A really strange gadget on this Turn The Table Tuesday.

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011 Netcast 1302
 
Leo had a guest in TWiT Cottage the day we recorded this Turn The Table Tuesday. He name is Jeff Scott and he has the title of ---- ready? --- Inspecteur des Chapeaux! Translated he’s Inspector, Collector, Connoisseur of Fine Men’s Hats & Men’s Vintage Clothing. Like Tom Merritt’s pick last Tuesday, Leo Turn The Table Tuesday was more like a visit to the Gadget Warehouse. Leo showed us a very old gadget Jeff bought with him called The Conformateur. It looks like a weapon of torture, and when Leo wore it to demonstrate it, he said he was quite uncomfortable. The Conformateur is placed on the head of a gentlemen seeking to order a new hat. As he wears it the hat-maker tightens a vast series of wooden stops against his head. When they’re all tight against the skull the top of The Conformateur is popped open, and a paper is placed inside. The top is closed again and the wooden pegs inside make marks on the paper. Using that marked paper, a craftsman can make a truly custom fitted man's hat. Jeff talked about the 1920’s and ‘30’s when almost all men wore hats, many of them almost identical ones. You’ll see in old photos that  almost every man on their way to work, for example, wore a hat. It seems Jeff doesn’t have a website for his business, but I did a web search and found another site that will help demonstrate this amazing hat-fitting process. Thanks to the London Lounge for their fine photos.

http://www.thelondonlounge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=8917

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1302