ID#: 9701
Caption:
Toward the back of the photo, a row of workers in a Connecticut hat making plant shrink and shape hat felt into appropriate sizes. The plant was part of the 1937-1938 PHS industrial hygiene and engineering study of mercury exposure and its health effects in the hatmaking industry, which was published as USPHS Public Health Bulletin No. 263, Mercurialism and its Control in the Felt-Hat Industry, 1941. The process is noted in captions of several photos in the Bulletin” “The terms hardening, starting, wetting down, and sizing refer to successive stages in a shrinking process by which the hat body…is reduced to specific size by being wrapped in burlap, dipped in hot water, and kneaded by hand or on rotating rollers. About three-eighths of the employees of felt-hat factories are engaged in [these] operations.
High Resolution: Click here for hi-resolution image (3.22 MB)
Content Provider(s): CDC/ Barbara Jenkins, NIOSH; USPHS
Creation Date: 1937
Photo Credit: U.S. Public Health Service
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MeSH
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Anthropology, Education, Sociology and Social Phenomena
Biological Sciences
Chemicals and Drugs
Diseases
Geographic Locations
Health Care
Technology and Food and Beverages
Copyright Restrictions: None - This image is in the public domain and thus free of any copyright restrictions.