IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND IN ATTACHING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS AND OTHER ARTICLES."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joel Cadbury, of the Firm of Green, Cadbury, and
Richards, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND IN ATTACHING BUTTONS TO
ARTICLES OF DRESS AND OTHER ARTICLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joel Cadbury at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st September 1880.
JOEL CADBURY, of the Firm of Green, Cadbury, and Richards, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND
IN ATTACHING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS AND OTHER ARTICLES."
My improvements in buttons, and in attaching buttons to articles of dress and
other articles, consist of the methods herein after described of constructing buttons
for the purpose of facilitating their attachment to articles of dress and other articles,
and of the method herein after described of attaching such buttons to articles of
dress and other articles.
I will describe my Invention in connection with a glove button. I make the button
from a blank having the form of a circular disc, with four equi-distant and similar
arms at its edge. These arms are nearly of a triangular shape, and when partially
folded or closed upon the disc form a nearly complete conical back to the disc, the
ends of the arms not meeting but leaving an opening opposite the centre of the
disc. The said disc constitutes the front of the button and the partially closed
arms the back. The extreme ends of the radial arms are doubled so as to form at
those points rounded edges.
In attaching the button to the glove no perforation is made in the leather of the
glove, but the button is placed with its back upon the glove at the place where it
is to be fixed. A metallic sphere (an ordinary leaden shot answers the purpose
very well) is placed on the underside of the leather and pressed into the hole at the
back of the button; the sphere in entering the said hole forces a portion of the
leather before it. By now compressing still further the radial arms forming
the back of the button, the size of the opening at the back of the button is
Die Gil

page_text: diminished, and the sphere can no longer be withdrawn from the hollow button.
As the sphere in entering the hollow body of the button carried before it a portion
of the leather, the said portion of the leather is retained in the hollow body, and
the button is firmly attached to the glove.
The compression of the radial arms by which the attaching of the button is
effected may be conveniently done by a pair of pliers, having on their jaws
depressions of a size and figure suitable to grip and compress buttons of the size
and shape to be operated upon.
Although I have found.four radial arms at the back of the button answer well
in practice, I do not limit myself thereto, as the number of the said arms may be
varied.
My Invention is applicable to buttons of various kinds.
Metal buttons may be conveniently made according to my Invention, in the
manner hereinbefore described with reference to a glove button.
In making covered buttons according to my Invention, I dispense with the
ordinary back shell, and substitute therefor a back, the central part of which has
-the-figure of the back of the glove button hereinbefore described. And in applying
my Invention to other kinds of buttons I modify the back-of the-button-when
practicable, so as to make it similar to the back of the glove button hereinbefore
described, or I-affix-to-the-button-a-back-of-that kind.
-Instead of the sphere or shot described a disc or other shaped piece may be¯

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joel Cadbury in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th March
1881.
JOEL CADBURY, of the Firm of Green, Cadbury, and Richards, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND
IN ATTACHING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS AND OTHER ARTICLES."
My improvements in buttons, and in attaching buttons to articles of dress and
other articles, consist of the methods hereinafter described of constructing buttons
for the purpose of facilitating their attachment to articles of dress and other articles,
and of the method hereinafter described of attaching such buttons to articles of
dress and other articles.
I will describe my Invention in connection with a glove button.
I make the button from a blank having the form of a nearly circular disc, with
four equi-distant and similar arms at its edge. These arms are nearly of a triangular
shape, and, when partially folded or closed upon the disc, form a nearly complete
conical back to the disc, the ends of the arms not meeting but leaving an opening
opposite the centre of the disc. The said disc constitutes the front of the button
and the partially closed arms the back. The extreme ends of the radial arms aro
doubled so as to form at those points rounded edges. Or the button may be made
from two sheet metal blanks so as to form a back and a front which are secured
together, the back having a conical figure.
In attaching the button to the glove no perforation is made in the leather of the
glove, but the button is placed, with its back upon the glove at the place where it
is to be fixed. A metallic sphere (an ordinary leaden shot answers the purpose
very well) is placed on the underside of the leather and pressed into the hole at the
back of the button; the sphere in entering the said hole forces a portion of the leather
before it. By now compressing still further the open end of the back of the button,
the size of the opening at the back of the button is diminished, and the sphere can
no longer be withdrawn from the hollow button. As the sphere in entering the
hollow body of the button carried before it a portion of the leather, the said portion
of the leather is retained in the hollow body, and the button is firmly attached to
the glove.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
In making a button according to my Invention from a single blank or piece of
sheet metal, I take a blank of the form represented in Figure 1, the said blank
having at its corners ears or projections a, a, a, a, which are folded inwards upon
the blank in the manner represented in Figure 2, the said folded projections giving
a rounded or non-cutting edge to the opening in the back of the finished button.
The blank, Figure 2, is first cupped into the form represented in Figure 3, whereby
the serrated figure is given to the open end of the cup. The partly made button
is next operated upon, so as to give a conical figure to the back of the button, as
represented in Figure 4, the front or closed end of the button being unoperated
upon. By a further process the conical back of the button is further contracted
and the serrated edge closed, as represented in Figure 5, where the closed serrated
edge is marked b, b, and the central opening is marked c. A button is thus made
from one piece or blank, the said button consisting of a closed front and a conical
back open at its middle.
In making a button according to my Invention from two blanks or pieces of
sheet metal I proceed as follows:-
In making the conical open back of the button I take the circular disc repre-
sented in Figure 6, and operate upon it so as to give it the coned figure represented

page_text: in elevation in Figure 7, the wide end of the cone being shouldered at d, for the
reception of the front of the button.
The partly made back, Figure 7, is next pierced at its small end, as illustrated in
section in Figure 8, and the said pierced end is next opened out and elongated into
the form represented in section in Figure 9. A Bange is next made around the
edge of the small end of the conical back by turning the metal of the said edge
outwards, as illustrated in elevation and section in Figuro 10, where the flange is
marked c. The flange e is next closed upon the outside of the conical back so as to
provido a rounded edge and a strengthening collar f at the narrow end of the said
back, as represented in elevation and section in Figure 11. The back of the button
is thereby completed.
The front of the button is represented in Figure 12, and is made from the disc
Figure 13. The front part, Figure 12, of the button is secured to the wide open end
of the conical back part, Figure 11, by a closing process performed in the usual
way..
Figure 14 represents in elevation and section a complete button made from the
back, Figure 11, and the front, Figure 12.
My method of attaching the buttons to the glove without perforating the glove
is illustrated in the enlarged sectional views, Figures 15, 16, 17, and 18; Figures 15,
16, and 17 representing a button of the kind represented in Figure 14, and
-Figure-18-a-button-of-the-kind-represented-in-Figure-5.-
In attaching the button_to_the_glove, the button is laid upon a table or level
surface with its open conical back uppermost, and the front of the glove at the place
where the button is to be fixed upon it, is laid upon the said open back. By means
of a peg of the kind represented in Figure 19 a portion of the material of the
glove is pressed into the interior of the button through the open back, as illustrated
in Figure 15, so as to cup the said material, the cupped part being marked g. A
metallic sphere , such as a leaden shot, is now placed in the pocket or cupped
part g in the interior of the button, as illustrated in Figure 16. That part of the
conical back of the button immediately behind the strengthening collar f of the
button is next compressed or forced inwards, so as to close it upon the material g
of the glove, and cause the latter to be bound firmly around and grip the upper
half of the sphere h, as illustrated in Figure 17, where the closed or compressed
part of the back of the button is marked i. The sphere his thereby prevented
from rising out of the cupped part g of the glove. The said cupped part of the
glove is thus retained in the interior of the button, and the said button securely
attached to the glove.
The button, Figure 18, is attached to the glove in the manner described with
respect to Figure 17.
Figure 18 represents a glove having a button marked made and attached
according to my Invention.
Although I find it convenient to force the material of the glove into the interior
of the bollow button by means of the peg, Figure 19, yet the material of the glove
may be pressed into the interior of the button by means of the sphere h.
The compression or closing of the part i of the conical back of the button may
be conveniently effected by the use of the pair of plyers, represented in side
elevation and section in Figure 20, and a front elevation of one of the jaws of the
plyers in Figure 21. The said jaws of the plyers have in them depressions which,
when brought together, have a size and form suitable to hold the button without
operating upon it excepting at the part to be closed, the closing being effected by a
shoulder at k in the plyers.
Instead of the sphere or shot described and represented, a disc or other shaped
piece may be employed.
My Invention is applicable to buttons of various kinds.
Metal buttons may be conveniently made according to my Invention in the ways
herein before described with reference to a glove button.
In making covered buttons according to my Invention, I dispense with the

page_text: ordinary back shell and substitute therefor a back, the central part of which has
the figure of the back of the glove button herein before described. And in applying
my Invention to other kinds of buttons, I modify the back of the button when
practicable, so as to make it similar to the back of the glove button hereinbefore
described, or I affix to the button a back of that kind.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to bo understood that I claim as my
Invention,-
First. The improvements in glove and other metallic buttons, hereinbefore
described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 14 of the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, making the said buttons from a single blank of sheet metal or from two
blanks of sheet metal, the back of the button having a conical figure and a central
opening for the purpose described; also the application to covered and other buttons
of a back of the kind described with respect to glove and metallic buttons.
Secondly. The method of attaching buttons having backs of the kind described
to articles of dress and other articles, licreinbeforo described and illustrated in
Figures 15, 16, 17, and 18 of the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, pressing a
portion of the material of the glove or other article to which the button is to be
attached, into the interior of the button through the conical open back, and closing
or contracting the open end of the back upon a sphere, disc, or other fixing piece
situated in the pocket or cupped part of the material of the glove or other article,
so as to retain the said sphere or fixing piece in the open back of the button, and
thereby attach the button to the glove or other article, substantially as described
and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joel Cadbury, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOEL CADBURY. (L.S.)