IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THE SAME
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th February
1863. A communication from abroad by Achille Auguste Feldtrappe
and René Dutfoy, both of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN
APPARATUS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists, 1st, in a new or improved button of any ceramic
plastic material, such as porcelain, for instance, without any projecting shank
or other fastener; and, 2ndly, in the mode of manufacturing the same.
This ceramic product has, instead of the common shank or projecting
fastener, a hole or passage made laterally through the body of the button;
this fastener may be formed at once with the button or be fitted to it of any
ceramic or metallic substance. On both sides of the lateral passage or tunnel
which constitutes the fastener, there are two cuts for the easier passage of the
needle which carries the thread through it.
I have represented in the annexed Drawings the button of this Invention
and the moulding apparatus whereby the same is produced, but, have not
thought it necessary to describe the various parts by which motion is imparted
to the moulding tools, as these form no part of the Invention, but are very
well known.
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 show a side plan and under side views of the new button;
Fig. 4, shows a plan view of the tools, serving to mould the ceramic substance
I generally use in this manufacture; Figs. 5 and 6 show a vertical section

page_text: through line 1, 2, Fig. 4, of the whole of the working parts. In all the
Figures the same letters of reference indicate like parts where they recur.
a is the body of the button, made of any ceramic substance; b is the
fastener or shank of the same, being formed with a lateral hole or tunnel cut
across and through the body a of the button; d is a cut or bevilled part in the
body a of the button, for the purpose of rendering easier the passage for the.
needle, and guiding it as it carries the thread through the hole or tunnel.
In case the shank or fastener with latter hole or tunnel should be made
separately of any ceramic or other material, to be fitted afterwards to the
button, the hole or tunnel is to be formed, first, by a horizontal furrow made
through the body of the button and forming the concave, and by another
furrow or groove formed in the piece to be fitted.
Instead of the above lateral passage or tunnel, as described, a plain hole may
be formed in the fastening piece, but in either case the cut or bevilled part, as
above alluded to, should be retained. This shank, either ceramic or metallic,
is fitted when in the hot state. When a ceramic substance is designed I choose
by preference hard felspar, nearly in its pure state, which I imbed into the
furrow formed through the button, wherein it is fitted, and made adherent by
the baking action.
Figs. 7 and 8 show vertical sections of a button with ceramic fastener or
shank fitted thereto; and Figs. 9 and 10 show sections of a similar button with
metallic fastener fitted to it, the latter being somewhat thinner than the
former or ceramic one; Figs. 11 and 12 show sections of buttons with ceramic
fasteners, the tunnel being embodied in the fitted piece.
It will be unnecessary further to describe the manufacture of the plain
specimens represented at Figs. 7 to 12 inclusive, they being merely shown to
exhibit some of the various modifications to which this improved system of
manufacture is applicable.
I will now describe more particularly the new mode of producing the
standard button represented at Figs. 1, 2, and 3. e is the framing of the
apparatus; f, the upper tools, operated by any suitable press, and having
the external form of the button to be produced; g, lower tool, carrying guide
slides h, which form the channels through the body at both ends of the tunnel;
these slides may be open or quite closed, as shown; they likowise may
be used indifferently, and according to the depth in the tool that may be
adopted; i, transverse pins forming a sort of rake or comb, which rests on
slides h; these produce the hole or tunnel, which constitutes the fastening
shank, and the space j, which is filled with paste or pulverulent ceramic
substance which constitutes the tunnel floor of the button fastener; k, central

page_text: plate in which the tools f and 9 engage; 1, bar connecting pins i; m, bar
for securing the heads of pins i; n, slide for regulating the motion of the
pins; o, handle for operating the pins; p, screws for connecting together the
handle o and plates or pin bearers l, m. All the parts being thus arranged,
and the upper pins f being raised, the pulverulent matter or the ceramic
substance is placed on the lower tools, which fills all the interstices; tho
handle is then drawn back until the pins passing through the ceramic
material bear upon plate k, when the mass is compressed by causing the upper
tools to descend quickly under the action of any suitable press, and mould
the buttons. The handle o is then withdrawn, and the pins i and the buttons
liberated, the centre plate k and the lower plate are now removed in any
suitable manner, and the upper tools are brought down again so as to push
out the buttons. As regards buttons with a shank fitted thereto it suffices in
order to produce them to leave a space in the lower tool g, which the small
parallopiped of porcelain, metal, or other substance, either cut out or moulded
in any suitable shape is afterwards to occupy.
I
may also adopt another mode of manufacturing these improved buttons,
that is to say, I may make a hole or tunnel in the body of the button either by
boring it previously, as aforesaid, while the material is yet soft or pulverent, or
by piercing, boring, or otherwise acting upon the body of the button after it is
moulded.
By the annexed Drawing it will be seen that the two parallel rows of buttons
may be produced at once, but the apparatus may be provided with four sets of
tools, operating at same time with two series only of pins, one of which would
operate upon one side and one on the other side of the buttons, both series
being actuated by the same motive power.