Improvement in the Manufacture of Shoe Buttons and similar Articles.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 5th June, 1889-Accepted, 20th July, 1889
COMPLETE DIECIFICATION.
Improvement in the Manufacture of Shoe Buttons and similar
Articles.
I, HERBERT STOWELL THAYER, of Providence, State of Rhode Island, United
States of America, Mechanic do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improvement in the art of making buttons, upholstery-
nails and other similar articles, and has for its object to obviate difficulties which have
heretofore existed in their construction by the known methods of manufacture.
Previous to my invention, articles of the class mentioned have been made by cutting
out blanks of the desired size, inserting the eye or fastening device into the blanks,
and then pressing the said blanks into form, and thereby securing the said eye or
fastening device therein, the main strength of the button depending largely, if not
entirely on an after coating or filling before the buttons are coloured by japaning.
The blanks as they are cut from a strip have rough ragged edges and sides, and the
edges of the blanks when pressed into shape still remain rough and ragged,
necessitating the smoothing of the same by tumbling or shaving before they can be
finished, as it is essential to have the circumferential edges of the button smooth, with
no roughness or imperfections to injure the button hole or articles in contact when
in use. By means of my improvement I am enabled to obviate these difficulties and to
produce a much stronger and better finished button having perfectly smooth edges
and also to obviate the necessity of using the filler for the purpose of adding the
strength thereto. To this end my improvement consists essentially, in subjecting a
button blank to a rolling process, which compresses, rounds and hardens the corners
and edges of the blank, leaving the central portion of said blank in its normal
condition as it existed in the strip from which it was cut, so that the eye or fastening
device may be readily inserted therein, as well as other improvements in the art of
making buttons, substantially as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 represents a plan view of a blank as cut
from a strip or sheet of material.
Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same.
Fig. 3 represents a plan view of the blank with the edges rounded and hardened.
Fig. 4 is a central sectional side elevation of the same.
Fig. 5 is a like view of the rolled blank with an eye shank inserted therein.
Fig. 6 represents a complete button.
Fig. 7 is a central sectional view of the rolled blank with a nail inserted therein.
Fig. 8 represents a complete upholstery nail.
Fig. 9 is a plan view of a machine for carrying my improvement into operation.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation, and Fig. 11 is a transverse sectional view of the same.
Fig. 12 is a vertical section of a plunger and die in the act of inserting the eye
shank into the button blank.
Fig. 13 a like view of the same with the eye inserted and button complete.
Fig. 14 represents a plan view of the button die.
Referring to the drawing, a represents a button blank as cut from a sheet or strip
of material; a¹ the blank after passing through the rolling process; c indicates the
hardened rounded corners of the rolled blank, a² represents the completed button
head, and b, the eye-shank nail, or other fastening device.
The machine employed in the present instance to illustrate my improved method or
process consists of a frame or bedpiece A, provided with a sliding head B, adapted to
reciprocate in said bedpiece, said sliding head being operated by the crank wheel C,
through the medium of the connection D, in the usual manner by hand wheel or
other suitable power. The bedpiece A is provided on the front side with a rectangular

page_text: shaped strip 1 formed longitudinally its entire length said groove being concave in
cross section as shown in Fig. 11. The sliding head B is provided with a like
shaped strip having a correspondingly shaped groove 2 on its lower surface
formed longitudinally its entire length, the two grooves 1 and 2, being located
directly opposite each other as fully shown in Figure 11 of the drawing. The
front of the machine is further provided with an opening 3 formed half in the
bedpiece A, and half in the sliding head B, through said parts, into the
grooves 1 and 2, the opening being formed when the sliding head B is in position as
shown in Figures 9 and 10 of the drawing. The bed piece A is further provided
with a chute 4, located opposite the opening 3 of a size and shape to allow there-
through of a column of blanks, as shown in figures 9 and 11 of the drawing. The
outer end of the bed piece is provided with a chute 5, formed coincident with the
groove 1, down which the blanks are passed after being passed through the machine
as shown in Figures 9 and 10.
In carrying out my improvement the blanks a are first cut out from a sheet or strip
of suitable material in the usual manner, preferably from leather or leather board, as
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the blanks are then fed into the chute 4 and inter-
mittently passed through the opening 3 into the grooves 1 and 2 of the machine, the
sliding head B is then moved forward to its extreme, rolling the blank forward until
it reaches the chute 5, when it drops from the grooves down said chute. In its pro-
gress through the grooves 1 and 2, the blank is made to conform to the shape of said
grooves, the corners and edges becoming compressed and consolidated, forining the
round edged blank a' illustrated in figures 3 and 4, leaving the central portion of the
blank substantially in its normal condition as it existed in the blank previous to
passing through the machine, that is to say, the rolling process compacts and hardens
the corners of the blank, making them round, compact and smooth, but does not
materially change the fibre of the central portion when the eye shank b, or fastening
device is to be inserted. The blank is now ready for the fastening device, the lower
or loop portion of the eye-shank b, is rigidly held in the opening 1 of the die 8 shown
in figure 14 with the bifurcated end of said eye shank projecting therefrom, the
blank al is then forced unto said bifurcated ends, which penetrate said blank and are
bent over at the upper portion thereof, by means of the plunger g, as shown in figure 12,
which having a concave end compresses the outer edges of the blank first, before the
inner surface is reached and thereby bends or curves the bifurcated ends of the eye-
shank downward, and a continued pressure being applied the blank is pressed into the
desired shape as shown in figure 13, firmly securing the fastening therein, forming
the complete button as shown in figures 6 and 8; figure 7 shows a nail inserted into
said blank, the blank being pressed into shape as described, after the insertion of
the nail. The addition of japan or colour is all that is now required to finish the
button ready for use. By means of my improvement, buttons provided with eye
shanks, nails, split pins or other fastening devices can be produced with ease and
dispatch, making a stronger and better finished article, and also better adapted to
take the final coating of japan or colouring matter; the edges of the button are firm
and compact, and not liable to flake or become rough or ragged, they are also
smooth and therefore cannot injure the button-hole or articles in contact.
My method of manufacturing is equally well adapted to the making of buttons,
upholstery nails, and analogous articles. If preferred the blank may be rolled so that
the central portion would be harder than in its normal condition, the degree of hardness
or solidity depending on the requirements of the button in the trade; I prefer to
perform the operation of rolling the button blank before the eye or fastening device
is inserted but it is clear that this operation might well be performed after the
insertion of the eye or fastening device; or the two operations might be performed
simultaneously.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1º. That improvement in the art of manufacturing buttons, which consists in first

page_text: cutting out the blanks by any of the known methods, and at a subsequent stage in the
operation of manufacture, hardening and compressing the circumferential edges by
rolling, substantially as described.
20. That improvement in the art of making buttons which consists in cutting out a
blank of the desired size, hardening and rounding the edges by rolling or compression,
leaving the central portion of the blank substantially in its normal condition,
inserting the eye-shank or fastening device into said blank, and then compressing
the blank into the desired shape substantially as set forth.
3°. The method herein described of making buttons, consisting in hardening and
rolling the edges of a button blank, leaving the central portion in its normal condition
for the insertion of an eye-shank or other fastening device, inserting said eye shank
or fastening device into said blank, compressing the same into the required shape to
form the button, and then colouring and finishing said button, substantially as
specified.
4°. The button blank herein described, having hardened chamfered edges and a central
portion softer than said edges, or in the normal condition as it existed in the strip
from which it was cut, and adapted to receive an eye shank, nail, or other fastening
device preparatory to being pressed into shape to form a button, substantially as
described.
50. As an improved article of manufacture, a button having rolled and hardened
circumferential edges and provided with an eye-shank or other suitable fastening
device, substantially as herein set forth.
H. S. THAYER,
Per L. W.