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Hoedhaar Felt Manufacturing - Steam Engine Building and Chimney
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Former felt manufacturing factory "Hoedhaar" at Lokeren (Belgium). Hoedhaar can be translated as Hoed = Hat, Haar = Hair. The company produced felt,used in the hat-making industry. This felt was made from rabbid hair,using a process called "carroting". rabbit skins were treated with a dilute solution of the mercury compound mercuric nitrate. The skins were dried in an oven where the thin fur at the sides went orange - carrot color. Pelts were stretched over a bar in a cutting machine and the skin sliced off in thin shreds, the fleece coming away entirely. The fur was blown onto a cone-shaped colander, treated with hot water to consolidate it, the cone peeled off and passed through wet rollers to cause the fur to felt. These 'hoods' were then dyed and blocked to make hats. This toxic solution and the vapours it produced resulted in widespread cases of mercury poisoning among hatters, possibly giving rise to the expression "mad as a hatter." (source : wikipedia)
Hoedhaar closed in the 80's.
The building at the left side of the chimney once housed the steam engine and the boiler (long gone). As you can see,this place is in very bad shape ,and will be demolished next month. They already cut the trees (as the complete site was overgrown),so I was able to make this picture :)
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