AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING BUTTONS TO BOOTS OR OTHER ARTICLES OF APPAREL
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Dorman, of the Old Brewery,
Stafford, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING BUTTONS TO BOOTS OR OTHER ARTICLES
OF APPAREL."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry
Dorman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th October 1874.
I, WILLIAM HENRY DORMAN, of the Old Brewery, Stafford, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING BUTTONS TO BOOTS OR OTHER
ARTICLES OF APPAREL," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in affixing buttons to boots or other articles of
apparel, by means of a bent wire which is passed through the shank or
other suitable part of the button, or imbedded in its substance in such a
way that the ends of the wire are free. These ends are passed through
the material to which the button is to be attached, and a washer or plate

page_text: suitably perforated is put over them and they are clenched upon it. In
order to effect this I employ a vice or holder with jaws to open and close,
to hold the button and bent wire firmly in a suitable position, while I
slip the material to which the button is to be attached and the washer
over the ends of the wire and clench them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Dorman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY DORMAN, of Stafford, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date, the Thirtieth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Henry Dorman, Her special licence
that I, the said William Henry Dorman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henry Dorman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF ATTACHING BUTTONS TO BOOTS OR OTHER ARTICLES OF APPAREL," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Henry Dorman, :
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, that is to say :—
By this Invention I attach buttons to boots and other articles of
apparel by means of a metallic wire of suitable section, or little slip of
metal bent into the form of a staple and herein-after called the ". staple,"
(see Fig. 1, 2). This staple passes through the shank of the button and
through the material to which the button is affixed, and through a
suitably perforated plate or washer, herein-after called the "washer,"
upon which its ends are clenched.

page_text: each jaw, large enough to receive the buttons, and across it a slot M is
made to receive the button shank, and a semicircular recess N is formed
in each, just sufficiently large to receive the staple, and narrow enough
side ways to allow the jaws of the holder when closed to grip and hold it
fast. In using this instrument I slip a staple through the shank of a
button, and place it with the button depending from it in its proper
recess in the holder, where I hold it fast by pressing with my foot on the
treadle and closing the jaws tightly upon it. I now slip first the
material and then the washer over the ends of the staple, and then bend
them slightly outwards from each other with a screwdriver or other 1
suitable instrument, and clench them either with a hammer or in a
suitable press.
If the buttons to be used are not shank buttons, the instrument needs
to be modified to some extent, and the front or working part of the
holder may be made as in Fig. 6, which shews a holder suitable for a 1
pierced button. A as before is the fixed side; D is the moveable; but
in addition there is a block R of a shape suitable to the kind of button to
be used provided with a groove to receive the staple, and the jaws are no
longer furnished with the slot for the button shank or the recess for the
staple; there are merely one or two holes, as the case may be, drilled on
the dividing line of the jaws or holder to receive the ends of the
staple.
I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the
particular form of the holder above described, although I consider that
construction a very convenient one, for instance, it may be made also as
a pair of tongs or pincers, not being fastened down at all, and may be
opened and closed by the hand or partly by the hand and partly by a
spring; also it need not be made with the jaws hinged together as
shewn; they may be made to approach and recede from each other in a
variety of ways, which would suggest themselves at once to a person
acquainted with mechanics.
Having now fully described my Invention and the means by which it
may be conveniently carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention,-
In the first place, attaching buttons to boots and other articles of
apparel, by means of a bent wire or staple as above described, which
passes through the material and through a washer, and is clenched on
the other side.
.

page_text: In the second place, the use for the purpose of so affixing buttons of a
vice or holder with movcable jaws for holding or supporting the above
mentioned staple and the button.
In the third place, the form of the faces of the jaws or cheeks, and of
the working part of the holder generally providing for the reception and
retention of the button and the staple, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Dorman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WILLIAM HENRY DORMAN. (L.S.)