Monday

Re: Monday

I don't want to get too elevated on this, so I'll let someone else take a shot at it.

You may...

be relating this to artillery and if so you need look elsewhere.

Re: Monday

If it has nothing to do with artillary, the only reference I was able to find is the testing of mining batteries by dropping them on an oak floor with certain characteristics.

Answer You need to use your head for

this one. You would be in a colonial mans hat making shop. The battery was a large kettle filled with a mild acid solution containing boiling water. A wooden drain board sloped down around the edge of the kettle. During the process of making a hat the worker would pull loose pre-formed (fur or wool) felt triangular shaped (or rounded) mats about three feet on a side (diameter) called batts, from the kettle and roll it around a tapered wooden roller and then (just as you would imagine)planked it by beating it with a wood club or a block held in the hand. Planking along with repeated dipping in the kettle "locked" and shrank the felt and compacted it. In the end the batt was thicker and half its original size and ready to be blocked on a form. Batts were placed on top of one another and kept moist. It normally took two batts, one on top of the other with a linen or brown paper in-layer between the batts to make a hat. Felt was used because it is stronger than woven material, will not ravel or tear easily, and is more water resistant than fabric. A good hat was valuable and was often willed to another hence the development of a fancy hatbox--some of layered paper but just as often leather and wood. Hatmaking was a 14 millon dollar business by the first half of the 1800's and in no small part caused the exploratory push to the west coast.

Good question

Learn something new all the time. That is what I like about the trivia board.