Purely Decorative Wind Trolley

[Brad Bowers]

Here's a new one on me. I was sorting through a tangled mess of vintage wind trolleys I was given, and found several of these puppies:

Just a plain elastic loop with the button, to stretch over the crown. Purely for the effect, and definitely non-functional.

I tried stretching one over a hat, and it was so dried out that it broke, but that's fine, as I would never use these anyway. I did find a nice, black, non-elastic, functional wind trolley to sew onto my William Powell hat, which just came out of a Naphtha bath. I figure I'll have to clean this hat at least twice a year, since it shows the dirt. Almost need some white gloves to handle the hat!

Brad

 

[Dinerman]

yep- I've got one in gray on my Lee.

 

[ideaguy]

Got one on a great Borsalino-thing goes twice around and then some-I'd still end up chasing the hat down the street, looking reeeely foolish![huh]

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Me too...

...one of my Borso's has one just like that. I discovered it while riding a trolley in a windy canyon near Tucson, AZ. I thought I'd try out the wind trolley and it came off the hat in my hand! I had no idea they made them just for decoration!...when did that start?

-dixon cannon

 

[Snrbfshn]

Knox 20 has one...

The hat in my avatar is a Knox 20, and it also has an elastic decorative wind trolley. My guess is that so few men used them, the hat companies saw a way to keep the accent and save a few pennies.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

My Knox 15 "Tom 'n' Jerry" had one. I removed it.

bk

 

[Phineas Lamour]

I have a Knox 15 with a wind trolley that is not attached to the hat at all. The other day I wore it in the rain and the cord got very loose when it was wet. Loose enough to where it could have fallen off. When the hat dried it shrunk back and fit the hat again. Seems like they would be easy to lose that way.

 

[Sam Craig]

I've had a couple of hats with the stretchy trolleys, just for looks.
You're right about their condition, Brad. If you don't want to toss it, don't touch it at all, because the old ellastic will fall apart like an old rubber band ... I suppose that is just about what they are, too.

Sam

 

[jwalls]

I have a few of these things but just can't bring myself to use them on a customer's hat. A wind string should be functional.

 

[HatsEnough]

I never saw one that was purely decorative. I have to say I am not fond of the idea, either! I noticed that sometime in the 60s or so wind trolley strings became made of elastic instead of string (something else I am not fond of), too.

 

[gtdean48]

My Open Road style 7X CB came with one on it...elastic string loop with the button. It has never left the box & probably never will....

 

[Mulceber]

My Knox Forty has one as well. I wear it on the hat, it looks good and I suppose I've never really needed to use a wind trolly, but I do wish it was functional. It does have a pretty cool Knox logo on the button, however, so it's not all bad. -M