Improvements in the Method of Making Button-hole Strips.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Oct., 1887
Specification Accepted, 29th Nov., 1887
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of Making Button-hole Strips.
I, JAMES STONE, of the City of Aurora, in the county of Kane, and State of
Illinois, one of the United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF MAKING BUTTON-
HOLE STRIPS," and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to
the accompanying drawings, in which :-
Figure 1, is a view illustrating the first step in the mode of constructing button-
holes which I have invented.
Figure 2, a sectional view taken on the line 1, 1 of Fig. 1.
Figure 3, a view showing the article in a more advanced stage, one line of button-
holes being finished and a second partly so.
Figure 4, a sectional view taken on the line 2, 2 of Fig. 3.
Figure 5, an enlarged detail sectional view, seen in perspective, of the joined edges
of the strips shown in Fig. 4.
Figure 6, a face view of a sheet provided with finished button-holes and ready to
be cut into button-hole strips.
Figure 7, a similar view of one of the strips after being cut from the sheet, bound
on both edges, and secured to a garment.
Figure 8, a similar view to Fig. 7 illustrating a modification of the manner of
securing the strip of the garment.
Figure 9, a view corresponding to Fig. 1 and illustrating a modification of my
invention.
Figure 10, a sectional view taken on the line 3, 3 of Fig. 9.
Figure 11, a detail perspective view, partly in section, showing the material in a
inore advanced stage of completion.
Figure 12, a face view of a button-hole sheet embodying my invention in this
modified form.
Figure 13, a sectional view taken on the line 4, 4 of Fig. 12 and viewed in
perspective.
Figure 14, a detail face view of one of the button-hole strips cut from the sheet
shown in Fig. 12.

page_text: Figure 15, a face view of the same bound and provided with a gage-strip and
abutment.
and
Figure 16, a detail sectional view taken on the line 5, 5 of Fig. 15.
Figure 17, a face view of the strip shown in Fig. 15 when applied to the garment;
Figure 18, a sectional view of the same, taken on the line 6, 6 of Fig. 17.
Like letters refer to like parts in all the figures of the drawings.
"
My invention relates to the art of making button-holes, and has for its object to
provide a mode of manufacture by means of which may be produced what is known
as a "button-hole strip for attachment to garments, such as corsets or the like.
My invention has in view more particularly the production of such strips in large
quantities in a rapid and inexpensive manner, the method being such that only straight
scams such as may be readily made by the ordinary sewing machine-are necessary
in the carrying out of the same.
To these ends my invention consists in joining by their edges a series of long strips
by sewing, leaving gaps unsewed at regular intervals, and then severing the strips
transversely between the gaps, thereby forming a series of button-hole strips.
I will now proceed to describe in detail the process which I employ in carrying out
my invention in one way, and will then particularly point out in the claims those
features which I deem to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent.
Referring now, to Figs. 1 and 2, two strips, A and A', of cloth of suitable width
are placed face to face and joined by a line of stitching, a. At regular intervals,
suitably spaced apart, gaps a¹ are left, which serve ultimately to form the button-
holes.
In practice the line of stitching will be continuous, and the gaps a¹ will be formed
by feeding the cloth forward the proper distance while the sewing machine is stopped,
the stitching then being resumed at the proper place. In the drawings I have shown
but a small portion of the completed strips A and A'; they being in practice of any
desired length; but the small portion shown will serve to illustrate the invention.
The strips A and A', having thus been joined by the line of stitching a, cach strip is
folded upon itself upon the said line of stitching, so that the two strips, joined by
their folded edges, will lie in the same plane, extending in opposite directions from
their line of junction, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings. In order to give
the strips the proper finish and strength, I prefer to employ along their joined edges
stiffening-cords b, which, when the strips are folded along the line of stitching a, as
hereinbefore described, are introduced into the folded edges B, produced by this
folding back of the strips upon themselves, and are secured in position by lines of
stitching 6', as clearly shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of the drawings. The strip A is at
the top of the button-hole sheet, and its upper or free edge, which is not joined to any
other strip, is preferably corded and seamed in the same manner as that edge of the
strip which is joined to the strip A¹, the object of this being to properly finish what
will be the end of the finished button-hole strip. The strips A and A' having been
treated in the manner described, a third strip, A, similar to the said strips A and A',
is stitched to the free portion of the strip A¹ by means of a line of stitching, a, in
which gaps a¹ are left, in the manner herein before described. The strip A² is shown
in Figs. 3 and 4 in the position which is occupies after being stitched in this manner
to the strip A. The strips A' and A² are then folded back upon themselves upon the
line of stitching a which connects the two. The stiffening-cords are then introduced
into the folding edges and secured in position in the manner described in referring to
the strips A and A. In like manner a strip, A³, is stitched to the strip A², and this
operation of adding strip after strip is continued until a structure such as that shown
in Fig. 6 is obtained, consisting of a sheet composed of strips A A¹ A2 A3 A4 A°A°, &c.,
of a total width equal to the length of the completed button-hole strip which it is
desired to produce. In each case the strips have been joined by lines of stitching a
with gaps a¹ to form the button-holes, and in the construction preferred the joined
edges of the strip are corded and seamed, in order to stiffen and strengthen the same.
The sheet shown in Fig. 6 is then formed into strips by cutting along tranverse lines

page_text: such as those shown by the dotted line X X in said figure, the severed portion, as shown
in Figs. 7 and 8, consisting of a strip, C, formed of a series of sections from the
several strips A A¹ A², &c., the junctions between each adjacent pair of sections being
provided with one of the gaps a¹, which serve to form the button-holes. The strip C
is then preferably bound at its edges by means of binding strips c, folded longi-
tudinally to receive the edges of the strip A within the folds, and secured thereto by
a line of stitching, c¹.
The completed button-hole strip (may be secured to the garment in any suitable
manner-such, for instance, as that shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, in which the
line of stitching c², which secures the inner binding, c, to the strip C, also serves to
secure the said strip to the edge of the fabric D of the garinent. This is only one
method, however, of securing the button-hole strip to the garment, and it is obvious
that the same result may be effected in various other ways. For instance, in Fig. S
of the drawings I have shown one edge of the strip as sewed in between the edges d
and d of the garment D and secured by the line of stitching d², and in this case the
binding e of the inner edge of the strip C, is preferably omitted, in order to decrease
the bulk of the garment at this point.
In the construction just described the seam connecting each two strips is provided
with a line of button-holes; but it is obvious that this method of constructing the
button-hole sheet may be somewhat modified. In Figs. 9 to 14 of the drawing such
a modification is shown. As will be seen from Figs. 9 and 10, the two strips A
and A'may have the line of stitching a, with its gaps a', located about centrally of the
width of the strips, in which case, when the said strips are folded back, a construction
such as that shown in Fig. 11 will be the result. Another pair of strips, A3 and A³,
are then joined in the same manner, and the edge of one of these pair of strips-say,
for instance, the strip A² is joined to the edge of one of the strips of the first pair-
say, for instance, the strip A-by means of a line of stitching, a², and this process is
continued, other pairs of strips being added, as shown at A3 and A, until a sheet of
the desired dimensions-such as that shown in Figs. 12 and 13-is obtained. This
modification differs from that previously described simply in the fact that the strips
are first joined in pairs and that the sheet is built up by stitching together these.pairs
of strips, instead of stitching together single strips. It is of course understood that
suitable cords, b, may be placed in the folded edges of the strips, as in the first case.
The finished sheet will be then formed into button strips C by cutting along the
lines y y between the button-holes, one of the severed button-hole strips being shown
a C in Fig. 14.
In practice, in applying the button-holo strip to a garment, prefer to employ a
strengthening-abutment or cord, F, along the outer edge thereof, to prevent the
button-holes from tearing out. I also prefer to employ a gage-strip, E, along that
margin of the button-hole strip which is let into the garment D, which serves to
accurately determine the position of the button-hole strip with relation to the
garinent.
1
It will be seen that by the mode which I have described I am enabled to produce
button-hole strips in large quantity in a rapid and inexpensive manner, since the
whole of the work may be done upon any ordinary sewing-machine without the use of
specially skilled labor.
It is obvious that various. modifications in the details of the construction, as well as
some of the minor steps in the method herein before pointed out, may be modified.or
dispensed with without departing from the principle of my invention. For instance,
although I have described the introduction of a cord in the edges of the transverse
strips, this feature may be dispensed with, although I prefer the same.
The binding
along the edges of the completed button-hole strip may be also dispensed with,
although their use is obviously advantageous. Various other modifications will
readily suggest themselves, and I therefore do not wish to be understood as limiting
myself strictly to the precise details hereinbefore described, and shown in the
drawings.

page_text: 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 is;
1. The hereinbefore-described mode of making button-hole strips, which consists in
joining by their edges a series of long strips by sewing, leaving gaps unsewed at
regular intervals, and then severing the strips transversely between the gaps, thereby
forming a series of button-hole strips, substantially as and for the purposes specified.
2. The hereinbefore-described mode of making button-holes, which consists in
sewing together a series of long strips along their edges, leaving gaps unsewed at
regular intervals, then severing the strips transversely between the gaps, and then
binding the edges of the severed strips to form the finished button-hole strips,
substantially as and for the purposes specified.
3. The herein before-described mode of making button-hole strips, which consists in
sewing together long strips near their edges, leaving gaps unsewed at regular
intervals, folding back the loose ends and securing within the folds stiffening cords,
and then severing the strips transversely between the gaps to form the button-hole
strips, substantially as and for the purposes specified.