IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS AND OTHER DRESS FASTENINGS."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS AND OTHER DRESS FASTENINGS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th December)
1859.
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:
My Invention consists in the production of buttons and other dress fastenings,
from a composition or plastic material not hitherto used for that purpose, and
in the process of preparing the said composition. The composition consists of
shell-lac, ebony dust, and charcoal for black buttons; when coloured buttons,
are required proper colouring matter is added for that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOUN
SMITII, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, 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
MANUFACTURE 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 per-
formed, 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 my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say) :-
:-
My Invention consists in the production of buttons and other dress fastenings
from a composition or plastic material not hitherto used for these purposes,
and in the process of preparing the said composition. The materials employed
in the manufacture of black composition articles are shell-lac, ebony dust, and
charcoal. If coloured composition articles be required, the charcoal must be
omitted or reduced in quantity, and any suitable colouring matter, such as
powdered pigments, must be added. The process of making the composition,
and subsequently manufacturing it into the articles already named, is as
follows: I take one pound of shell-lac and dissolve it by heat on a flat iron
slab; I then mix with it-an equal quantity by bulk of ebony dust, produced
either by sawing, turning, pulverization, or otherwise, after which I add the
colouring matter; this, for an intense black composition, would consist of
three ounces of black asphaltum reduced 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 charcoal or lamp black. In making a chocolate or brown tinted
composition, I use with the shell-lac three ounces of brown asphaltum in

page_text: place of the black asphaltum, and about one ounce of the ordinary rouge of
commerce, more or less, according to the tint required. To produce greens,
blues, or other dark colours, I employ any suitable colouring matter in pro-
portions which must be governed by the nature of the pigment employed and
the depth of tint desired; and for light colours I use, as a principal colouring
agent, for it imparts strength as well as colour, the dust of boxwood produced
by any of the means aforesaid, to which, if a still lighter tint be required, an
intense white in the shape of pigment may be added. The whole of these
ingredients must be thoroughly amalgamated until the mass shall appear
homogeneous in its nature throughout, if such property be requisite, and an
even colour bo demanded. But if a streaked or veined material is to be
produced, this thorough amalgamation will be best avoided, as the accidental
embodying of tho pigment or colouring may assist very much in the manu-
facture of imitation marbles, onyx, malachite, or other stones. This result
may also be attained by twisting or rolling together masses of differently
coloured compositions. The whole of the ingredients having been well mixed
upon the slab and upon a heated stove, lumps of sufficient size are to be taken
and placed in dies of any description suitably designed for the form of the
articles intended to be produced, and each die with its follower being then
removed to a press, which press may be of the kind ordinarily used by the
manufacturers of horn buttons, the article is completed by pressure. The
composition readily cools by contact with the dies, so that the article in a
finished state may be almost immediately removed from the dies.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements in the manufacture of
buttons and other dress fastenings of a composition consisting substantially of
the 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 band
and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN SMITH. (L.S.)