated cover of beaver for a nap, those bodies must all undergo the operation of shaving. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Pouncing is a term for rubbing down the outside of a hat with a piece of pumice stone, sand paper, or emery paper, whereby the hat is made entirely bare, smooth, and fine, resembling a piece of very fine cloth. These are generally called cassimere hats. This operation is usually performed after dyeing, and previous to finishing. Some makers, however, prefer to singe the hats instead of pouncing, but such [49] hats never feel so fine as the others, as the singeing of any hair invariably produces a hard crisp burnt knob upon the end. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The fur body of a silk hat, called a shell previous to coming into the hands of the silk finisher, is made much in the same manner as that of a plain soft hat, by felting and sizing it down to the proper dimensions in the plank kettle. It is quite light and thin, and when blocked or otherwise, and dried, is then ready for stiffening by the finisher. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A pasteboard disk, well spread with dissolved shellac, is now inserted into the tip, and the block reset. The workman with his hot iron, wet and dry brushes, &c., lays down the nap in its proper direction, and the hat by continuous labor becomes solidified and more elastic, the tip is rendered stout by the adhesion of the prepared inside disk; and by the repeated wettings, and careful ironings and brushings, all the ripply appearance of the fur is destroyed, and the whole surface becomes smooth and shining. ”

“ Each man is provided with a rolling-pin, cloths, brushes, &c. The soft and tender hat is laid upon one of these planks or benches, wrapped in a damp cloth, and carefully wetted, squeezed, folded, rolled and unrolled, keeping it constantly moistened by dipping it in the hot water of the [42] boiler, folding and unfolding with every variety of crossings, rolling it as a scroll, pressing, shaking, dipping and rolling it again and again, the hatter all the while bending over his work in front of the almost boiling caldron, and surrounded by steam. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The hat with this surface covering is wrapped very carefully in a piece of cloth or coarse hair-cloth, and operated on very lightly, and nearly in the same manner as when felting the body. The object to be attained [46] is to get the fibres of the fine fur to penetrate the body, and take root as it were therein—great care and watchfulness being demanded of the workman at every motion of his hands, in this manner of working. ”

“ There is no department in the hatting trade of more importance than that of stiffening, as the kind, [33] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”