A NEW METHOD OF MAKING BUTTONS AND BUTTON MOULDS OF WOOD
Year: 1786

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EGINTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engraver, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Thirty-first day of January, in the twenty-sixth year of His reign, give and
grant unto me, the said John Eginton, His especial licence that I, the said
John Eginton, during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF MAKING BUTTONS
AND BUTTON MOULDS OF WOOD;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said John Eginton, under my hand and scal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and how the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Eginton, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following (that is to say):-
I take very thin boards, veneers, or strong shavings of wood (what is
called beech scabbarding or scale board answers very well). I glue or cement

page_text: these veneers, shavings, or boards of wood together in sufficient numbers to
make up the thickness wanting for the bottom part of the button, and so that
the grain of one vencer, shaving, or board, lies across that of the other alter-
nately, which prevents the wood warping in the stove or in the varnishing.
The boards, veneers, or shavings thus glued or cemented together, are then
sawed or cut into square or other formed pieces, larger than the intended size
of the buttons, or may be cut into convenient pieces, by means of a piercing
press, or by means of a centrebit or other cutter suitable to the size and form
of the intended button. In the centre of each piece intended for the bottom.
part of the button I bore, drill, or otherwise make a hole to receive a shank
of iron, copper, or other metal, which shank must be made long enough to go
through the said piece or bottom part of the button, and when through the
two ends must be turned down or rivitted, so as to be level or below the
surface of the said piece, or the said ends may be let a little way into the
wood, and filed or otherwise made level to the surface of the said piece, so as.
not to prevent the top part of the button coming into contact with it when
cemented together; or the shank may be made of wire, in this form V,
and when put thro' the bottom part of the button, the eye of the shank may be
formed by forcing open the wire with a round tool, which at the same time
secures and makes the shank fast. The top parts are made exactly similar to
those already described for the under parts, but in general without the hole.
The top and bottom, thus prepared, are firmly glued or cemented together,
after which they are placed in a warm room or japanners' or others stoves, till
they are in a dry state; then are shaped into the forms of buttons, in either a
common lathe or double lathe, such as is in common use for making bone
button moulds (that is, a lathe with two spindles, having their axis in the
same line, and which spindles, standing opposite each other, advance or recede
from each other with one motion of the hand, and at one operation completes
the forming of the button), or by means of a centrebit or other cutter suitable
to the size and form of the button. In case of using the double lathe for
forming the buttons, one of the cutters or shaving bits of the said double lathe
must have a hollow socket in the middle, to receive the shank of the button,
and to prevent its being injured in the operation. When thus far done they
are several times varnished over with oil, spirits, or other varnish. The
varnishes which are commonly used in manufacturing of japan wares, either
of iron or paper, commonly called papier machee, answers very well. Each
coat must be properly hardened in a stove, or by means of heat, before another
is laid upon it. The colour of the varnish may be black, or any other colour

page_text: which fancy directs, and may be polished by means of a lathe, or without with
the same materials which are used in polishing japanned wares.
My new-invented buttons are otherways made by the following process, that
is: By gluing or cementing the thin boards, veneers, or shavings in sheets
of convenient size and thickness, observing always to cross the grain, as before.
described, which sheets are then to be properly stoved or dried, after which
the said sheets are varnished and polished, in the same manner as fine
japanned wares, or papier machee, pannels, trays, &c., out of which I cut the
top pieces for the buttons with the piercing press or lathe. The top pieces
thus cut out are glued or cemented to the pieces already described for the
bottom part of the button. The edges and bottoms are then wrought into
proper shape in a lathe, and varnished, in doing which great care is required
to prevent the top being injured. These buttons may be ornamented with
gilding, painting, &c., or inlaid with stones, pearl, metal, &c., or otherwise
decorated. The wood described for the under part of the button, with the
shank fixed in it, and without the top, will make into various formed buttons.
Or the tops may be set into metal or other cups or rings, being first completely
varnished and polished. The process for the moulds is similar to that of the
buttons, except the varnishing, which in some cases may be done in a slighter
manner, particularly the tops of the said moulds, and which may be covered
with gilt, plated or metal shells. In some cases I make the said buttons of
one solid piece of wood, or I mix other materials with the wood, either on the
surface or between the said veneers, such as paper, leather, ivory, bone, silk,
linen, or other cloth, felt, or thin pieces of metal, pursuing the process other-
wise as has been described. In other cases, instead of veneers or shavings, I
take sawdust, turnings or raspings of wood, or chaff, straw, hemp, or similar
substances, and mixing them with glue, forn them, by means of moulds and a
press, into boards or slips, out of which I cut the buttons in the manner
described. But I generally prefer using the thin boards or veneers, as I
have first described, having answered the purpose better than other
methods I have tried.
any
Be it remembered, that the essential and new part of this Invention
consists in making buttons and button moulds of thin boards, veneers, or
shavings of wood, glued or cemented togther, and varnished, and in forming
the same by a double lathe or centrebit.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Eginton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of February, One thousand seven hundred
and eighty-six.
JOHN EGINTON. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1786, the aforesaid John Eginton came before our
said Lord the King 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 stampt according to
the tenor of the Statutes made for, that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and eighty-six.