The blocking of hats by machinery is a process much more recent in operation than hand work, and although its origin is more or less inside the possibility of a living man’s memory, so confused are the data connected with it that little or no reliability can be placed on the greater number of the traditions. One thing alone stands out clearly as a definite indication of first use, and that is the certain seniority of the pressing of Leghorn hats. It is almost self-evident that neither machinery or blocks to stand machine pressures would be made for the manufacture of unlikely or transient materials and shapes, and while the fashion of “Granny” bonnets, etc., was constant for nearly half a century, the details of their shapes offered too many difficulties to the would-be maker of a machine to press them, to induce any great inventive effort on his part. It needed something simple in outline, and something that could be done in large and recurring quantities, to give to the inventor the necessary impetus to produce a machine to impart to the hats their final finish. And 100 years ago there was nothing in the straw market, used either for hats or bonnets, that fulfilled the above conditions except the Leghorn hat. The making of this has been described in a former chapter. The early methods, either by wood mallet or slickenstone did not adequately fill the requirements; hand ironing was nearly as tedious and was rather dangerous, as the Tuscan straw of the Leghorns was so easily scorched, and as the demand increased the desire for a more expeditious, safe and uniform method of pressing grew with it. The earliest information, given with some reserve, is that an iron pan or dish was made, moulded to the shape of the hat, and that this was fixed over a metal cauldron in which water was kept at the boil, or was warmed direct by charcoal fires. These heated the pan sufficiently for the purpose; in fact, to-day, with all the improvements, and they are legion, steam heating in this manner to blocking machines is still general. The hat was damped and laid properly in the pan to its shape, and was pressed on the inside by a convenient tool of hard wood or stone, either of which was sufficient to squeeze the wet-softened straw into the crevices attendant on the edge of the crown and the corner made by the junction of the crown and the brim, and to impart the necessary shape to all sections of the hat. The next move towards the present models, was to have the pan as above, with a wooden, or sometimes iron, block which would, when the hat was laid in position, fit into it in such a manner as to convey an equal impingement on all parts. This was adjusted by means of an over working screw, by which some large pressures could be given. But these simple methods had great disadvantages; it was impossible to entirely synchronize the pressure on every hat, and it was extremely lengthy and tedious. A Mr. Samuel Howard, of Luton, invented a press on similar lines, but the action was horizontal instead of vertical, this served a very good purpose for a period until MM. Desbordes,[2] of Paris, introduced their hydraulic press. This consisted of a steam heated chamber in which was placed the metal “pan” or “dish,” it being the “female” mould of the required shape. The pressure was obtained by an overhead chamber to which an india-rubber bag was fastened. This chamber was very strong and heavy, and was, as it were, one end of a balance, working on trunnions, at the other end of which were two large metal balls as counterpoise.

To bring into operation, the chamber was pulled down so that the centre of the india-rubber bag, which was made with a teat, came into the crown opening of the pan; the chamber was securely fastened by means of screw lugs to the portion holding the pan, and a hydraulic press was put into action which filled the rubber bag with a sufficient pressure of water to distribute the power all over the hat in the pan; a gauge showed the pressure obtained and consequently an equal amount could be given to every hat. The results, therefore, were all alike, and as the press could be locked and unlocked in a fraction of the time required by the screw process, the work was greatly accelerated. Many improvements have been made in blocking machines since then (about 1860), but all the later models embody the important feature of the hydraulic pressure through the rubber bag. The next important step in the evolution of mechanical blocking was that introduced by Mr. Henry Keston, of Luton, adapted from a model made by a Mr. Beresford, of Stockport, Cheshire. This improvement consisted of erecting round steel uprights on the bed of the steam heated chamber, allowing the bag chamber, attached to which were slides fitting the uprights, to rise and fall vertically. The counterpoise was effected by a chain, attached to the top of the bag chamber, passing over a wheel supported by a bracket at the back of the machine and loaded with sufficient weights to adjust the balance. A hand or foot lever pressure was sufficient to raise or depress the bag chamber, and water connection to it was obtained by means of a corded re-inforced india-rubber swan neck. When the chamber had descended to its proper position it was locked by means of a stout steel three-armed part like the hub of a wheel, with three spokes radiating from it at equal distances. The hub was pivoted on the centre of the top of the bag chamber, and a short lateral movement of this part brought all three spokes under very strong hook-like lugs, and locked the bag chamber securely to the pan chamber.

Water pressure above the supply pressure was effected by means of a hand worked hydraulic pump, and the force was reckoned by a pressure gauge. This method was so much simpler and easier to work, and also was so much more rapid, that it quickly superseded its predecessor; and now, after forty years’ experience, is still the favourite model, although the machines of to-day contain many improvements not to be found in the original. By all these descending bag chamber models the blocking of the hat is identical. The only difference made is in the amount of pressure, some straws taking more than others without injury. The hat having been properly “roughed out” or “sweated,” that is shaped to its exact size without pressure by hand or machine, and still holding a little steam moisture, is placed accurately in the pan, the outside of the hat to the metal; inside the hat is distributed as evenly as may be a thick felt dummy (to prevent the straw from cutting the bag). If the edge of the crown is very sharp, such as one finds in a man’s boater, a ring of vulcanized rubber or similar material with angles corresponding to the crown edge is placed in position inside the crown before the felt dummy is introduced. The bag chamber is then brought down, securely locked, and the water pressure applied. Different materials require different periods of time to properly set, but while one is setting the operator “roughs out” another hat, so that when the mechanical process on the one is complete, its successor is ready for the operation.

A machine, the principle of which was intended to apply to the making of buckram shapes, was also adopted by the straw trade. Its first adoption was due to the introduction of the felt hat manufacture into the districts hitherto peculiar to the straw hat making, but it was found to possess points of advantage in the blocking of certain materials. This machine has a “female” pan of metal into which a properly fitted “male” block, with the accurate amount of space for the material to be used, may enter, forming with the pan and the hat one solid piece. This “male” block is also of metal. They were first of iron and afterwards were generally of spelter or aluminium. In the particular case for which they were most extensively used, the hat was made of a cotton braid, the stiffening of which was effected by a shellac and methylated spirit mixture, as gelatine was not found entirely satisfactory. Both the “male” and the “female” blocks were heated by gas jets, and when the hat was still wet with the highly inflammable stiffening it was placed in position on the lower block, the other was adjusted to it, and when in proper place the heat of the blocks, or the light of the gas jets, fired the stiffening, which rapidly burned the spirit out, leaving the shellac or other resinous material in the fibres of the braid in sufficient quantity to render the hat hard enough for its purpose, and at the same time creating an almost waterproof fabric, that enabled the cotton to withstand the softening influences of damp weather. The operation was completed by releasing the movable block and taking out the hat.

An entire revolution in the system of blocking straw hats was introduced in 1913–14 by a M. Stoffel, of Paris. This method depends for pressure on air only, and by its means shapes almost if not impossible by any other method can be beautifully blocked. The apparatus consists mainly of a vacuum reservoir from which all air is extracted, creating a suction pressure of about 13 lb. to the square inch, exhausted by means of a vacuum pumping engine and perforated blocks placed over copper tables that are also perforated and connected with the vacuum chamber. The blocks are of wood or metal, and both crowns and brims are made to the form of the outside of the hat, and are in themselves quite independent of the copper table. The modus operandi is as follows: the block to be used is warmed by steam and is placed bottom uppermost on the copper table. The hat, slightly moistened by steam, is adjusted carefully on or in the block, covered with a large water and air proof cloth which can envelop the whole of the block and table, and leave a sufficient quantity to fill up the cavity caused by the interior of the crown, or the undulations of the brim. The vacuum force is then brought into action, and the suction created draws the cloth, with a pressure of about 10 to 12 lb. to the square inch, into every crevice or corner formed by the shape of the hat and block; the suction set up draws off as well any moisture evaporated by the heat of the block, and in a few moments the hat is sufficiently dry to be removed. By this method crowns of hats with concertina-like folds and creases can be perfectly “ironed,” using a block made of only two sections, whereas in any other form of blocking, where similar blocks must be made in five sections, the result obtained, comparatively speaking, is more or less imperfect. Moreover the process, while being much more rapid, does not require anything like the same amount of force expenditure on the part of the workman as do either hand or machine blocking. Another important benefit of this invention is that the actual working apparatus can be arranged in ordinary blocking benches, the copper perforated table taking up no more room than that usually occupied by a hand blocker, whereas, while other blocking machines do not occupy in themselves a greater area, the “roughing out” or “sweating” necessitates the ordinary hand blocking space which makes the actual amount nearly double. It must not be forgotten that the preliminary, as one may call it, apparatus of the “Stoffel” system requires space for the vacuum engine and pump, while the vacuum reservoir tank is, of course, of considerable magnitude, according to the services required. Both these, however, can be placed in some basement, etc., quite away from the actual blocking room. Whereas the earlier models need no extra area than the actual working spaces, with the exception of the steam generating plant, which, however, is common to all systems, and further is a necessity for other purposes such as heating the various work and drying rooms, and also for melting and keeping warm the gelatine used for stiffening, etc.

But compared with the Desbordes and Keston models, this system is not so well adapted for men’s boaters work. Up to about 1910, the great bulk of rustic boaters was blocked on presses of the Keston type, and even to-day boater makers still make use of them. The hard-natured straws that are generally utilized for boaters require heavy pressure in varying degrees according to the different varieties of plaits, and in this respect the suction method is not sufficient for the high powers.

About 1910 another French engineer put a blocking machine on the market with special claims for boater work. M. J. B. Brochier, of Lyons, introduced the model now known wherever boaters are made by the name of “Carre Vive,” of which the free translation, “sharp edge,” sufficiently indicates the peculiar claim of the inventor. This machine in structure is a combination of some other blocking presses, but with a special contrivance for creating the extra sharp edge, and of extra lightness and simplicity in working. It has the guillotine frame of the machine mentioned for blocking cotton braids stiffened with shellac stiffening, the pan chamber heated by steam, the india-rubber bag for hydraulic pressure, and the bag-chamber moving vertically on uprights of the “Keston” or “Beresford” type. But it differs from that machine in, first, the bag chamber is really a plate with a hole in the centre to carry the bag, and is only of the most meagre dimensions of the least possible weight. Second, this is caused to descend into the pan chamber by a lever actuated by the operator’s foot, the little weight of it is balanced at the end of a lever with a small counterweight, obviating the overhead chain and pulley. Third, the fixed contact with the pan chamber is made by means of a screw wheel, a small turn of which when the hat and bag are in position, firmly tightens and locks the two portions together. Fourth, the special crown edging action is done by a rising and falling movement made by the bottom of the boater pan, which is actuated by means of a lever working on a ratchet by which the pressure can be retained until the hat is ready for removal. This model is now extensively used for boaters, although at the moment of writing that extreme sharpness, desirable in boaters a few years ago, is not required in the season’s models for the home trade, the crown edges of which are an almost imperceptible bevel. These practically exhaust the machines for blocking, but there are in use throughout the trade blocking presses for the brims of boaters and of some varieties of hats with rolling brims. These consist either of a flat metal plate, or open pan conforming to the curves of the rolled brim, heated either by gas or steam on, or in, which the brim of the hat is arranged, and a wooden block placed over it. Affixed to the plate or pan are two uprights with a crossbeam, in the centre of which is a long quick acting screw with a small plate at the bottom. This descends on to the wooden block and creates sufficient pressure to put the brim of the hat in correct shape. It is found very useful in “touching up” the shape of a brim that may have been bent or damaged in the trimming, as to put the hat into either of the other machines would necessitate the taking away of all trimmings and linings. The mention of these articles brings our history to its next stage—that of the actual “Finishing,” as the trade calls all the operations done to the hat after blocking.