Lincoln's Stovepipe Hat

[L Verge]

I was debating whether or not top hats were collapsible during the time of Lincoln. Wikipedia gave me the answer:

Collapsible top-hats[edit]





The collapsible Gibus
On May 5, 1812, a London hatter called Thomas Francis Dollman patented a design for "an elastic round hat" supported by ribs and springs. His patent was described as:


An elastic round hat, which "may be made of beaver, silk, or other materials." "The top" of the crown and about half an inch from the top "as well as "the brim and about an inch, the crown from the bottom" are stiffened in the ordinary manner. The rest of the hat "is "left entirely without stiffening," and is kept in shape by ribs of any suitable material "fastened horizontally to the inside of " the crown," and by an elastic steel spring from three to four inches long and nearly half an in. wide "sewed on each side of "the crown in the inside in an upright position." Then packed up for travelling, "the double ribbon fastened under the band is "to be pulled over the top of the crown to keep it in a small "compass."[12]

Some sources have taken this to describe an early folding top hat,[13][14] although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman's patent expired in 1825.[15] In France, around 1840, Antoine Gibus's design for a spring-loaded collapsible top-hat proved so popular that hats made to it became known as gibus.[10][16] They were also often called opera hats due to the common practice of storing them in their flattened state under one's seat at the opera, though the term can also refer to any tall formal men's hat.[citation needed] The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a third name, the chapeau claque, "claque" being the French word for "slap".[17]

I should add that I suspect Lincoln's top hat was not collapsible...