AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR SETTING BUTTONS UPON BOOTS AND SHOES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Raphael Hunter Brandon, of No 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris,
"
65
France, Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of AN IMPROVED
INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR SETTING BUTTONS UPON BOOTS AND SHOES
AND OTHER ARTICLES communicated to him by Samuel Lee Pratt, of
Hingham, County of Plymouth, and State of Massachusetts, United States of
America, Salesman.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Raphael Hunter Brandon. at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th October 1883:
RAPHAEL HUNTER BRANDON, of N° 1 rue Laffitte Paris, France, engineer and
patent agent "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR SETTING BUTTONS
UPON BOOTS AND SHOES AND OTHER ARTICLES" communicated to me by Samuel
Lee Pratt of Hingham, County of Plymouth & state of Massachusetts, United
States of America, salesman
This invention has for its object the production of a novel instrument by which
to set buttons upon boots and shoes and other articles in a rapid and simple manner,
the fastener employed having its point set or made out of line of the center of its
shank, substantially as hereinafter shown.
This invention in button setting apparatus consists in a rest or support for the
fastener or hook, and a plunger provided with an anvil, combined with a spring
clamp or jaw to grasp the shank of a button, and with a spring to permit the
movement of the plunger and anvil after the clamp and plunger have acted to press
the material upon the shank of the fastener or hook below its point, as will be
described. Also in a plunger, combined with a button holding clamp composed of
plates to form shoulders or rests to act upon one face of the shank, and a spring
jaw having its ends turned inwardly to bear against the opposite face of the said
shank, substantially as described Also in a frame work or head provided with the
guide, and the button carrying plunger therein, combined with a lever and a link
arranged substantially as hereinafter described whereby the operator to actuate the
plunger to set a button may grasp in one hand the said guide and lever; Also in

page_text: a frame work, provided with a guide and a button rest or support and the button
holding clamp and plunger combined with a clamp to receive, hold and position the
fastener or hook to place its point in proper relation to the eye of the button and
the center of the plunger, as hereinafter set forth. Also in a plunger or carrier
and anvil, combined with spring jaws to grasp the edges of and hold the button
shank, and with stops to arrest the end of the button shank, as will be described.
Also in a plunger or carrier and anvil, combined with spring jaws to grasp the edges
of and hold the button shank, as hereinafter described
In this present invention the button shank is grasped and held by or between
spring jaws carried by and made movable with a reciprocating plunger held in a
suitable case or guide, and adapted to be operated preferably by a lever and a
link. A portion of the frame of the instrument below the guide in which the
plunger reciprocates is provided with clamping jaws to grasp the head of the
metallic fastener and hold it in place so that its point when passed through the
material will properly, enter the eye of the button shank, the said jaws being
provided with a suitable gage against which the end of the head of the fastener is
placed. Fig 1, in side elevation and partial section represents on an enlarged
scale a button setting instrument embodying the invention herein claimed, the
button and fastener being each held by its proper jaw ready for the insertion
between them, of the material upon which the button is to be fastened.
Fig. 2, is a detail showing the lower end of the button holding plunger and the
fastener clamp looking at Figure 1, from the left.-Fig: 3, is a detail showing the
upper side of the clamp and support for the fastener. Fig. 4 represents a button.―
Fig 5 represents a fastener such as hercin employed; and Fig 6, shows a button
attached to a piece of material, by means of a fastener such as shown in Fig. 5.
Fig 7, is a sectional detail of the button clamp alone on the dotted line x, x
fig: 2., & Fig 8, a section of the carrier on the dotted line x Fig: 2.
The frame work or head A, made somewhat like a letter G, has forming part of
it a guide a, the upper end of which is preferably curled over as at a' to form a
loop to assist in sustaining the instrument in the hand of the operator. The
lower part of the frame work or head is provided with a rest b in line with and
directly under the guide a. This guide a contains within it a plunger or carrier c
chambered at its lower end to receive a combined button clamp and anvil.
The clamp is composed of two plates d, d, and a spring jaw e, e having lips 2,
turned toward each other and substantially parallel with the lower ends of the
plate d, d, to grasp the shank 4 of the button 5. The anvil is composed of a steel
plate flocated between the plates d, d, but fixed to the plunger. The spring
jaw e is composed of a piece of sheet steel bent as shown in Fig 2, and extended
around and connected with the plates d, d, which are placed at opposite sides of
the anvil which latter is fixed in the chamber at the lower end of the plunger c.
The button clamp is free to slide for a short distance in the chamber of the
plunger c, a spiral spring he located in the said chamber bearing upon the upper
end of the said clamp and acting to press it down so that the button receiving
recess between the parts d, d will be held so far below the end of the anvilf that
the clamp holding the button shank may act upon the material and force the
latter down upon and below the point of the fastener t and the point of the latter
through the eye of the button shank before the spring 6 which acts upon the
button clamp yields, but as soon as the point of the fastener has been forced through
the material and the eye of the button shank, the further movement of the button
clamp or the jaws which embrace the edges of the said shank is arrested but the
movoment of the plunger is continued until the anvil meets the point F, of the
fastener or hook already partially turned by reason of the shape given to it
when made and turned, the said point over about the wire of the shank 4 until the
end of the fastener or hook as it inay be called meets the material, against which it
remains firmly clamped..
As herein shown the jaw portions c, e, are provided at their rear edges with a
flange as at 8, see Fig. 7, to form stops against which the outer end of the button

page_text: shank 4 strikes to properly position the eye of the said shank with relation to the
plunger c, notwithstanding the shape of the eyo. The plunger is slotted at one
side as at c to receive the end of the link connected by pivot h¹ with a small
ear of the hand lever h³ pivoted at h³ on the head A. The upper end of the
lever his provided with a spoon like or concave end h to receive the thumb of
the operator near its junction with the hand. A spring m preferably of flat steel
interposed between the link h and lever h³, and bent substantially as described,
and with its bent end inserted into a recess of the head A where it is pivoted acts
to keep the plunger or carrier c elevated and the lever and link in substantially
the position represented in Fig: 1.
Placing the bent end of the spring m in a recess in the frame A prevents it
from being moved laterally. The fastener or hook composed of a shank having a
point F thrown off from the. center of the shank or body of the fastener, and of a
head to, has its head placed upon the rest or support 6 between the jaws of the
clamp o composed of a metal spring bent as shown, secured to the head A, and
made to embrace the support b, the upper edges of the clamp forming side guides
and holders for the opposite edges of the head of the fastener or hook, while the
projections o³, of the said jaws or clamp o serve as a back stop for the end of the
head of the fastener or hook as shown in dotted lines Fig 3.-A button shank
having been inserted between the jaws connected with the plunger o as in Fig 1,
and a fastener having been placed between the jaws o with the shank of the
fastener in line with the opening in the eye of the button shank, all as in Fig 1,
the operator with his right hand about the guide and curved part a, a¹, and the
lever h, will shut his hand and move the lever h² in the direction of the arrow
Fig: 1, nearly up to the guide a which will cause the plunger c to descend carrying
down with it the jaws e, and button until they strike the material, a piece of a shoo
or other article located between the jaws, and the point of the fastener and force
the material down upon the point of the fastener until the said point passes through
the material and through the said button eye, but as soon as the point of the
fastener meets the anvil f, the fastener is turned or deflected thereby about the
button shank as described.
The openings or eyes of button shanks differ materially in size but the wire from
which the shanks are coinposed is of substantially the same diameter and therefore
by gaging the position of the eye from the end of the shank rather than from the
back of the button it is possible to place the open eye of the shank always in
correct position
1. In an apparatus for setting buttons, a rest or support for the fastener or hook,
and a plunger provided with an anvil, combined with a spring clamp or jaw to
grasp the shank of a button, and with a spring h to permit the movement of the
plunger and anvil after the clamp and plunger have acted to press the material
upon the shank of the fastener or hook below its point, substantially as and for
the purpose described.
2. In an apparatus for setting buttons, a plunger, combined with a button holding
clamp composed of plates to form sholders or rests to act upon one face of the
shank and a spring jaw having its ends turned inwardly to bear against the
opposite face of the said shank, substantially as describod.
3. In an apparatus for setting buttons, the frame work or head A provided with the
guide a, and the button carrying plunger therein, combined with a lever and a link
arranged substantially as described whereby the operator to actuate the plunger
to set a button may grasp in one hand the said guide and lever, substantially as
set forth.
4. In an apparatus for setting buttons, the frame work A, provided with the guide
and a button rest or support b, and the button holding clamp and plunger, combined
with a clamp to receive, hold and position the fastener or hook to place its point

page_text: in proper relation to the eye of the button and the center of the plunger,
substantially as set forth.
5. In an apparatus in setting buttons a plunger or carrier and anvil, combined
with spring jaws to grasp the edges of and hold the button shank, and with stops
to arrest the end of the button shank, substantially as described.
6. In an apparatus for setting buttons a plunger or carrier and anvil, combined
with spring jaws to grasp the edges of' and hold the button shank substantially as
and for the purposes set forth.
•
In witness whereof, I the said Raphael Hunter Brandon have hereunto set my
hand and seal this 20th day of october in the year of our Lord 1883