IM- PROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND WHICH IMPROVED BUTTONS THEY PROPOSE TO DESIGNATE BY THE NAME OF RUPRALO BUTTONS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Pope and Edward Bufton, of Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND WHICH IMPROVED BUTTONS THEY PROPOSE
TO DESIGNATE BY THE NAME OF RUPRALO BUTTONS"
Sealed the 6th March 1854, and dated the 6th September 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Pope and
Edward Bufton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 6th September 1853.
We, THOMAS POPE and EDWARD BCFTON, both of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS, AND WHICH IMPROVED BUTTONS WE PROPOSE
TO DESIGNATE BY THE NAME OF 'BUFFALO BUTTONS,'" to be as follows (that
to say):-
Our Invention consists in the mode of making buttons of the horns of
animals, such as buffalo's or common ox horns; and instead of render-
ing the horn in a soft state by boiling or otherwise, and pressing the
button into form by the use of dies, we form the button by the process
of turning in the same way in which bone or pearl buttons are now
made; and when shanks are required to such buttons we use a
common wire shank soldered to a metal disc, which disc being con-
vexed, we are enabled, by having a sunken cavity in the back of the
button, to apply the shank, and secure it by placing the disc in the

page_text: sunken part of the horn, and spreading it out by the process of flatten-
ing; or we may apply a shank by making a hole through such buttons,
and pushing the shank through from the front, and secure it by opening
the shank at the back. This mode enables us, by soldering an ornament
on to the shank, to apply central metallic ornaments to such buttons.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Pope and Edward Bufton in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
THOMAS POPE and EDWARD BUFTON, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Pope and Edward
Bufton, Her special licence that we, the said Thomas Pope and
Edward Bufton, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Thomas Pope and Edward Bufton, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BUTTONS, AND WHICH IMPROVED BUTTONS WE PROPOSE TO DESIGNATE BY THE
NAME OF BUFFALO BUTTONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Thomas Pope and Edward Bufton, by an instrument in
writing under our hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Pope and Edward
Bufton, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and

page_text: 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):
Our Invention may be described as consisting partly in the applica-
tion of a new material for the manufacturing of buttons, and partly in
the application of old machinery for the manufacturing of buttons
from such material. The description of buttons known as horn buttons
have heretofore been made of the hoofs of the ox tribe of ruminating
animals; and the process of manufacture has been to boil and separate
the usable from the waste portions of such hoofs, and from the selected
portions round discs are cut, which being dyed are pressed and finished
in hot metal moulds, usually having an apparently silky texture and
embossed pattern on the surface. And in contradistinction to this pro-
cess, we prefer using the horns of such class of animals, such horns
being cut open and laid flat, a process easily done after being softened
by heating. Of such flat pieces, after drying and hardening, we pro-
pose making our buttons in the following way (that is to say) :-Instead
of making them in dies by the means of pressure, we propose to turn
them in a common lathe, or the description of lathes used for the
making or forming buttons from bone or wood. The construction of
those lathes may be described as having two tools brought together
from opposite directions, deriving their speed from bands or guts
passing from driving wheels to pullies fastened to mandrils or stocks
for receiving the tools; such mandrils or stocks being mounted or held
in collars or bearings, and driven after the fashion of a common lathe.
The tools are put asunder when a piece of horn is applied between
them, and held by a circular jaw. The tools being put in motion will
be brought to bear upon the horn, turning a button back and front
simultaneously, the sectional shape of which will be the counterpart or
shape of the tools. Such buttons, after being so turned, are drilled
and polished.
The former process may be similar to that used for bone buttons.
but the mode of polishing may need describing. We have found
the following plan to answer well-In the first place, we partially
polish the button on the back, front, and edges, by a process well
known and understood as buffins; and next we take a piece of wood

page_text: deep enough to be held in a common vice, and long enough to take a
dozen or more buttons according to their size; the thickness of the piece
of wood may also be regulated by the size of the button. On the face
of the wood, in a regular row, we fix metal studs or pins sufficiently
apart for the pins to enter the holes drilled through the buttons, be they
one, two, three, or more. When the buttons are arranged side by
side ready for the operator they are to be rubbed with a leather, cloth,
or any thing suitable, the same being charged with rotten stone and
oil, until a clear, bright, or polished surface is imparted to them; and
as a final finish the operator may rub them with the bare hand.
When the buttons partake of a cup or concave form on the face we
find it advantageous that they should be first turned flat, drilled, and
polished, when we give them the cup shape by warming them, and
pressing them into form between a pair of tools. We effect two
objects by this; first, we polish with less labour; and, secondly, we
economize the material; and as horn varies in colour, such as light
(which is transparent), black, and some of a gray tint, and it very often
occurs that the black and white are mixed or of a streaky appear-
ance, and this we turn to the following advantage:-The light or
transparent we are enabled to die of any desired colour, or to stain
them in imitation of tortoise shell; and when the button is of a thin
concave form we in some instances add a smaller piece of horn for a
centre, which may be of an opposite or contrasting colour with the
button. The mode of shanking we also propose to vary, as the use or
application of such buttons may require. But in order that our mode of
turning, forming, and shanking such buttons may be better understood,
we have thought it necessary, for the purpose of explicitness, to subjoin
a Drawing exhibiting our various improvements, and which Drawing
we will now proceed to describe.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Figs. 1, and 2, represent the apparatus for giving form to such but-
tons; but as such apparatus is well known in the trade, and generally
used in the making of bone and wood buttons, we have only shewn
clear idea of our intentions The mandrilor
wufficient to
Convor a

page_text: B, B. C, C, are pulleys fixed to the mandril for receiving the gut or
band from the driving wheel by which the mandrils are driven around
at a rapid speed. The back tool D, and front tool E, are secured to
the mandril by fitting in suitable sockets, and held by the screws F, F,
somewhat in the way in which centre bits may be held in a brace or
stock, thus enabling us to change the tools D, and E, for any other
shape that we may require to use. It is evident that as the mandrils
A, A, have a sliding motion in their bearings B, B, the tools D, and E,
can be moved asunder for the reception of a piece of horn, which being
placed between them, and securely held, and the mandrils simultaneously
brought together with moderate pressure at the same time that they
are rapidly revolving, it is evident that when they come together a
button will be formed the section of which will be the exact counter-
part of the front tool E, and back tool D; G, and H, Fig. 3, repre-
senting the front and back of such finished button, which may be
drilled with one, two, or more holes in the usual way, and polished in
the manner herein-before described.
Fig. 4, represents a disc of horn in a flat and edge view L, and M,
the same having been turned and polished as Figure 3, and drilled
with two holes; and Fig. 5, represents a top and bottom tool suitable
for forming such flat dises into the form desired, the top tool being
partly shewn in section in order to exhibit the cavity J, which is the
counterpart of the convex K, in the bed tool, near the centre of which
two little pins a, a, are fixed, which enter the drilled holes in the
disc L, whiles it receives form by those tools being brought together
by the usual pressure that is given out from the use of a common fly-
press, to which press the tools here exhibited are applicable; and if it
may be desirable that the bed tool should be concave, and the top tool
convex, it would not alter the general requirement of such tools.
We have shown the disc L, in section, coloured red, pressed into
for m, and resting on the convex bed K; nor is it obligatory that the
concave and convex in the top and bottom tool herein-described should
be of a circular form, as they may partake of the shape exhibited at
N, N, Fig. 6, which represents the section of a button with an addi-
tional centre O, which centre may be of horn, glass, metal, or any other
suitable material for giving contract or improving the appearance of the

page_text: horn back; and the manner in which a shank may be applied to such
button, and the parts N, and O, held together, may be understood by
the following description. We draw wire of a semi-circular form, and
from such wire we form the shank, as exhibited in this Figure, in the
following. way-The wire being soft, it is cut off in given lengths, and
bent until the flat sides come together, in which state we pass them
through suitable tools forming a head to the shank, such as shewn at
b, and after being silvered or gilded and finished, we put it through the
back and front O, and N, and open the part of the shank that pro-
trudes through on the back by means of a sharp pointed instrument,
until it assumes the round form in which it is represented. Fig. 7,
represents a front view of this button, shewing the centre O, and head
of the shank b. Before we dismiss this Figure we will further observe,
that instead of forming a broad head, as described, on the shank, we
may effect a similar object by soldering on a suitable ornament on the
shank, as it may be in some instances preferable to such class of buttons
to have a centre metal ornament.
Fig. 8, represents a sectional and front view of a button similar to
the one last described, but with a different mode of applying shanks to
such buttons. We take wire, say of the form last described, which
we think best, and squeezing it together until the two flat sides meet,
when they are cut off of the desired length, and soldered to a small
disc of metal, which disc must be slightly convexed; and there being a
corresponding sunken part to fit such disc in the centre piece Q, the
discs of metal, with the shank attached, have to be placed into the
sunken part and flattened, which process will have the effect of spread-
ing the disc out, making it fit tight and secure to such part, which has
now to be united to the back piece by pushing the shank through and
opening it, as here represented and described in Figure 6.
Fig. 9, represents a section, back, and front view of another of our
buttons with a metallic centre, in which centre we make the holes for
securing the button when in use. R, is the front view; S, the back
view; and the part coloured yellow represents the metal centre in each
Figure, which centre consists of a shallow metal cup, contracted on
the rim or edge, and pushed through the disc of horn U, U, from the
back, when the metal is again spread out on the front, and is thereby

page_text: secured. And Fig. 10, represents also a front, back, and sectional view
of one of our buttons, with a shank applied identical with one described
at Figure 8 but without a centre ornament; the front of such button
being plain may be ornamented by being engraved on the centre, and
cut on the edge or beval in diamonds or otherwise, like glass orna-
ments is or may be cut.
Having thus given a general description of our Invention, and how
the same may be carried into effect, and also fully illustrated how such
material may be wrought into buttons of various patterns and colours,
we wish it understood that we do not claim the application of hoof-
horn to buttons, nor the machinery described in Figures 1, and 2,
for the manufacturing of buttons; nor do we claim the shanks described
at Figures 6, 8, 9, and 10; but what we do claim as our Invention is,―
First, the application of the horns of the ox tribe of ruminating
animals to the manufacture of buttons, such buttons being designated
as buffalo buttons:
And, secondly, the mode of turning or making buttons of horn, as
herein described:
And, thirdly, we claim the mode of shaping such buttons after being
turned, as herein described:
And, lastly, we claim the mode of applying such shanks to such
buttons as described and exhibited at Figures 6, 8, 9, and 10, without
any regard to the shape, colour, or pattern of such buttons.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Pope and Edward
Bufton, have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Third day
of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
anu
THOMAS POPE.
The markx and seal.
of EDWARD BUFTON.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)