Hat
a head covering provided with a brim all around. Straw hats worn by women are made, for the most part, of wheat straw braided in the vicinity of Florence, Italy. The braid is imported in quantities and is sewed into shapes in this country. Palm, panama, manila, and chip hats for men are woven from strips of palm leaves and palm fiber.
The silk hat, or cylindrical, flat-topped,stiff-brimmed dress hat, is about 150 years old. It was made first at Florence, but was introduced into America by way of Paris and London. The crown, the cylindrical part, and the brim are made separately, usually of linen cloth and gumlac. They are glued together, the crown at one end of the cylinder, the brim at the other. Silk plush is cut to fit and is ironed on faithfully with a hot iron, which softens the gumlac and causes the plush to adhere.
Felt hats were at one time made largely of the fur of the beaver, but rabbit's fur and the hair of the muskrat are now in use for the purpose. Hats made of the hair of the alpaca, camel, and the finer grades of wool shade off into cheap felts of wool mixed with cotton. In the very cheapest hats of this sort the materials are not felted, but merely glued together. The making of a felt hat is a peculiar art. A copper cone full of small holes revolves slowly over the end of a pipe or funnel, down which a strong current of air is drawn. The loose fur of the rabbit or other animal is fed to the cone with care and is drawn to it by the suction of the air, forming a bat of uniform thickness all over the outside of the cone. A wet cloth is then wrapped about the bat and a second cone is slipped over it. The bat is now between two hollow cones and is subjected to pressure and to various baths and operations which cause the fur to felt. Each hair when examined under a microscope may be seen to be far from smooth. It is so rough, in fact, that when a bat of loose hair is patted together coaxingly, the hairs so interlace that a strong cloth or felt is formed that can scarcely be torn apart. The felted cone is then dyed, stiffened with shellac, shaped on a block, bound, lined, labeled, polished, and sent to market. Two bats are sometimes combined to make a heavy hat.
Prior to the American Revolution, hats, as well as boots and coats, were made to order. Each town had its hatmaker, its tailor, and its shoemaker. Each customer had a last for his shoe and a block for his hat. The term "blockhead" originated in this connection.
As to fashion, the three-cornered hat of the Revolution originated in Paris. The round-topped stiff hat is credited to England where it is exceedingly popular. Seen from above, a crowd on a London street looks like a lot of animated beetles. The soft hat has always been the favorite with mechanics and farmers. A heavy, widebrimmed, soft hat, proof against rain, a shelter against heat, and not readily blown off, has long been the characteristic head gear of the plains. The wide, soft hat of the Mexicans and other Spanish-Americans is designated as a sombrero.
Hats were not unknown to the ancients, but it is uncertain to what extent they differed from turbans and caps. The custom of lifting the hat as an act of courtesy has grown out of the medieval custom of removing one's helmet as evidence of friendly intent, just as one would lay his sword or rifle by.
Although it is considered quite as boorish in England as in this country to wear one's hat in the house, British members of Parliament wear their hats when in their seats in the House of Commons.