Improvements in the Method of Fixing Shoebuttons to Shoes by Means of Wire Tacks, and Apparatus required therein.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 28th Nov., 1891
COMPLETE DI MUITIVATION.
Improvements in the Method of Fixing Shoebuttons to Shoes by
Means of Wire Tacks, and Apparatus required therein.
I, GUSTAV RAFFLENBEUL, of Schwelm Westfalia Germany, Manufacturer
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 relates to a new manner of fixing shoebuttons to shoes, by means
of peculiarly, shaped wire tacks and fixing apparatus so that the tack at the same
time when being fixed together with the button shall be easily pierced through the
leather, without this being stitched beforehand and that the eye of the tack
be so bent, that the strain or tension on the button shall be taken up by
that side or shank of the eye of the tack which is fixed or rivetted in the head of
the tack.
By the manner hitherto in use for fixing buttons by tacks the bending of the
wire or stem of the tack so as to form an eye or hook round the eye of the button
so that both are linked or joined together, is done so that the strain of the button
is taken up by the open or free end of the tack-hook, therefore when soft wire is
used it often happens that in closing the shoes and pulling hard the hook is opened
or pulled straight and the button is torn off.
The tacks used in most cases require that the leather be stitched or pierced
through beforehand so as to enable the tacks to go easily in or through the
leather.
The shape of the ordinary tacks hinders or at any rate does not assist the easy
formation of the hook or eye.
These drawbacks I have overcome by my new manner of shaping and fixing the
tack and forming the eye thereon by means of the apparatus designed for this
purpose as they are shown on the accompanying drawings in which :
Fig. 1 is a front view of the apparatus ;
Fig. 2 is a side view of the same;
Figs. 3 (I., II. & III.) show the mandril for holding the tack in three different
views on an enlarged scale.
Figs. 4, 5 & 6 (I. & II.) show how the leather is held between the tack and the
button before fixing the button & piercing the tack through it, and how the
formation of the eye and fixing of the button is being done.
Figs. 7 (I., II. & III., IV.) show the bottom part of the piston with the means
for holding the button and forming the eye in an enlarged scale.
Figs. 8 show the tack and button separately.
Figs. 9 show them fixed to a piece of leather.
The apparatus for fixing the buttons and forming the eyes of the tacks
resembles a little punching machine in which the punching spindle C is carried
and guided in a box A of the standard B and pressed downwards by means of a
lever D, a spring E causing it to go upwards again when the pressure on the
lever D is released.
The foot-plate of the standard is provided with the means for holding the tack.
It consists of a raised part F to which is fixed a U shaped spring G holding the
head of the tack exactly in its place as shown by Figs. 3 & 4, the raised part F
being provided for this purpose with a recess or a cavity into which fits the head
of the tack. For holding the button the lower part of the piston C is provided

page_text: I
with a special piece shown in an enlarged scale in Figs. 7. At the right and left
side of this piece H part of its material is filed off so as to be better able to fix
the springs thereon the front half of the bottom of this piece is cut off to the
middle of it so as to form a step, the back part reaching down a little deeper.
The springs I grasp underneath the cut-out part as seen from Figure 7 I. & II.
Into the bottom of the piece H is also cut a half round groove K reaching partly
into the raised and partly into the deepened part of the same.
When a button is then put into the casing, formed by springs I and the cut off
part and its back, as shown in dotted lines by Figs. 7, so that the eye is held at
the sides by the springs I, whilst the bottom or back of the eye stands fast against
the shoulder or step formed, it will be held safely and securely in its place and the
wire of the eye forms. a bridge across the groove K leaving room enough so that
a wire may be so inserted that it will go up the back part of the groove, behind
the eye of the button, bending round at its top part and coming down in front
of the eye or inside of the wire forming the eye of the button,--the bridge before
named.
This is intended to be attained by the wire of the tack when a button is being
fixed as shown by Figs. 5 & 6.
The Figures 4, 5 & 6 show the operation & the formation of the eye of the
wire tack and the fixing of the button thereby in various stages of progress.
of
The button X is inserted into the piece H and held therein by the springs I,
the wire tack Y is held between the clamps G in the cavity of the raised part
the bottom plate of the apparatus; the leather or other material Z, to which the
buttons are to be fixed, is now held over the tack Y and the piston is pressed
down, whereby the leather is pierced through and by the further going down of
the piston in consequence of the peculiar shape of the tack, which is pointed or cut
obliquely on one side only, and of the shape of the groove K in the piston, the tack
is readily formed into a hook, thereby entering into the groove at the back side
of the eye of the button, being bent round over it and going down inside of, or
through the eye and closing below the same as shown by Fig. 6.
The edge of the leather standing against the shoulder formed by the raised
part F of the bed plate of the apparatus the hook of the tack of course stands as
desired and as pointed out above and as indicated by Fig. 9.
The peculiarity of the tack itself consists in the shape of the stem of the tack.
As will be seen from Figs. 8 & 4 II., this stem is pointed from one side only,
the pointing being obtained by an oblique cut of the little cylinder, not as is
usually the case by grinding the end of the tack conically. This obliquity
materially supports the formation of the eye, the bending of the tack in the
groove K, it adapts itself to the circular form of the groove and does not stop into
it as might be with a conically pointed tack.
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 manner of securing shoe buttons to shoes by the use of wire tacks in
sticking these through the leather and forming the eye of the tack round the eye of
the button in such a manner that the tack is bent round the eye of the button so
that the pulling strain of the button is taken up by that shank of the tack which is
fast in the head of the same.
2) The pointing of the stem of the tack by an oblique cut across the same-
(from one side only, not conically)- so as to make the cutting surface to adapt
itself to the groove in the piston of the fixing apparatus.
3) The apparatus specially adapted to the said manner of fixing and to the
peculiar tacks described, in which spring clamps I, hold the button with its eye
before and below a groove K of the piston H whilst the tack is held by its head in
a cavity upon the bottom plate of the apparatus and by springs G so that when the

page_text: piston is going down the tack is bent over and into the eye of the button, from the
back side and going downwards at the front side through that eye.
The whole as described & shown and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 20th day of October 1891.
G. RAFFLENBEUL,
Per Karl S. Mayer,
Agent.