AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BUTTONS FOR CLOTHES
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BURRELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer of Gilt
Toys, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
under His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth
day of February, in the fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Burrell, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and.
authority, that I, the said Samuel Burrell, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Burrell, may at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING BUTTONS FOR CLOTHES ;"
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Samuel Burrell, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
particularly 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 calendar months.
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Burrell, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is fully described and
ascertained by the following Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention of an improved method of manufacturing buttons applies
particularly to that description of buttons called Florentine buttons, or those
which are covered with silk, cloth, or any other fabric, having either cloth or
metallic shanks, which improved method consists in connecting or uniting the
various parts of the button in a new way, viz., by confining the discs and other
parts of the button after they have been brought together by means of a soft
metal rivet in the centre, or by a compressed bow shank, instead of connecting
the parts by overlapping the edge, as in the ordinary construction of florentine
and other covered or shell buttons. The pieces of metal forming the front
and back discs are made and united without any turned up edges, and are
fastened together, holding the florentine or other covering material between
them merely by the outspreading of the metal stem or shank itself, which
forms a rivet under the cloth by means of spreading out the metal, or by the
compression of the bow shank effected by a punch and press in the act of
cennecting the parts, thereby securely fastening together the front and back
metallic discs and the florentine or other covering material. In order that my
Invention may be better understood, I have exhibited in the accompanying
Drawing several figures of my improved buttons, drawn on an enlarged scale
in order to shew more clearly the method of manufacturing them, and also
several figures of some of the various punches and discs or tools used in the
same, although I do not intend to confine myself to the precise form there
shewn, as under circumstances, in manufacturing different sorts of buttons,
they must necessarily be varied. And I would also remark that these buttons
may be made in the usual manner with the end of the common fly or stamping
press, or any other machine constructed to perform the various operations
required in manufacturing these buttons. Figure 1 is a face view of a cloth or
florentine button. Figure 2 is a back view of the same, shewing a flexible
shank. Figure 3 is an edge view, and Figure 4 is a section taken vertically
through the button, the several parts comprising the button being shewn
detached in the following Figures. A piece of metal, intended to form the front
disc a, is in the first instance punched out of thin sheet metal of the proper
size, having a hole in its centre, as at Figure 5; the edge of this hole is then
countersunk by a small die and punch into the shape shewn at Figure 6,
which is a front view; the back of the same is represented at Figure 7, and
an edge and sectional view at Figures 8 and 9. Figure 10 shews two different
views of a cylindrical piece or plug of lead or other soft metal b, intended to

page_text: be passed through the central hole and to form the connecting rivet; the disc a
is then placed in the die A, shewn at Figures 11 and 12, Figure 11 being a
plan, and Figure 12 a section of the die, and B is its punch; the disc a then
occupies the situation in the die shewn in Figure 13, the leaden plug being
inserted through the aperture of the disc into the cup c of the die A, and the
punch B, on being brought down with a quick stroke, either by a hammer or
a fly press, rivets the metal into the recess or countersunk formed round the
hole in the centre of the front disc a, even and flush with its face. The front
disc, with its shank plug of lead fixed to it, is shewn in the several Figures
14, 15, 16, and 17, and is now ready to be covered. The disc for the back of
the button is formed of a piece of thin sheet metal, as shewn at d, Figure 18,
which is then to be dished and countersunk, and perforated in the centre by
proper tools, and made to assume successively the forms represented in the
several front, back, edge, and sectional views at Figures 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,
and 25. The flexible or cloth shank e is formed by cutting out in any con-
venient manner, a piece of the common shanking cloth, of the shape shewn at
Figure 26, which is afterwards, by a small countersunk die and round-headed
punch, pressed into the form shewn in the plan, side, and sectional views,
Figures 27, 28, and 29. The piece of florentine or other covering material
is represented at Figure 30, and may be cut out of the cloth by a punching
press or machine, or by hand, in any convenient manner.
Having now shewn and described the various parts separately, I shall proceed
to explain how they are put together so as to form a complete button.
The piece of florentine or other covering material is first placed flat in the
recess fat top of the collar c, Figure 31, and upon this disc of florentine is placed
the front metal disc a, having a leaden plug b, as described at Figures 15 and 16,
which is represented at Figure 32. Both the parts of the button thus placed are
then forced down the cylindrical recess of the collar C by the sliding piece D,
Figure 31, until it has reached the bottom, and will then appear with the
edges of the florentine puckered round, as in Figure 33. The closing tool D
is now to be furnished with one of the back discs, as Figure 23, having one of
the raised flexible shanks (Figures 27 and 28) placed through the hole in its
centre in the manner shewn at Figures 33, 34, 35, and 36; the closing tool D,
Figure 33, is then forced down into the hollow of the die C, its bevelled edges
gathering in the edges of the florentine or other covering material under the
back disc in the usual way, at the same time the flexible shank being brought
over the leaden plug b, and its edges held between the back and front discs, it
is then confined, as represented in the sectional Figure 37, until the riveting
punch descends to press the whole together. The riveting punch E, which is

page_text: slightly disched in the centre, is then brought down with a proper stroke of
the Hy press or hammer pressing upon the back disc, and also upon the end
of the leaden plug, which pressure spreads out the end of the soft or leaden
plug into or over the countersunk recess in the back disc, as shewn at
Figure 38, thereby securely riveting and fastening the whole of the parts together
and forming the complete button, as first represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4.
The punch E and closing tool D are then withdrawn from the die C, and the
button forced out of the die in the usual way, or by the rising of the bed F.
From this last rivetting punch and die the buttons may be passed to a flattening
die, as shewn in Figure 39, where they may be subjected to such pressure as
to make them as flat and neat as required. The buttons with the bow-wired
shanks are formed in a somewhat similar manner, the metal composing the
shank being outspread or compressed into a recess or countersunk hole in the
back disc in the following way. Figures 40, 41, 42, and 43, are representations
in different positions of one of these improved buttons with a bowed wire shank.
The front disc a is formed out of the thin sheet metal in any convenient
manner, having a small hole in its centre, which need not be countersunk.
This disc is shewn at Figure 44. The bowed wire shanks bare to be first
made of an oval or elongated form, as represented in two positions at Figure 45.
The ends of the wires are then passed through the hole in the front disc, as
shewn in Figure 46, after which the oval or looped part of the shank is placed in
a pair of common shanking clamps or tools, and the ends opened and outspread
or riveted flush with the face of the disc a by a hammer or punch, thereby firmly
uniting the shank with the front disc, as shewn in Figures 47 and 48. The
back disc c is punched out of thin sheet metal having a hole formed through its
centre, as represented at Figure 49, and is then dished and countersunk by
proper shaped punches and dies in the form shewn in the back and sectional
views, Figures 50 and 51. The piece of florentine or other covering material
is then to be laid in the cup or collar of a die and the front disc with its shank
then placed upon it, as described before in reference to the flexible shank, and
the whole being forced down the hollow of the die by a tube or hollow tool in
the position shewn at Figure 52. The closing tool G is then furnished with
one of the back discs and brought down into the hollow of the dic, gathering
in and confining the edges of the florentine or other covering material under
the back disc, as shewn in Figure 53, the metal shank protruding through the
hole in the back disc. The punch II is then brought down with a proper
stroke of the press, and its hollow or countersunk rece's meeting with the bow
of the oval shank, compresses it, outspreading its sides into the cup or recess
in the back disc, as shewn in Figure 54, thereby connecting or confining the

page_text: whole of the parts firmly together, as shewn in the complete button,
Figures 41 and 42.
I would hereby remark, that although I have described this my improved
method of manufacturing buttons without mentioning the application of paper
between the front disc and florentine or other covering material, in order that
this simple method of connecting the front and back discs and other parts of
the button might be better understood, yet it must be evident that paper or
any other material may be placed between the front disc and the florentine, if
desired; and I prefer used discs of thin paper of somewhat less than the piece
of covering material.
Having now described my improved method of manufacturing buttons for
cloathes, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim any of the parts of the
buttons separate, or which may have been before known and used, nor do I
claim any of the tools, dies, or punches used in manufacturing the same, as
they may be varied to suit the shape or kind of button required, or the taste
and will of the manufacturer, but I do claim in the first instance the method
above described of uniting the front and back parts or discs of the button solely
by the outspreading or riveting of a soft metal plug under the fabric which
constitutes the flexible shank, as above described; and, secondly, in closing or
confining the discs and coverings of a button solely by the outspreading of the
bowed wire shank without overlapping the edges of the discs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Burrell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of August, One thousand eight