tip-stretcher found!

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

>tip-stretcher  -- (n.) An apparatus for stretching hat crowns.
>BY:  THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
>0 points
>
>Rev. Mr. Cote: {Why would Elliott pick a word if it had a definition
>like the above?}

So, after having sent in my votes for tip-strretcher, and having decided
based on some web-searching that it probably was the hatmaker's tool
after all, I spent last Wednesday afternoon at The Big E (Eastern States
Exposition) in West Springfield, MA.  There, among the various artisans,
I spied a fellow dressed in period attire making felt hats.  While
waiting for a marching band to assume their positions for a performance,
I inquired of his fellow if he knew of something called a tip-stretcher. 
With no further explanation from me, he produced from a box a wooden
device comprising two curved pieces joined by a dowel with opposite
threads on both ends, sort of an inverse turnbuckle.  He looked unsure,
but said, "It might be this".

Jean-Joseph