IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS AND OTHER DRESS FASTENINGS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MT
D.
Sealed the 27th September 1860, and dated the 5th April 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th April
1860.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS AND OTHER DRESS FASTENINGS," to be as follows,
that is to say:-
This Invention consists of improvements upon a former Invention for the
same purpose for which Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the
24th day of December, A. D. 1859, have been granted to me. I propose
to employ a composition for the manufacture of buttons and other dress
fastenings, which composition consists substantially of the following ingre-
dients:-Lac, either stick, seed, shell, or in any other form containing
equivalent chemical components; asphaltum, sawdust, ivory black, oxide of
manganese, coke dust, and powdered charcoal. It is probable that vegetable
fibres other than sawdust, such, for instance, as paper pulp would be as

page_text: efficient, but I prefer sawdust, as it would be much more economical. The
colour of this composition may be varied by the introduction of any suitable
colouring matter, many mineral colours have a tendency also to harden the
composition, which is beneficial. The materials are well amalgamated under
heat and whilst in a plastic state the composition is pressed in suitable dies,
and thus moulded into any form that may be desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SMITH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Smith, Her special license that I, the said John Smith, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Smith,
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BUTTONS AND OTHER DRESS FASTENINGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Smith, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of improvements upon a former Invention for the

page_text: same purpose for which Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the
Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine, have already been granted to me. I propose to em-
ploy a composition for the manufacture of buttons and other dress fastenings,
which composition consists substantially of the following ingredients :-Lac
either stick, seed, shell, or in any other form containing equivalent chemical
components; asphaltum, sawdust, ivory black, oxide of manganese, coke dust,
and powdered charcoal. It is probable that vegetable fibres other than saw-
dust, such, for instance, as paper pulp would be as efficient, but I prefer
sawdust, as it would be much more economical. The colour of this composition
may be varied by the introduction of any suitable colouring matter, many
mineral colours having also a tendency to harden the composition, which is
beneficial. The materials are to be well amalgamated under heat, and whilst
in a plastic state the composition is to be pressed in suitable dies, and thus
moulded into any form that may be desired.
The object of this Invention has been the attainment of greater density,
tenacity, lightness, and delicacy of tint in colouring than I am able to produce
with the materials named in the Specification of my former Invention, and
also for some particular descriptions of buttons, clasps, and other dress
fastenings, to combine with or imbed in the composition, shells, or mounts of
metal, wood, paper, pasteboard, or other suitable stronger material, which
would make the article produced less easily fractured, and capable also of
more varied ornamentation. This part of my Invention is represented in the
annexed Drawings, and will herein-after be more especially alluded to.
I shall now proceed to describe the ingredients I employ for the composition,
together with the mode in which I amalgamate them, and work them up into
the manufactured articles above stated, I take one pound of shell lac or lac in
any
of its known forms suitable for my purpose, and dissolve it by heat on a
flat iron slab, and then mix with it an equal quantity by bulk of ebony dust
or other wood dust, produced by sawing, turning, pulverization, or otherwise,
and for purposes in which coloured composition is desired, I introduce the
colouring matter at this stage for instance. If I wish to produce a very intense
black, I add three ounces of black asphaltum ground to a fine powder, three
ounces of ivory black, or charcoal powder, or lamp black. The ivory black
being used for the purpose of hardening the composition, or if hardness be not
desirable, then I employ the charcoal or the lamp black. In making the
composition of a chocolate or brown tint, I use' with the lac three ounces of
brown asphaltum, and about one ounce of rouge more or less, according to the
tint required. The proportion of rouge employed will of course materially

page_text: govern the tint of brown produced. For green tints or other darker tints, I
employ any suitable colouring matter to produce the tint required. For
making light coloured composition, I take the dust of box-wood produced by
any of the means aforesaid, as a colouring matter in itself, to which if a still
lighter tint be required I add an intense white, in the shape of barytes, or any
other suitable colouring. The whole of these ingredients are to be. well
amalgamated until the mass shall appear thoroughly homogeneous in its nature
throughout, when homogeneity is desired; but if streaked or veined composition
be required, this thorough amalgamation will be less needful, and streaked or
veined composition may also be produced by twisting or rolling together two
or more masses of differently coloured composition. In this way imitations of
marble, onyx, malachite, or other stones, and gems may be obtained. In
making light coloured composition wood dust other than boxwood may be
employed, though I prefer the dust of boxwood. These components having
been well mixed upon a slab or stone, whilst the lac is in a plastic state and
under heat the composition is then to be placed in sufficient quantities in dies
of any description prepared and designed for the form of the article intended
to be produced, and these dies being removed to a press the article to be
produced is completed by pressure. The composition cools rapidly by contact
with the dies and the article in a finisbed state is ready to be immediately
removed. In cases in which it may be desirable that the composition should
possess greater density of materal than would be the case with the ingredients
above described, such greater density may be obtained by the addition of
mineral substances, such for instance as barytes or oxide of manganese, the
proportions of which must be governed by the requirements of the case: and
when greater tenacity than in the above cases may be desired that quality may
also be obtained by the admixture of a due proportion of vegetable fibre other
than wood dust, as for instance the shearings of cottons, velveteens or hemp,
flax, or other such like materials, whilst for the purpose of obtaining a light and
strong composition, paper pulp mixed with the other ingredients will be found
advantageous. The proportions to be used of these fibrous materials must be
left to the judgment of the operator, who will be guided by the quality of
material he desires to produce. The dies and presses I employ are of the
same kind precisely as those now in use by the manufacturers of horn buttons;
they will therefore need no further description. Thus far I have specified the
manufacture of articles intended to be formed of composition alone, namely,
such articles as will be found of sufficient strength without the aid of any
backing or mounting, but many descriptions of buttons, clasps, and dress
fastenings of similar nature would admit of more varied ornamentation and

page_text: would withstand rougher usage were the composition supported by mounts
or backs of metal, bone, paper, pasteboard, or other very strong material,
and to this portion of my Invention, the annexed Drawings particularly
refer.
Figures 1, 2 and 3 represent a section, a front and back view of a sewn
through button, composed partly of composition and partly of metal (a)
shewing a metal shell or blank firmly imbedded in the back of the button;
this shell or blank being placed in the die, the composition is pressed on to
it, the holes in the composition being formed at the same time by pins either
in the plunger or top die, or in the matrix or under die. Figures 4, 5 and 6,
shew a form of button not what is termed a sewn-through button, but having
a metal looped back answering as a shank for sewing on after the manner of
the tuft in Florentine buttons. A button with a flexible shank can also be
made in the same way by the insertion of the ordinary tuft cloth between the
composition and the shell, the tuft of course protruding and forming the shank,
as in the ordinary tuft shank button. Figures 7, 8 and 9, shew a cup-shaped
button in which the back shell is continued over and round the front edge of the
composition and forms a mount to the same. The holes for sewing on being,
as in Figure 1, pierced through both the composition and the back shell.
Figures 10, 11 and 12, shew the same form of button, as that last described,
but with the centre of the composition removed, so that the sewing (though
this is a sewn-through button also) passes only through the back shell and is
not dependent upon the composition at all. Figures 13, 14 and 15, exhibit
a few varieties of clasps shewing some of the ways in which my composition,
either with or without the aid of metal may be employed.
The Drawings represent the former mode of using it, but it will be evident
that many designs for the same purpose may be devised, which would be of a
character for which the composition alone would possess sufficient solidity. I can
also employ the composition either with or without metal backing as a base
upon which may be mounted ivory, glass, pearl, metal, or other ornaments,
gems, or stones in any variety, or the composition may be inlaid with any of
these ornamental materials, and it will thus form a ground or foundation,
which may be in this manner enriched to any extent, and by which
many attractive designs for buttons and other dress fastenings may be
produced.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements I have
described in the manufacture of buttons and other dress fastenings by making
them of or partly of composition consisting substantially of the amalgamated

page_text: ingredients herein more particularly specified, but without limiting myself
to any exact proportions of such ingredients as the same will admit
of much variation without materially affecting the nature of the composition.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my
land and seal, this Second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN SMITH. (L.S.)