Improvements in Buttons.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Nov., 1889-Accepted, 21st Dec., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Buttons.
We. EUGENE MERVIN CHAPMAN, Jeweler. and NATHAN DWIGHT INGRAM,
Machinist, of Holyoke, in the County of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts,
United States of America, said Chapman at 247 Oak Street, and said Ingram at
36 Front Street, do hereby declare the nature of our invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUTTONS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention relates to buttons for garments, and particularly to that class of
buttons which are adapted to he secured to the garment without the use of thread,
sometimes called "bachellor" buttons.
The object of the invention is to provide a button of this nature, which is composed
of few parts, thereby enabling it to be manufactured at a slight cost; which can be
very quickly and easily applied to the garment, without the use of tools of any sort ;
and which will possess great strength and durability.
To these ends the invention consists in the button, comprising a rear part or shank
adapted to be thrust through the fabric composing the garin nt, an I a front part
having holes to receive said shank, and locking devices, such as a barb or barbs on the
shank and one or more depressions in the front part to receive sail barb or barbs, as
hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a button constructed according to our
invention.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the rear side of the front portion thereof.
Figures 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, and 9 and 10, are similar views of slightly
modified forms of the button.
Figure 11 is a plan view of the rear side of both the front and rear portions of the
button, as they are locked together.
Figure 12 shows a slightly modified form of the rear portion or shank.
Figure 13 is a side view of a shank formed from sheet metal.
Figure 14 is a view of the blank from which the shank shown in Figure 13 is
formed.
In all of the Figures, the front portion of the button is composed of a collet a and a
cap b, which are stamped from sheet metal. or otherwise formed from any suitable
material, and are secured together by means of the overlapping edge of the cap, as
shown, or in any convenient manner. The letter c designates the rear portion or
shank of the button, which consists of a suitable base having projecting therefrom one
or more prongs, which prongs have their ends pointed to enable them to be readily
thrust through the fabric, and have within their sides one or more barbs extending
toward the base c, as shown.
The collet a is provided with holes a to receive said prongs of the shank, and
in order to securely lock the latter within the former, we provide the collet with
a depression in its outer side, or side away from the fabric, located adjacent to
each of said holes, to receive the ends of the barbs on said prongs and prevent the
withdrawal of the latter.
It is obvious that such depression or depressions in the collet can be formed in
a variety of ways, and we have illustrated in the drawings several of the ways
which we consider to be the best to be employed.
In the form shown in Figures 1 and 2 said depression is formed by making
two parallel slits in the material of which the collet is composed, at the inner
side of each of the holes a', and bending outwardly the intermediate strips e_thus
formed, which strips thus become the inclined sides of the depression and are
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page_text: overlapped by the barbs on the prongs c¹ when the two portions of the button are
engaged with each other. By reference to Figure 1 it will be observed that the
relative diameters of the holes a' and prongs c' are such that, should sufficient strain
be exerted upon the front portion of the button to cause the bent strips e to yield
inwardly, or towards the fabric, a very slight amount of such yielding movement
will bring the outer sides of the prongs into contact with the outer edge of
the holes a', whereby further yielding movement will be prevented. The edges
of the holes in the collet thus serve as positive stops to the yielding movement of the
strips and enable the button to successfully resist any strain which may be exerted
upon it.
The form of the invention shown in Figures 3 and 4 differs from that just
described in that the inclined sides e¹ of the depression in the collet are formed by
drawing outwardly the material of which the collet is composed, at the inner side of
the holes a¹, instead of slitting the same and bending the intermediate strip. This
form of the button is even stronger than the one first described, inasmuch as the
drawn portions e being formed upon a regular curve, will withstand a much greater
strain without yielding than the strips e.
It will be observed that the inclined sides e¹ of the depression in the collet, in the
form shown in Figures 3 and 4, project above the base line of the collet, and the form
shown in Figures 5 and 6 is identical therewith except that sain inclined sides are
depressed below the base line of the collet, thus making the front portion of the button
of slightly increased thickness.
The forin shown in Figures 7 and 8 is identical with that shown in Figures 1 and 2,
except that the strips e are formed at the outer instead of the inner side of the
holes a, thus making two depressions in the collet to recrive the barbs on the shank
instead of one, and the barbs are formed in the outer instead of the inner sides of the
prongs . Moreover, in the forms shown in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive, the prongs of
the shank are spread slightly apart in inserting them within the collet, and when they
are so inserted their resiliency causes them to return to their former parallel position,
whereby their barbs are caused to overlap the strips e or drawn portions e', as the case
may be, and the locking action is completed. In the form shown in Figures 7 and 8,
this locking action is the same, except that the prongs of the shank are pressed slightly
toward each other in inserting them within the collet, instead of away from each
other, and the locking action occurs as said prongs separate again in resuming their
parallel position, the harbs, as before stated, being located in their outer sides.
In all of the forms thus far described, the harbs on the prongs of the shank engage
the struck up or drawn portions of the collet, and the latter are made as rigid as
possible. In Figures 9 and 10 we have shown a form in which the barbs on said prongs
engage the collet at one side of the holes a¹ and are held in such engagement by
spring lips e, which are formed by stamping out and bending up a portion of the
collet, and which bear against the inner sides of said prongs. The lips e yield
sufficiently to permit the prongs to enter the collet, and, by their pressure against
said prongs. prevent the barbs in the latter from being disengaged from the collet.
We prefer to make the rear portion or shank of the button, and its prongs c',
from a single piece of wire, and in order to increase the area of the fabric engaged by
the base of said shank, we prefer to bend the latter to an S-shape, as shown in
Figure 11, or to a C-shape, as shown in Figure 12, whereby an extending bearing
surface upon the fabric is formed, and yet one which will not be a source of
inconvenience to the wearer of the garment.
In Figure 13 we have shown a shank made from sheet metal, which is formed
by stamping out a blank, shown in Figure 14, composed of a base f and two
prongs having barbs located in opposite sides thereof, and by bending up said
prongs to a parallel position, as shown in Figure 13, the barbs thereon being bent
laterally as shown. This form of shank can be made very cheaply, and makes a very
secure connection with the collet, the barbs thereon entering the depression
or depressions in the latter as readily as those shown in the preceding Figures.
It will be observed that no tools of any sort are required in securing the button

page_text: herein described to a garment, the shank being simply thrust through the fabric, from
the rear side of the latter, and the front portion of the button being secured to said
shank by simply starting the ends of the prongs into the holes in the collet and
pressing the two portions of the button together with the thumb and finger until the
barbs on the prongs enter the depression in the collet.
While we have shown the front portion of the button as being provided with the
cap b, we do not intend to limit ourselves to such construction, as our invention is
applicable to any form of button having a collet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. A button composed of a rear portion having pointed and barbed prongs adapted
to be inserted through the fabric composing a garment, and a front portion having a
collet provided with holes to receive said prongs and having a portion thereot
adapted to be engaged by the barbs on said prongs, substantially as described.
2. A button composed of a rear part consisting of a shank having pointed and
barbed prongs, and a front part having holes to receive said prongs, and having
adjacent to each of said holes a depression to receive the barbs on said prongs,
substantially as described.
3. A button composed of a rear part or shank having pointed and barbed prongs,
and a front part having a collet which is provided with holes to receive said prongs,
the surface of said collet lying in different planes upon opposite sides of said holes,
whereby depressions are formed therein to receive the barbs on said prongs,
substantially as described.
4. A button having its front part composed of a cap and a collet, said collet being
provided with holes to receive the rear part and having its surface bent outwardly at
one side of each of said holes, and a rear part consisting of a base and pointed and
barbed prongs projecting therefrom, which prongs are adapted to be thrust through
the fabric and to enter and be securely locked within the front part, substantially as
described.
5. A button having the collet a provided with the holes a² and with the strips e cut
therefrom and bent ontwardly at one side of said holes, and having the shank c
provided with the pointed and barbed prongs c¹, substantially as described.
6. A button having collet a provided with the spring lips e² stamped therefrom and
bent outwardly to form openings, and having the shank c provided with the pointed
and barbed prongs c', substantially as described.
7. A button having its rear part composed of a shank formed from a single piece of
wire and consisting of a base and two pointed and barbed prongs, and having its front
part provided with holes to receive said prongs.
8. A button having the shank c formed from a single piece of wire by bending said
wire in the middle to an irregular form, such as an S or C shape, and bending
the two ends of the wire at substantially a right angle to said middle portion to form
prongs, said prongs being pointed and barbed, substantially as described.
9. The button shank formed from a single piece of sheet metal and having
the pointed prongs standing perpendicularly to the base, said prongs being provided
with barbs bent laterally therefrom, substantially as described.
Dated wins in way w 6330
EUGENE MERVIN CHAPMAN.
NATHAN DWIGHT INGRAM.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants