Fur forming machine

3oz of rabbit fur in the top of this machine is the first step to making a bowler hat.This rare working example of a fur forming machine comes from Christy's in Stockport, which in the nineteenth century was one of the largest hat works in the world. The machine is used in the first stage of the mechanised hat making process - its function is to create the hat form. Hats at the turn of the 19th/20th century were not an optional extra. You were not properly dressed without one. Hundreds of thousands of hats were produced every year in the Stockport, Denton and East Manchester area. They secured respectability for hat-wearers all over the world, from Argentina to Iceland.

3oz of rabbit fur in the top of this machine is the first step to making a bowler hat.