AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF. BUTTONS MADE OF PEARL OR OTHER SHELL, IVORY, BONE, OR WOOD
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to: John. Cope, of. Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF. BUTTONS MADE OF PEARL OR OTHER
SHELL, IVORY, BONE, OR WOOD."
Sealed the 26th September 1856, and dated the 21st May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cope at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st May
1856.
I, JOHN COPE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,"
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS MADE OF PEARL OR OTHER SHELL,
IVORY, BONE, OR WOOD," to be as follows:-
My said Invention has for its object making the said buttons into flexible
shanks. In carrying my Invention into effect, I make the said buttons of two
pieces or discs, one constituting the front and the other the back of the button;
the latter disc has a perforation at its middle. I place between the two discs
piece of canvas or other fabric; a portion of which said fabric being made to
protrude through the hole in the back of the button, constitutes the flexible
shank. When the button is of the kind called sewn-through buttons, both
discs are perforated, so that the needle may pass through the button and the
fabric in the interior of the button when sewing, the button to a garment...

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Cope in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN COPE,
of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Cope, Her special licence that I, the said John Cope, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Cope, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,.
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS MADE OF PEARL OR OTHER SHELL,
IVORY, BONE, OR WOOD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Cope, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after tlie
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Cope, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof:-
My said Invention consists of the methods herein-after particularly described,
and represented in the accompanying Drawing, of manufacturing buttons of
pearl or other shell, ivory, bone, or wood. The Figures in the accompanying
Drawing are of double the size of the buttons represented, in order that the
parts may the more easily be understood. I do not, however, confine myself
to any particular size in making buttons according to my Invention.
My said Invention has for its principal object making the said buttons with
flexible shanks, or means of attachment to the garment with which they are
used.
In carrying my Invention into effect, I make the said buttons of two pieces

page_text: or discs; one constituting the front and the other the back of the button; the
latter disc or back has à perforation at its middle. I place between the two
discs a piece of canvas or other fabric, a portion of which said fabric being
made to protrude through the hole in the back of the button constitutes the
flexible shank.
Figure 1 represents this part of my Invention in front view at a, back view
at b, section at c, edge view at d, and the two shells in section at e. The
front disc is marked f in the several Figures, and the back disc g.
h is the
fabric, in which a cup-like depression has been made. The said fabric h is
inserted between the discs f and g, and cemented in its place. The discs f and
g may be made of different materials, so as to have an ornamental appearance.
When the button is of the kind called a sewn-through button, I perforate
both discs, so that the needle may pass through the button and the fabric in
its interior when sewing a button to a garment.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in Figure 2; i being a front view
of the button; k, an edge view; l, a back view; and m, a section. The front
dise is marked n in the several Figures, and the back disc o. The perfora-
tion p in the front disc is conical, and much less than the perforation in the
back disc. q is the fabric by which the button is attached to the garment, the
said fabric being held between the two discs n, o. In attaching the button,
the needle is passed through the hole p, fabric q, and the garment, and back
again through the hole p, as often as may be necessary.
Figure 3 represents another modification of my Invention; r being a back
view; s, a front view; t, an edge view; and u, a section. This modification of
my Invention differs from that last described and represented in Figure 2, in
having a metal shell v in place of a wooden or other non-metallic disc, the
said metal shell v constituting the back of the button. The said shell v is
covered at the back and edge with a fabric w. Instead of making the button,
Figure 3, flat at its back, I sometimes make it convex, as represented in
Figure 4. Instead of making the button, Figure 3, flat at its front, I some-
times make the front of an ornamental figure, as illustrated in Figure 5.
Figure 6 represents a method of attaching metal shanks to buttons made of
wood, pearl or other shell, ivory, or bone.. c is the button, in the back of which
a groove is turned. A dome-like shank y is introduced into the said groove, and
by means of a press and pressing tools the said shank y is forced into the groove
at the back of the button, and also perforated at opposite sides, as represented
at the back view z, and the section 2¹, Figure 6. The button is attached by
means of thread passed through the holes 2, 2.
I do not think it necessary to describe the machinery used for forcing the

page_text: shanky into the button and making the holes 2, 2, therein, as the same is well
known and, commonly practised, and constitutes no- part of my Invention.
Instead of making the shank represented in Figure 6 of-metal, I sometimes
make a somewhat similar shank of wood, ivory, or other, non-metallic sub-
stance, as represented in Figure 7, where 3 represents the disc constituting the
front of the button; 4, the back of the button; and 5, the perforated. shank
inserted in the disc, 4.
manner of
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
carrying, the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not. limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but
I claim as my, Invention,
Firstly, the method herein before, described, and illustrated in Figure 1.of
the accompanying Drawing, of manufacturing buttons, made of pearl or other
shell, ivory, bone,, or wood, having protruding flexible shanks, that is to say, by
inserting and fixing the said flexible shank between the discs constituting the
front and back of the button.
Secondly, the methods berein-before described;- and; illustrated in Figures 2,
3, 4, and 5 of the, accompanying Drawing, of manufacturing sewn-through
buttons, made wholly or mainly of pearl, or other shell, ivory, bone, or wood,
that is to say, by inserting and fixing a disc of woven or, other fabric between
the disc forming the front of the button and the disc or,covered metallic. shell
constituting the back of the button, both the said discs, or disc and shell con-
stituting the front and back of the button being, perforated, to permit of the
passage.c of the needle through them.
Lastly, the method herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 6
and 7 of the accompanying, Drawing, of forming the shanks of buttons made
of pearl or other shell, ivory, bone, or wood..
..In witness whereof, I, the said John Cope, have: hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of November, in the year. of our Lord One a
thousand eight.hundred, and fifty-six:
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George'Shaw.
JOHN-COPE!"(L.S.)