on the surface fibres, thereby interlacing the outside filaments, by which means the simply safe-lifting of

Fig. 3.

Hat Basket.

these two half-solidified portions of the future hat is secured. The one-half being laid upon the other, with a triangular piece of paper or cloth between, they are joined together by overlaping two of the three sides, thereby giving to the intended hat the form and figure of a hollow cone or great bag, but so tender that none but an experienced hatter could handle it.

This operation of bowing is the same, with but little variation, whether it be for coarse or fine hats.

If wholly of wool, they are now swaddled carefully in an outer cloth, and sprinkled with water, and laid upon a warm plate of metal which sends the steam up through the hat which is to be pressed, and slightly rubbed, sprinkled again, and turned over. Continuing the pressing and rubbing, and by repeating these operations for some time, the motions are transmitted to all the inclosed fibres of wool with an irritating feeling, as it were, exciting their propensity for travelling, till the outer hairs, in their motions, warp themselves with each other and the surface appears skin-like and becomes smooth.

During these actions, the hat inside of the cloth must be several times changed in position and kept in proper form, when its swaddling envelope and the paper within which kept the inside open and free may be removed. These operations concluded, the tender hat must now be subjected to a much more laborious operation, where, properly speaking, the grand practical art of felting takes place, where thousands of thousands of filaments are all in active though slow motion, all travelling on their own individual course, independent of, and at the same time. dependent upon, each other for their mutual support, being carefully guided collectively, by the hatter's good judgment.

This stage of the operation is a wet one requiring an open boiler surrounded by planks, which slope towards the centre, called a battery, Fig. 4, suitable for six or eight men to work at. Each man is provided with a rolling-pin, cloths, brushes, etc. 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

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. He labors hard, ever changing the position of the hat under his hands, so as to make it an evenly felted and perfect piece of work, which these oft-repeated motions ultimately accomplish.

This is the grand felting operation; the cause of which was so long considered a mystery, and now ascertained to result from the peculiar natural construction of the animal fibre, as already explained.

In this planking or sizing of the hat, sometimes with half a dozen under hands at the same time, the enveloping cloth is soon thrown aside as the hat grows in solidity. The hands of the hatter are defended from the scalding water by thick leather shields upon the palms, and as the hat approaches its proper size, it is scalded and belabored with determined importunity, coiled, rolled, pressed, and pinned, backward and forward till the size of the hat is reduced to nearly half of its original dimensions, and the tension of the several fibres becomes so great that the hat will felt no farther. At this stage it is impossible for it to be torn asunder, and is still in its original form of a hollow cone.

Such is the making department of the trade, the felting process, where a firm piece of cloth (for such is the body of a hat) is manufactured from loose wool or fur, independent of either spinning or weaving.

We have now explained the making of the bare

body, as it is called, of a plain hat, in as concise a manner as the subject will permit.

There are yet a variety of qualities and kinds of hats requiring a variation more or less in the manipulation of the article, so as to suit a fanciful and fastidious people. For instance, the quantity and quality of fur, or an entire change of materials, produce quite a different appearance both in the look, the wear, and the price of the hat, while the form of the cone must be changed to admit of a high or low crown, or of a broad or narrow brim, &c. &c.

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 shorly be described.

A very good hat is made having a flowing nap that is raised directly from the body itself. Thus when the body of such a hat as has been described is about half wrought up at the kettle, it undergoes. in another department the operation of shaving, by which means the projecting coarse hairs are all cut off, after which, on being returned to the kettle, the hatter, with his stiff brush, card, and comb, raises a nap upon the half solidified body, which is constantly improved as he continues to manipulate with the brush. The hat is, at the same time, reduced in its dimensions by the operation of felting until at the conclusion when it appears of the desired size, fully felted, and

adorned on the outside with its rough and flowing nap, which otherwise would have been smooth and clothlike. This is called the brush hat.

Shaving.

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. A workman sits in another apartment with one of them, when dry, spread over his knee, and with a long bladed sharp knife in hand, sweeps rapidly over the surface, cutting off and depriving it of those deteriorating superfluous intruders, after which the hats are forwarded to the stiffening department.

Stiffening Process.

The bodies of the hats now made, dried and shaved, and the spirit water-proofing already prepared, being thinned, or reduced to the proper consistence, the hat is laid upon a flat sloping board, and the stiffening is put into it with a stout brush, and soaked to that degree of saturation known only by experience, the brims receiving a double portion for extra stoutness, and are then set aside to dry.

The alkali or inferior kind of stiffening, when used, is likewise diluted, and applied by immersing the body fully into the prepared ingredients already described, and either wrung out with the hands, or passed a couple of times between a pair of rollers set at a proper width, which determines the quantity of proofing absorbed by the hat.