AN IMPROVEMENT IN COVERED BUTTONS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry McEvoy, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
COVERED BUTTONS."
Sealed the 1st September 1853, and dated the 4th March 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry McEvoy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1853.
I, HENRY McEvoy, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN COVERED BUTTONS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the manner of applying shanks to covered
buttons, which is as follows:-The shank being formed of cords of silk,
thread, wire, or other suitable material, is thus introduced: the parts
constituting the body of the button, viz., the back covering, the lining,
the back metal shell, and the part forming the packing, are held to-
gether by suitable means; and, while so arranged, the cord before
described is passed through them, first from the inside to the outside,
and then from the outside to the inside, and so on; but so managed,
that they cross each other on the outside every time till a sufficient
shank be formed. The advantage of this arrangement being, that if

page_text: it is desirable to make a thin button, this affords additional facilities, at
the same time the inner blank forming the packing of the button is
made of such material as to afford great additional strength and dura-
bility to the shank. And finally, a button thus constructed, when
attached, will lay more closely to the garment.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance f the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry M Evoy, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 3d September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY MOEVOY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, A.D. One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry McEvoy, Her special licence that 1, the said
Henry McEvoy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Henry M.Evoy, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN COVERED BUTTONS," upon
the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Henry McEvoy; 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 samo to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Oflice within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that T, the said Henry McEvoy, 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 in covered buttons relates to the means of applying
shanks to such buttons; and as my description will be much assisted by
referring to the drawings hereunto annexed, I will proceed to describe
the same.
I take a disc of cloth, suitable for the back covering of the button,
represented at Fig. 1, and next a ring or disc of paper, shown at Fig. 2,
gummed or sized on one side, and united to Fig. 1, as shown at Fig. 3;
I next require a disc of thick soft paper or flock, as shown in plan and.
edge views at Figs. 4, and 5; and next a disc or ring of thin metal, re-
presented at Figs. 6, and 7, being a plan and edge view; and lastly, I
require a disc of mill-board, shown in plan and edge views at Figs. 8,
and 9. I next provide myself with the necessary instrument or tools
for holding those parts together, and which instrument is shown in
section at Fig. 10, and top and bottom inside views at Figs. 11, and 12.
These parts are held together by a kind of bayonet joint, as exhibited
in the side view at Fig. 13. After placing the back covering, Fig. 1, into
the cavity, a, a, a, Fig. 11, I next require that Fig. 2, should be put
centrely on the back covering; and in order to effect this, I use such a
tool as shown in plan and longitudinal section at Figs. 14 and 15; the
disc, Fig. 2, placed in the sunken part b, b, b; and as the rim d, d, d, fits
inside the rim e, e, e, Fig. 11, it is evident that, applying Fig. 2, by such
means, it cannot be placed otherwise than in a central position; and the
surface of Fig. 2, being gummed over, and moistened or steamed, it will
readily attach itself to Fig. 1. I now pass to the part Fig. 12, and
place the mill-board disc, Fig. 8, in the cavity fff; and having fitted
the disc of soft paper or flock, Fig. 4, in the hole a, of the thin iron
disc, Fig. 6, I place it on the mill-board disc resting in the sunken
part 9, 9, 9. These instruments or tools, so charged, are put together
and held, as before described, by bayonet joints, as shown in Fig. 13,
and ready to receive the next operation, which is to pierce the parts 1,
4, and 8, with as many holes as may be required, but I prefer having
4 holes, which I make by means of press tools and a common fly press.
The top tool, Fig. 16, is provided with four points h, h, h, which, being
made to descend, pierces the parts and passes down into the bed tool,

page_text: Fig. 17, shown also in top view at Fig. 18, the points h, h, h, passing
down through the openings i, i, i, i. Fig. 19, is a top view of Fig. 18,
and Fig. 20, is the under side of the same, showing the holes j. j, j, j.
I have found it advantageous to raise the part under the intended shank
in a convex form, and in order to effect this I place Fig. 13, in the
position represented, under a suitable tool, such as at Fig. 21, with the
lower part shown in section, in order to show that the under side is of
a concave shape; this tool, being brought down on the soft material in
the instruments or tools before described, will have the effect of raising
the surface to the same shape; I now take a needle suitable to carry
strong silken or other cord, and pass it through either of the holes in
Fig. 20, and then through the opposite one, and back, and throu h the
remaining two, when the ends of the cord can be tied or secured by
being gummed or glued down to the mill board, Fig. 8, as represented at
Fig. 22, which shows the parts removed from the instruments or tools,
Figs. 11, and 12, and held together by the cord which forms the shank,
as shown by the reverse side, Fig. 23; or the cord may be passed
through the centre hole, shown at k, Fig. 8, from the inside to the
outside, crossing the cords in the centre of the back and through the
same hole, to be secured, as shown at Figs. 26, and 27. From this
state the button is to be completed in the usual way in which covered
buttons are generally finished, and in which state I have represented
the button in front and back views at Figs. 24, and 25; but they may
be made of any required shape.
Having thus described my Invention, I wish it to be understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise arrangements herein described,
or to the number of times I cross the cord forming the shank, or to
the number of holes I make for that purpose, as it is evident that I
may, by using finer cord than shown in the drawings, use a centre hole
also, and pass the cord down through it, and up through the others,
be they four, six, or eight, until I have a suflicient strength of shank;
nor do I claim the use of such cord for the shanks of covered buttons;
but what I do claim as my Invention is the manner of applying cord
for the shanks of covered buttons, such cord being passed through the

page_text: back covering and substance forming the body of the button, whereby
I obtain great strength of shank, and a flatter and more compact
button.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry McEvoy, have heretofore set
my hand and seal, this Second day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
HENRY MCEVOY. (LS.)