US253818A - Apparatus for shaping hat-brims - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

I H. HOYT. APPARATUSFOR SHAPING HAT BRIMS. No. 253,818. Patented Feb. 14,1882.

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\A THJEEEEE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUCIUS H. HOYT, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

APPARATUS FOR SHAPING HAT-BRIMS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 253,818, dated February 14, 1882.

Application filed Januaryfi,1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUCIUS H. HoYT,-'of Danbury, Fairfield county, in the State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Shaping Hat- Brims; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

v hats is usually done by hand by skilled operators, who shape the previously heated and softened brims with their fingers only, giving the brims the curves which their judgments dictate.

There are many sizes of hats, and it is obvious that there may be an infinite varietyof shapes. The fashion must be conformed to with great rapidity, so that a manufactory employing a large number of men must have shaping apparatuses containing some means of conforming to the required droop and breadth not only for one size but for many sizes, and not only for one workman but for many workmen. Myinvention attains the end with great facility and at small cost. I provide a bisectional block, the two acting parts of which are capable of approaching and receding, pro vided with means for adjusting the extent of such motion. Upon these I mount by easily provided means false blocks which have sufficient thickness to give a proper amount of stability, and to allow all the required variety of shapes. The false blocks, being capable of shaping by sawingfrom a suitable wood,'and beingrapidly smoothed by ordinary tools, may be provided in any required numbers with economy and dispatch, and, being of little bulk, can be stored in a small space, ready for future use. By this means a large manufactory'can set a number of men at work instantly on any style of hatbrim which has been made before, or can in a few hours commence shaping a new style, and each man can for himself instantly adapt his apparatus to treating any size or shape.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a perspective view, showing the device adjusted for work. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section, showing the device in 5 5 the act of being changed to adapt it for brims of a different width or form. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the movable part detached, and on a larger scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre- 6o sponding parts in all the figures. A and B are the two false blocks, having their upper surfaces carefully and accurately shaped, against which the operator presses. and dexterously rubs the heated brim to give it the proper shape. Each is plane on'its under surface, except where it is bored with two plain holes, adapted to engage on dowels or pins extending up from below. These dowels are marked b b, and are set one pair in a support, C, fixed immovably on a bed, C, which is formed with a guideway, c, and the other pair in a movable support, D, guided by the way 0, and capable of being adjusted nicely thereon by a screw, E, extending through the correspondingly-tongued lower portion of the part D and engaging in the bed C. The false blocks A B are moved together by turning the screw E in one direction, and apart by turning the same in the opposite direction, the changes the false blocks should be of such size as to fit tightly upon the dowels. The dowels should be glued or otherwise permanently set in the supports C and l). The movable support 1) should engage in the grooves :in the sides of the guideway 0, so as to keep its position prop- 5 erly while the false blocks are changed. The bed C should be portable or capable of being easily turned around to accommodate the workman as he manipulates the brims at the front and back successively, so that after treating The false blocks are 85 one part he can with great facility slide the apparatus untii it is in the position he desires for treatment of another part.

Brims tend to change a little after shaping, 5 and allowance is made for that in determining the shape of the parts A and B. To treat a style of stifi hats in which the side curl of the brim almost touches the bowl or hat-body, or when desired for any other purpose, I propose to attach by screws to the sides of the blocks A and B thin metal extensions which shall reach nearly or quite across the openings at the sides between these blocks, supporting the hat very efficient] y against any liability to sag at the sides.

The inner surfaces of the parts A, B, 0, and 1) guide the bowl or body of the hat when it is placed for treatment in my apparatus and insure that the brim is presented to the shaping-surfaces properly.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

The support 0 and bed 0 may be in a single piece of wood or other suitable material. I have shown them as separate pieces of wood secured together by screws.

The grooved sides of the guideway 0 may be greatly modified or dispensed with altogether, and any other convenient means adopted for properly guiding the movable support D.

I claim as my invention- 1. The within-described device for shaping fronts and backs of hat-briins, having two blocks or shaping-surfaces, A B, with means E for conveniently adjusting their distances apart, as herein specified.

2. The combination of the bed 0, having guiding means 0, with the fixed support 0, movable support D, dowels b b, and false blocks A B, adapted to serve relatively to each other and to hats of diiferent sizes, substantially as herein specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Daubury, State of Connecticut, this 29th day of December, 1881, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LUOIUS H. HOYT.

Witnesses EDWARD ALLEN, F. L. WrLsoN.

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