CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ALLEN, junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the First day of February, in the fourteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Samuel Allen, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Samuel Allen, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Samuel Allen, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should 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,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Samuel Allen,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the above in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, doth more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel Allen, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
unto the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
therein, that is to say:-

page_text: My improvements consists, firstly, an improved method of constructing
buttons of the kind commonly called sewn-through buttons; secondly, of an
improved method of constructing buttons of the kind commonly called
Florentine or covered buttons.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the several parts of one of my
improved sewn-through buttons; and Figures 8, 9, and 10, the manner in
which the several parts are put together. Figure 1 represents a blank or
circular disc of thin sheet metal which is first pierced, as shown in Figure 2,
and afterwards raised into the form represented in Figure 3, which I shall
herein-after call a cupped ring. Figure 4 represents a disc of covering
material, the said disc being double, consisting of a coarse fabric for forming
the interior or lining of the covering, and of a fine fabric for forming the
external covering; these two fabrics are cut out together, and the two discs
adhering together, and being used in the subsequent processes as one disc. I
shall hereafter describe them as the disc of covering material. Figure 5 repre-
sents a blank or circular disc of thin sheet metal, which is first stamped into
the form represented in Figure 6, and afterwards pierced, as represented in
Figure 7, which I shall berein-after call a ring. These several pieces
Figures 3, 4, and 7 constitute the several parts of my improved sewn-through
button. They are put together in the following manner:-The cupped ring,
Figure 3, is placed upon the disc of covering material, Figure 4, and the edge
of the said covering material is gathered in, as represented in Figure 8, in
which said Figure the cupped ring Figure 3 is marked a, and the disc of
covering material, Figure 4, is marked b; the ring, Figure 7, is then placed
upon the cupped ring a, as represented in Figure 9, in which said Figure the
ring, Figure 7, is marked c; the gathered edge of the disc of covering material
being underneath the said ring c; the neck of the said cupped ring a passing
through the opening in the ring c, as shewn in section in Figure 9. The neck
a¹ of the cupped ring a is then spread out or rivetted, as shewn in Figure 10,
by which means the ring c is made to press upon and hold the covering
material securely.
The second part of my Invention, namely, my improved method of con-
structing Florentine or covered buttons, is carried out in the manner of the
first part of my Invention, with the differences represented in the section of
my improved Florentine or covered button, Figure 11, namely, a blank or
disc of metal d is placed immediately behind the fabric used for covering the
button, for the purpose of preserving the front of the button flat; and between
the said blank or disc d and the cupped ring a is introduced a disc of shank
cloth which has been forced into the neck of the cupped ring a, as repre.

page_text: sented in the Figure. The several parts of the button, Figure 11, are put
together in the manner herein described, with reference to my improved sewn-
through button. The covering material in my improved Florentine or covered
button need not be double.
The several parts of my improved buttons are made and put together by the
methods well known to and commonly practised by button manufacturers, and
I do not consider it necessary to describe the said methods of manufacture, as
they constitute no part of my said Invention. I do not limit myself to the
precise method herein described and represented in the accompanying Drawing
of carrying my Invention into effect, as the same may be varied without
departing from the nature of my said Invention.
I claim as my Invention the method of constructing sewn-through buttons,
herein described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say,
by gathering the edge of the disc of covering material to the neck of the
cupped ring constituting the body of the button, and securing the same by the
pressure of the ring which constitutes the back of the said button; the said
ring being secured by the spreading out or rivetting of the neck of the cupped
ring constituting the body of the button; also, the application of the same
method to the manufacture of Florentine or covered buttons, with the modi-
fications herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Allen, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight bundred and fifty-one.
SAMUEL (L.S.) ALLEN, JUN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Samuel Allen came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.