IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCE- LAIN BUTTONS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
THOMAS LUTWYCHE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gold and
Silver Chain Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by le
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the ninth year of Hei
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant- unto me,
the said Charles Thomas Lutwyche, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Je
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the sand
Charles Thomas Lutwyche, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others 35
1, the said Charles Thomas Lutwyche, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully 'might milke,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Bei wick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCE-
LAIN BUTTONS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a "provise that I,
the said Charles Thomas Lutwyche, shall cause a particular desciption of
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is 6o bo
perforined, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters -Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso,
Charles Thomas Lutwyche, do hereby declare that the nature of my sand
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say.-
In order to explain the nature of my improvements, it will be necessary to-
state what kind of buttons have been made in porcelain. Buttons have been
made of porcelain with holes through them from the back to the front (what
are commonly called four-hole, three-hole, or two-hole buttons, all of porcelain),
also some buttons have been made of porcelain each with one hole, through
which a metallic shank was passed, and fastened on the front of the button.
Porcelain buttons have also been made and sett in metallic cups or dishes, each
having a shank soldered upon the back of the cup or dish, but when so sett
the edge of the cups or dishes are turned over upon the front of the button,
which has a bad effect A Patent was also taken out some time ago for
porcelain buttons, having metallic and other shanks fastened in the back of
the button by cement, but it was found not to answer. The obstacle to the
manufacture of porcelain buttons with metallic shanks has been the difficulty
of finding means to fasten the shank in the back of the button, so as to leave
the whole front surface of the button for the display of pattern or device
Tho
thereon, and also to secure good and smooth edges to the button
difficulty alluded to arose from these causes first, when the button came from
the moulds, and previous to firing, it would be so tender that it would not bear
turning in a chock so as to get an undercut or cavity to receive the shank; on
the other hand, after firing in the ordinary way of firing porcelain, the buttons
would be so hard that no turning tool would cut them.
The first part of my Invention principally consists in overcoming theso diffi-
culties. proceed as follows -The porcelain being mixed with oil or water,
and properly prepared for use (in a way well understood by manufacturers of
porcelain), is formed in moulds of the shape required by means of a press in
which the moulds are fixed. And in order to prevent the buttons adhering
to the moulds, the moulds are kept constantly waim The most convenient way
of effecting which is by means of a jet of ignited gas playing upon them.
After leaving the mould, and being sufhciently dried, the buttons are fired,
but instead of subjecting them to the heat to which porcelain is usually sub-
jected, they are generally heated to a red heat, and subjected to that heat from
two to three hours, and then allowed to cool, when they are ready for turning,
which is done by placing them in a spring chock in a lathe, and turning an

page_text: under cut or cavity in them, as is shewn at Figure 1, such undercut being
similar to that formed in some pearl buttons to receive shanks It is possible
to undercut the button before the partial firing, by putting a small circular saw
in the lathe, and gently pushing the button against it; but this plan is neither
so safe or effecatious as by partially burning and then turning them. After
the buttons are turned, and the edges diessed, they are agam taken to the
filc, and fired, and finished in every respect as is usual with porcelain, ol
instead of glazing them they may be japanned and varnished to any suitable
color, as is now practised with wood, paper, and other substances, and by the
same processes. The buttons are then ready to receive either metallic or
flexible shanks. The metallic shanks are prepared by soldering the hoop or
eye to a piece of metal of a size suitable for the intended button. This piece of
metal is doomed or raised, as is shewn at Figure 2, which represents one of
such metal shanks with the doomed plate b, which is placed in the cavity a of
the button, and either pressed down by means of a hammer or press, or bur-
nishod by what is termed spinning at the lathe, so as to spread out the edges
of the disc of metal b into the undercutting of the cavity a of the button, by
which the shank will be secured in its place, as shewn at Figure 3. The
flexible shanks are prepared in the way in which flexible shanks are usually
prepared, and which is well understood by button makers, the metallic im and
of which being formed doomed or slightly conical, as shewn at Figure 4, will,
when placed in the cavity a, Figue 1, and pressed on as before described, have
their edges spread out in the same manner as before explained with respect to
the metallic shank, which thereby secures the flexible shank in its place, as is
shewn at Figure 5. Figure 6 shews two views of a porcelain ring which is
undercut, as seen at a, to receive a metal shank, such as shewn at Figure 7,
perforated with holes, so as to sew through and through, or it may be a flexible
shank, such as shown at Figure 8, and capable of being sewn through and
through. Figure 9 shews the ring, Figure 6, with a shank, Figure 7, applied.
Figure 10 shews a ring, Figure 6, with a shank, Figure 8, applied. The mode
of forming the shanks applied to rings of porcelain may be varied from those
shewn, and they are to be secured in the porcelain rings by being caused
to expand into a recess or undercut therein, as above described
My next improvement consists in making porcelain buttons with porcelain
hanks, the holes for sewing on which, not being perforated from back to fiont
of the button, as is the case with those commonly called four-hole, three-
ole, or two-hole buttons, but they have shanks at the back similar in form to
common metal shanks, as shewn in the Drawing at Figure 11 and 12, where
is the shank, with a hole e through it for sewing on to a gaiment or other.

page_text: Wise. The shape of the front and of back of the same, as also of the shank,
may, however, be varied. The method of making these buttons is as follows:-
Take plastic porcelain clay, previously prepared in the ordmary way, which is
well understood by porcelain manufacturers, and make it into small balls in
size proportioned to the buttons required. The moulds or dies for making the
button being made by having the pattern for the front of the button sunk in
one die, and the form of the back of the button and of the shank in the other
die, as shewn at Figure 13 and 14, where Figure 13-shews the-upper-die-for-
forming the front of the button, and Figure 14 the lower die to form the
back, there being a recess to form the projection of the shank. The dies
being fixed in the press, the ball of porcelain clay is placed between the dies;
the press is brought down, binging the dies together, whereby the clay is
pressed between them; when a wine g, Figure 15, is passed through the hole h
in the lower dic, which forms the hōle in the shank, the wire g is then with-
drawn (whilst the press is down), and then the press is raised, removing the
upper dic. The button is then formed, and after drying may be fired in tho
way usually pursued with porcelain; but I prefer partially firing the buttons, as
mentioned in the first part of my Invention, and then dressing the sharp edges,
after which they are treated as is usual with porcelain.
My next improvement consist in forming porcelain buttons with porcelain
shanks, such shanks having no hole through them, but being formed as is
the case with what are called shirt studs, and such buttons-may-be-used-for-
similar purposes These buttons are formed in moulds, and have a shank such
as is shewn at Figure 16, and after partially firing, as before named, they are
turned down at h, as shewn at Figure 17; the shape of which, however, may
be varied. The buttons are then finished as requned, in the usual way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Thomas Lutwyche, have herc-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Loid One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
CHARLES THOMAS (Ls.) LUTWYCHE.
Sigued, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Charles Thomas
Lutwyche, in the presence of

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1846, the aforesaid Charles Thomas Lutwyche came
before our said Lady the Queen in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.