Fox's Reversible Cap

Clearly, New York City in the 19th century was a veritable hotbed of invention with reference to men's hats: Stephen Martine of Staten Island had perfected the Sunshade Hat, and there was the East Williamsburgh Head Muff as well. A third, and very worthy, contender for Most Innovative Men's Headgear in Victorian New York is shown at the left: Fox's Reversible Cap.

A Morris Fox was listed in Goulding's New York Directory (New York, 1877, p. 469) as a hatmaker, whose store was at 158 S. Fifth Avenue; he lived at 202 East Broadway. However, the Reversible Hat patent seems to be this one, patent date June 27, 1882 (filed April 3, 1882), in which the inventor is listed as David Fox of New York City. David Fox was a hat manufacturer; here are David and Carrie Fox and family in the 1880 US Census.

In March 1883, a hatmaker named David Fox, of New York was taken to court by Chester A. Arthur, former Collector of the Port of New York (from 1871-78; he was later 21st President of the United States). There was a disagreement about how much tax the Foxes had to pay for importing imitation sealskin from Liverpool. For a somewhat convoluted discussion of the taxation of wool, cotton, velour and imitation sealskin, you may go and look here at the case of Chester A. Arthur, Late Collectior of the Port of New York v. David Fox et al., in Reports of Cases Argued and Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in the October Terms 1881, 1882, 1883 (Rochester, NY: 1885), p. 675-77.

And that is more than enough about Fox and his hats, reversible and otherwise.

[Illustration from NYPL.]