US690230A - Hat. - Google Patents

Description

Patented Dec. 3|, |901.

A C A L D W E L L HAT. Y

(Application led Sept. 20, 1901 (N'o Model.)

ATTORNEYS nvVEmro/f BAA-@fw s o Q w UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER CALDWELL, OF NEV YORK, Y.,ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND EDWARD W. BILL, COMPRISING THE FIR OF BILL AND CALDWELL, OF

NEW YORK, N. Y.

' SPECIFICATION forming part 0f LetteiS Patent N0'. 690,230, dated December 31, 1901.

Application tiled September 20, 1901.l Serial No. 75,781. (No inodel To all whom it may concern,.-

- Beit known that LALEXANDER CALDWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hats, of which'the following is a full and complete speciication, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. This invention relates to hats, particularly to straw hats; and it has for its object to provide means for rendering an ordinary straw hat or an especially-exible straw hat sufficientlystiff of brim and permanent of angular contour,while not impairin g its general adaptability to the head.

Theinvention is in general an improvement upon the straw hat patented June 25, 1901, No. 677,324, by Edward W. Bill and myself as assignees of Edward Ferraby Walsh, which embodies a certain self-conforming straw hat which when placed upon thehead will adaptv itself to the contour thereof.

My present invention, which is much simpler in construction and possesses advantages thereover, consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In vthe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which like letters of reference designate corresponding parts, Figure l is a central vertical section of a hat embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is la perspective view of a' portion of the hat with the upper layer of the brim removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of one of the stiening devices removed, and Fig. 4 is an edge view or elevation thereof.

In the practice of my invention I construct a hat of plaited or other straw in the usual manner to form the crown A and the brim B. In the type of hat shown in the drawings, to which my invention is chiefly and most advantageously applicable, the brim is flat or horizontal and the upper surface of the crown lies upon a plane parallel with the brim. Usually such hats are stiffened by means of a sizing or like application; but according to my present invention I only thus stiien the upper portion of the crown of the hat, leaving the lower portion of the crown unstiffened, 'and the brim B, which is usually made of two band-ribbon.

superposedlayers of plaited straw stiffened by sizing, I likewise leave unstiffened.

Between the brim or upper layer B and the under layer B, -I secure stiening devices O, embodying myl present invention. These stifening devices C have the form of polygonal plates of thin metal, preferably triangular in form and formed with a peripheral border of perforations D', through which they may be sewed to the under layer of the brim.

It is not essential, however, that the devices be thus secured, as they may be fastened in any desired manner. By making the devices triangular they may be retained in great measure by their ownshape, since inward movement thereof would be prevented by contact of their inclined edges with any of the usual threads which secure the two layers of the brim together.

Upon the point or inner end of the main body is secured or formed anl extension vor rod E, which projects upwardlyT from the inner edge or apex of the triangle at right an l gles thereto.

The length of the main body" or perpendicular of its triangle is approximately equal to the width of the brim, and the extension or rod E lies in contact with the lower portion of the crown. Asshown in the drawings, it is preferable to insert the point ot' theextension or rod E through the straw of the crown, so that it extends practically through' the vertical center thereof. It is within the limits of my invention to have the extensions located wholly on theinside of the crown to be covered by the sweat-band or to insert them through the brim upon the outside of the crown to be covered by the usual The expedient shown is preferred and' also operates to fix the devices in position and prevent movement thereof.v

After the stiffening devices have been se= cured between the two brim layers and their extensions connected to the crown the hat is stiffened upon the upper portion of its crown by the usual sizing and is blocked, trimmed, and finished.

Since the lower portion ofthe hat and the brim are unstiffened by the usual sizing, they will conform to the shape of the head of the wearer, permitting the hat to elongate or widen or conform to the exact contour desired, according to the shape of the head,

yet in virtue of the metallic stiffening-pieces C and their extensions E the brim B will be stili and unbenda-ble, will not curl, warp, corrugate, or incline upwardly or downwardly from the horizontal, and the lower portion of the crown, to which the extensions or rods are secured, will =not bend inwardly or collapse, bulge, or protrude, notwithstanding its liexibility and conformability; but as the stifeningplates C are separate and individual the circumferential pliabilityA ofthe brim is not impaired, and the slenderness of the extensions or rods preventsvtheir interfering with the flexibility of the crown, while the triangular shape of the strips E Vpermits the greatest possible elongation or widening ot' the junction of crown andthe brim, which constitutes the area of pressure-contact of the hat upon the head in hats of this character,

land yet at the same time there is formed atv the outer circumference of the brim practically a continuous stiftening, preventing any portion of the brim from bending upwardly or downwardly.

Having thus fullyy described myinvention, what I claim as new, and ,desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-e l. A straw hat provided with a pluralityof separate vand vindependent stilening devices comprising polygonalv plates arranged laround and within the brim of the hat and having y their outer edges closely adjacent whereby to form a positive and approximately con tinuous stiening for the bending of its edge.

2. A straw hat provided with a plurality of separate and independent stiening devices comprising polygonal. plates arranged around and within the brim of the hat and having their outer edges closely adjacent whereby to form a positive and approximately continuous stiening for the brim to p-revent bending of its edge, and provided with upwardlyprojecting extensions adapted to contact with the crown ot the hat.. I A

3. A straw hat provided with a plurality of separate and independent stiftening devices Vcomprising polygonal metallic plates arranged around and within the brim of the hat, and having their outer edges closely adjacent whereby to form a positive and approximately continuous stilening for vthe brim to prevent bending of its edge, and provided with upwardly-projecting extensions adapted to contact with the crown of the hat.

brim to prevent 4. A straw hat provided with a plurality of stidening devices comprising fiat plates arranged around and within the brim of the hat with their outer edges substantially in contact, and relatively slender or narrow vertical extensions projecting upwardly from the inner edges of the said plates and contacting with the crown of the hat. 5,V A straw hat provided with a plurality of stilEening devices arranged around and within its brim and comprising plates widened at the outer endsand narrowing near the crown of the hat. s f

6. A straw hat provided with a plurality of stiening devices arranged around and within said brim and comprising dat polygonal plates of metal connected at their outer ends and narrowing near the-crown of the hat, and rods secured' upon the upper faces of the said plates at their inner ends.

. 7. A straw hat provided with a plurality of stiffening devices arranged around and. within its brim and comprising plates widened at the outer ends and narrowing near the crown of the hat and provided with narrow extensions or :rods projecting at right angles thereto and secured to the 'said crown.

8. A straw hat provided with a 'plurality of stifening devices arranged around and within its brim and comprising triangular plates disposed withtheir apexes inwardly and provided thereat with upwardly-projecting'extensions to contact with the crown of the hat.

9. A straw hat having its brim and the lower portion of its crown unstiftened and. flexible and composed of superposed layers, and a plurality of stilening devices arranged around the said brim and between the layers and secured thereto, and comprising iiat triangular metallic plates arranged with their widest ends at the outer periphery of the brim and substantially in contact with one another, and provided at their apexes with upwardly-directed relatively narrow extensions or rods ranging at right angles thereto and secured to the crown of the hat.

In testimony that'I claim the .foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 17th day of September, 1901.

ALEXANDER CALDWELL.

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