AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A CERTAIN DESCRIPTION OF BUTTONS BY THE APPLICATION OF MACHINERY NOT HERETOFORE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WELLS INGRAM, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Die Sinker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of August, in the third year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Wells Ingram, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas Wells
Ingram, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Wells Ingram, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A CERTAIN DESCRIPTION OF BUTTONS BY THE
APPLICATION OF MACHINERY NOT HERETOFORE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas
Wells Ingram, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, parti-
cularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said,
Thomas Wells Ingram, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer-
tained as follows; that is to say
:

page_text: The description of buttons to the manufacture of which my improved
method is applicable, are those made of horn, hoof, or any substance or com-
position requiring considerable and continued pressure for the purpose of
giving them the required form, or to produce thereon any plain or ornamental
surface, or any kind of impression or device.
My improvement consists in the application of machinery not heretofore used
for the purpose, of which the following is a description, illustrated by the
accompanying Drawings, the same parts being uniformly denoted by the same
letters.
Figure 1 represents an end view of a machine, and the base upon which it
is fixed; and Figure 2 a front view of a base with provision for the arrange-
ment of six machines thereon, although I do not confine myself to any
particular number or arrangement of such machines. A represents a base
upon which one or more machines are fixed, and which then forms a part
of such machine or machines. a represents a frame of iron or other suitable
material. 6 is a table or bed moveable between the sides of the frame a.
c and d are two pieces which I call extensors, the lower extremity of the one d
resting in a channel prepared to receive it in the lower part of the frame a,
the corresponding extremity of the other extensor c supporting the move-
able table or bed 6, the end of it entering a channel under the table or bed.
e is a pin connecting the extensors together. f is a roller moving freely upon
the pine and between the extensors, as shewn in Figure 2. g is an excentric
cam fixed upon a shaft or axis moveable. between the sides of the frame a.
h is a moveable lever upon the side of the frame a, opposite to the cam g.
In order more conveniently to work my machines, I attach to the axis upon
which the cam g is fixed a strong toothed wheel communicating with a series
of others, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and which wheels are marked 5, 4, 3,
and 2. And to the same axis with the one marked 2 is also attached a drum
or pulley 1, over which passes a band or strap for communicating motion to
the machine from a steam engine, or such other power as may be used for
that purpose. I do not however confine myself to any particular number or
proportions in size of these wheels, but construct my machines in this as in
other respects with a due regard. to the pressure required by the materials
of which the buttons are made. I proceed to explain the application of such
a machine to the purpose for which it is intended :-The substance, whether
of horn, hoof, or other material, of which the buttons. are to be made, being
prepared in any of the usual methods, and the blanks, dises, or, as they are
by the trade technically called, bits, being made of the required sizes, and in
readiness to receive the form and impression, are placed between dies or
moulds of the usual construction and under the usual circumstances.; the

page_text: °
dies or moulds, with the bits between them, are then are to be laid upon the
table or bed b, and the shaft with the excentric cam upon it being made to
revolve, the extensors are forced by the action of the can upon the roller f
into a vertical position or right line, the extreme degree of excentricity of
the cam being such as to urge the extensors into that position, and, conse-
quently, to move or raise the table or bed b, and subject the dies or moulds with
the bits between them to pressure between the upper side of the table or bed
and the under side of the top of the frame a, which pressure will continue until
the table or bed is again lowered by the extensors being removed from the
vertical positions, and which is effected by the application of the lever h, the
inner or short end thereof being forced against the roller f on the side oppo-
site to the cam, at the same time that it lowers the table or bed b, subjects
the extensors again to the action of the revolving cam, and causes the
operation of the machine to be repeated. The pressure, as far as the same
depends upon the machine, is uniform whatever be the power applied, and
the buttons are consequently uniform in thickness, whilst at the same time
the substance of which they are made being subjected to such a compressing
force as to render it more dense and hard than would otherwise be the case,
their durability is considerably increased and the impresions upon them
rendered very perfect. Now, I further declare, that I do not lay claim to
the Invention of manufacturing buttons of the kind I have described, other-
wise than by means of the application of the machinery set forth in this
Specification, and which has not been used heretofore for the purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Wells Ingram, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1833, the aforesaid Thomas Wells Ingram 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 stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.