Ar IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS BY MAKING THEM WITH ELASTIC SHANKS.
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Allport, of Aldermanbury, in the City
of London, Button Manufacturer, for the Invention of "Ar
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS BY MAKING THEM WITH
ELASTIC SHANKS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Allport at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd October 1852.
I, EDWARD ALLPORT, of Aldermanbury, in the City of London, Button
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS BY MAKING THEM
WITH ELASTIC SHANKS" to be as follows:-
+
To make the shanks of-buttons in common use, and of general
manufacture, with india-rubber, cloth, or webbing, or other fabric in
which india-rubber is mixed or woyen,, so that the shank, by being
elastic, will be more easily sewn on, and when in use will lessen the
strain upon the sewing on thread, and render the using of the button
with an elastic shank less liable to tear out the cloth or substance to
which it is sewn, and preserving the garment from injury and preventing
the loss of the button.

page_text: The application of the elastic shank is intended to be in lieu of the
canvass or other shanks to buttons in common use and of general
manufacture, which shanks possess no clastic property, but strain the
sewing on thread when the button is in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Allport in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 2nd April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD ALLPORT, of Aldermanbury, in the City of London, Button
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Allport, Her special licence that
I, the said Edward Allport, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Edward Allport, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Chanuel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS BY MAKING THEM WITH ELASTIC SHANKS," upon
..the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Allport, 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 performed, 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 Edward Allport, 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 :)

page_text: My Improvement consists,-
First, in the application of an elastic material to form the shank of
that description of button known as the "Florentine" or covered
button.
Secondly, in the application of an elastic shank or centre to &
description of button termed the double shell sewn through button.
Thirdly, in the application of an elastic shank to covered back
buttons.
I now proceed to describe the first part of my Invention. The
various parts constituting a Florentine or covered button having been
prepared in the ordinary manner, with the exception of the canvass for
the shank, I introduce in place of this, and in the same manner as the
canvass is now applied, a piece of elastic webbing having india-rubher
woven into the fabric (that used by me is the fabric known as "elastic
twist webb "), and then make up the button in the usual way. This
elastic material forms a tuft shank similar in appearance to the shank
in common use; but the improved shank, having india-rubber woven
iuto the fabric, possesses elasticity, and allows. the button greater' play,
thereby reducing the strain and rendering the button less liable to be
torn from the garment by ordinary wear.
In manufacturing the second part of my Invention, videlicet, the
double shell sewn through button, two metal shells are prepared, similar
to those used for common shell buttons, but having a circular hole
punched in the centre of cach; a piece of the above-named "elastic
twist webb," or any other suitable elastic material, is then introduced
between the shells, and the whole firmly pressed together. This con-
stitutes a double shell sewn through button, having an elastic shank or
centre.
The third part of my Invention, videlicet, the application of elastic
shanks to covered back buttons, is carried out as follows:-Two shells
having been prepared in the usual way, a circular hole is punched
through the middle of the one intended for the back shell; a flange is
then turned up round this aperture. The material intended to cover
this back shell has also a hole punched through the centre correspond-
ing with the form of the back shell, and a portion of the material is

page_text: then turned back and drawn through the shell slightly beyond the
flange. A ring or stay eyelet is then placed over the flange inside,
clipping the material, and the edges secured by being pressed firmly
together in an eyelet press; the material is thereby secured round the
aperture in the centre of the shell, by being clipped between the ring
and the flange. The button is then put together in the same manner
as the Florentine or covered button, the "elastic twist webb" being
introduced to produce the elastic tuft shank by the ordinary mode of
forming tuft shanks.
Having thus described the nature of my said improvement, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed as to each class of buttons
before mentioned, I wish it to be clearly understood that what I claim
as my Invention is,―
First, the application of an elastic shank to the description of button
known as the "Florentino" or covered button.
Secondly, the application of elastic shanks or centres to double shell
sewn through buttons.
Thirdly, the application of elastic shanks to covered back buttons.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Allport, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of March, Ono
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered in
the presence of
JAMES B. HoCOMBE.
EDWARD ALLPORT. (L.S.)