Improvements in Button Fasteners.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in Button Fasteners.
I, FRANCIS EDWARD FORWARD, of The Holberton Institution, St. John's, in
the Island of Antigua, F.R.C.S., do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
A fastener for buttons (to be used more particularly for white waistcoat buttons
and livery buttons not permanently fixed to the garment) made, with the button,
of one piece instead of two. The advantages claimed are that the button is easier
to fix than those made with the shank or ring and cannot unfasten as those with
the old style of fastener do. The details of the invention are hereto annexed.
DETAILS OF SPECIFICATION.
1. The principle object in view in the proposed new method of affixing buttons
in materials is to facilitate their easy introduction, ensure their holding firmly,
and also permit of their being easily and quickly removed (a) in order that the
material may be washed, as in the case of white pearl buttons (b) so that the
button itself may be cleaned, as in the case of livery buttons.
2. The method mentioned in the Provisional Specification is introduced with
the intention of overcoming the inconvenience and delay in the present method
of fixing these buttons, by means of a "shank" or " split ring" which in many
instances allows the button to drop out by the "shank" becoming bent.
3. The principle of this invention is a revolving transverse bar attached to the
stem of the button, the transverse bar can thus be placed parallel to the stem of
the button, for introduction, and when the button is in situ it can be moved at
right angles to the stem, and thus firmly hold the button in its place. In the
one button however (the pearl) there is only one stem to the button the revolving
bar being fixed to it, by a rivet-in the other (the metal button) there are two
stems, just sufficiently wide apart to admit the horizontal bar swinging between
them, thus ensuring compactness. The transverse bar in this latter case is not
fixed by a rivet, but is perforated and revolves round the inner end of the two
stems being prevented from slipping over the shoulders of the stem by a fine
groove cut in the stem in which the transverse bar works.
4. It will be noticed by these means that a freely moveable transverse bar is
ensured, so that the button will adapt itself to any alteration in the position of
the cloth as the result of movement. This would not be obtained if the bar were
fixed by a spring when the button is in situ.
5. In order to avoid the stem of the button being too long and yet provide
a sufficient length of transverse bar to ensure the safety of the button in situ,
in the metal button, the button is concave on its inner aspect and the transverse
bar is made broader in its centre than at its terminal points. By these means
a closer approximation of the button to the material is obtained, as the distance
between the rim of the button and the outer edge of the centre of the transverse

page_text: bar represents the actual length of the stem of the button when the button is
fixed. At the same time, the concavity of the button allows a longer stem and
so provides for the revolving bar to be made longer and thus ensures more safety.
6. By also having the transverse bar broaded in the centre it gives greater
strength to this means of attachment.
Total 20th Anil 1000
BOWERMAN & FORWARD,
3, Gray's Inn Square, London,
Solicitors and Agents for Mr. F. E. Forward.
I, FRANCIS EDWARD FORWARD, of The Helberton Institution, St. John's, in
the Island of Antigua, F.R.C.S., do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement; -
This invention has reference to button fasteners or means of attaching buttons
and its object is to provide means of attachment which will allow of a button
being easily secured to a garment or other article, without liability of becoming
accidentally detached, and will also allow of its being easily and quickly removed
when required in order either that the garment or other article may be cleaned
as in the case for example of garments having pearl buttons or that the buttons
themselves may be cleaned as in the case of metal buttons, such for example as
livery buttons.
My invention chiefly consists in the combination with the stem of the button
of a bar capable of revolving or turning on an axis or pivot at or near the free
or inner end of the said stem in such manner that the bar may either be made
to take up a position parallel with and alongside the stem or a position at right
angles to the stem. When the bar is parallel with the stem, they can be passed
together through the aperture formed in the garment or article to receive the
stem and the bar may then be moved at right angles to the stem and will thus
securely hold the button in its place. When it is required to detach the button
the bar is moved so as to be parallel with the stem which can then be withdrawn
together with the bar.
In the accompanying drawings;--
Figures 1 and 2 are elevations taken at right angles to each other of a button
provided with a fastener or means of attachment according to my invention.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of the same button the stem of same being seen
in elevation and the movable bar being omitted.
Figure 4 is an elevation showing the same button attached to a garment or
other article.
Referring to Figures 1 to 4, a represents the button proper or button head.
b is the stem which is soldered or otherwise secured to the inner face of the
head a and is made double, that is to say, of two parallel or approximately parallel
stems connected at the free or inner end by a bar f so as to form a sort of loop.
c is the movable or revolving bar; it is formed with a central aperture through
which the connecting bar f of the two stems passes so that it can be moved either
into the position shown in full lines in Figure 1 so as to be parallel with the
stem or into the position shown in Figure 4 and in dotted lines in Figure 1 so
as to be at right angles to the stem. When the bar c is in the former of these
positions the stem and said bar can be passed together through an aperture´ such

page_text: as that shown at d Figure 4 in the garment or article e; when on the contrary
the bar c is in the other or right angle position the button is secured to the
garment or article and cannot be withdrawn. In this position the bar has a
certain freedom of movement so that the button will adapt itself to any alteration
in the position, as the result of movement, of the part of the garment to which
it is attached.
In order that the stem may not be too long and yet provide a sufficient length
of the bar c to ensure the secure holding of the button when in place the button
is made concave on its inner face as shown and the bar c is made narrower at
its ends than at the middle. A closer approximation of the button to the material
is thus obained as the distance between the rim of the button and the outer edge
of the middle of the bar c represents the actual length of the stem of the button
when secured. The concavity of the button also allows of a longer stem and
therefore of a longer bar being used.
To avoid any liability of the bar c slipping over the shoulders ss of the stem
the bar f on which the bar e works is of smaller diameter than the parallel parts
of the stem.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim in respect of button fasteners is:
-
1. The combination of a button head having a concave inner face, a stem
fixed to said face and a bar attached to the inner end of said stem, said bar being
narrower at its ends than at the middle and being movable on said stem into a
position approximately parallel to said stem and also into a position at right
angles to said stem, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2. The button fastener shown in Figures 1 to 4 and hereinbefore described.
Uated this 92nd day of Decembar 1898
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 and 56, Chancery Lane, London,
Chartered Patent Agents.