Bradford Open Road Style

[T Jones]

I just bought a Bradford ltd. Open Road style hat with the cattleman's crease and it also has a wind trolley attached...the price was definitely cheap enough...the hat and liner look really clean with little signs of wear...the only issue is three or four shallow moth bites on top of the crown, nothing serious...the leather sweat band reads Bradford ltd. Glyco-Tite Process, Super...anybody familiar with Bradfords?

1). Would this be a fur felt?
2). What is Glyco-Tite Process?
3). What does the Super printed on the sweat band mean?
4). Can the Cattleman's crease be changed easily to a fedora style like to a center dent, or to a C-Crown?

Thanks guys...

 

[gtdean48]

Probably fur felt, seems moths have good taste.

 

[T Jones]

Probably fur felt, seems moths have good taste.

Thanks gtdean...(I like the J.B. Books quote btw), I was wondering if anyone had some info on Bradford ltd. hats...

 

[rlk]

Part of Byer-Rolnick, better known as Resistol. Same quality of fur felt. Glyco-tite is marketing terminology(trademarked)
Crease can be changed, but wether it will show a line depends on dirt, sharpness of the folds and conditions.

Old Thread:http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...rd-Ltd.-a-mystery-Where-are-the-Bradford-hats

 

[T Jones]

Part of Byer-Rolnick, better known as Resistol. Same quality of fur felt. Glyco-tite is marketing terminology(trademarked)
Crease can be changed, but wether it will show a line depends on dirt, sharpness of the folds and conditions.

Old Thread:http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...rd-Ltd.-a-mystery-Where-are-the-Bradford-hats

Thanks for the info rlk

 

[John Galt]

Terry:

"Glyco-tite" was registered as a TM by Beyer-Rolnick for hats in 1941. That is long before Koracorp registered the "Bradford" mark for hats in the early 1970's, and also well before the Bradford brand name was used per Brad's comment in the other thread.

This is consistent with Bradford actually being a creation of Beyer-Rolnick, or at least an earlier purchase by BR than has previously been speculated. I still have more research to do, especially regarding the patent, but thought you would be interested.

http://www.trademarkia.com/glycotite-71449515.html


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[John Galt]

Coming up empty on the patent number. It doesn't pop up with anything relevant.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[T Jones]

Terry:

"Glyco-tite" was registered as a TM by Beyer-Rolnick for hats in 1941. That is long before Koracorp registered the "Bradford" mark for hats in the early 1970's, and also well before the Bradford brand name was used per Brad's comment in the other thread.

This is consistent with Bradford actually being a creation of Beyer-Rolnick, or at least an earlier purchase by BR than has previously been speculated. I still have more research to do, especially regarding the patent, but thought you would be interested.

http://www.trademarkia.com/glycotite-71449515.html


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

Excellent find! I'm surprised you found that since information on Bradfords are scant. I know that pre-Resistol Bradfords were definitely high end hats. I have a few Stetsons and a couple Bradfords. As far as quality I would put a Bradford up against its Stetson equivalent any day. Nice find!

 

[John Galt]

Came up pretty empty for Bradford, so I tried the other info on the band. The patent number should yield results, but it is not in the same standard they use now & brings up an unrelated patent. Still working on that.


"Faint hat never won fair lady."

 

[John Galt]

Well, I found something regarding the patent. "Patent No. 396456" is actually 0395456 (important because of the 7 number convention the US PTO uses in its's search tool). That is a patent for an attachment to a compressed air engine. As I understand the patent, it allows the low pressure air that is exhausted from the engine to be mixed with high-pressure air created by the engine, so as to allow for a lower-pressure alternative. I can see how this might have applications for hat manufacturing but did not see any direct reference to hatting in this patent, which was issued on January 1, 1889. I have also had no luck tracking assignees of the patent on the PTO web page. This might be all we get for now. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell us much, because Beyer-Rolnick, "Resistol," or some separate "Bradford" entity (if it really existed - I am a little skeptical) may have purchased the patent or licensed the right to use the machinery in a plant, or I could have just come up with the wrong patent.

http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=...&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page

 

[John Galt]

More info. First, "Glyco-tite process" is not unique to felt hats. Searching for the term yields straws with the same mark, some of which look relatively recent (1980's). This makes sense because the trademark expired in 1988, if I remember correctly.

I found an ad in The Paris News (Texas) touting "The new Bradford hats with the Glyco-tite process for water resistance and longer wear." Couldn't clip it - premium subscription required.
Anyway, it sounds like a DuPont process type of coating.

More importantly, I found another ad from August 27, 1936 in the Kerville Mountain Sun re Beyer-Rolnick hats, which satisfies me that at least the Bradford hats bearing this mark were made by or for Resistol, and that there are most likely no "pre-Resistol" Bradford's, just better quality hats made by Beyer-Rolnick/Resistol under the Bradford name. I cannot help that this does not jibe fully with anecdotes. Maybe someone else can add to this and clear up any remaining mystery.

"Faint hat never won fair lady."