About this period, owing to the increasing difficulties of competition
with the products of the German Hat Manufacturers, a deputation of Hat
Manufacturers in and around Manchester consulted Sir Henry E. Roscoe,
F.R.S., then the Professor of Chemistry in the Owens College,
Manchester, and he advised the formation of an Association, and the
appointment of a Lecturer, who was to make a practical investigation of
the art of Hat Manufacturing, and then to deliver a series of lectures
on the applications of science to this industry. Sir Henry Roscoe
recommended the writer, then the Lecturer on Chemical Technology in the
Owens College, as lecturer, and he was accordingly appointed.
The lectures were delivered with copious experimental illustrations
through two sessions, and during the course a patent by one of the
younger members became due, which proved to contain the solution of the
chief difficulty of the British felt-hat manufacturer (see pages 66-68).
This remarkable coincidence served to give especial stress to the wisdom
of the counsel of Sir Henry Roscoe, whose response to the appeal of the
members of the deputation of 1887 was at once to point them to
scientific light and training as their only resource.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25