CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FINISHING PARTS OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF BUTTONS, AS ALSO FOR SORTING AND CARDING BUTTONS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Humphrey Pratt, of the Firm of Pratt,
Brothers, and Farmer, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
and E. C. Pratt, Brother, and Company, of New York, United
States of America, Merchants, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FINISHING PARTS OF CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS
OF BUTTONS, AS ALSO FOR SORTING AND CARDING BUTTONS."-A communi-
cation from abroad by George Penrice Farmer, of New York, and
Jacob John Hatcher, of Philadelphia, both in the United States of
America.
Sealed the 16th January 1872, and dated the 17th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Humphrey Pratt
.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th July 1871.
I, JOHN HUMPHREY PRATT, of the Firm of Pratt, Brothers, and
Farmer, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and E. C. Pratt,
Brother, and Company, of New York, United States of America,
Merchants, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for

page_text: " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FINISHING PARTS OF CERTAIN
DESCRIPTIONS OF BUTTONS, AS ALSO FOR SORTING AND CARDING BUTTONS,"
a communication to me from abroad by George Penrice Farmer, of
New York, and Jacob John Hatcher, of Philadelphia, both in the
United States of America, to be as follows (that is to say) :-
These improvements apply, first, to the operation technically known
as bottoming or backing, a term well known in the manufacture of
pearl buttons, and consist of an apparatus for holding any desirable
number of buttons with their fronts downwards, so as to permit the
backs of such buttons to be presented to the face of suitable grinding
machinery, whereby the inequalities on the back surfaces of such
buttons are removed so that the buttons shall be of an uniform thickness.
And such pearl buttons or buttons otherwise produced of various sizes,
may be sorted by an improved apparatus, which will be understood from
the following description :-A fenced inclined plane is provided, which
is divided into divisions or compartments, the said divisions or com-
partments being placed in such order by narrowing them at the bottom
that sufficient space only is allowed for buttons of a given size to escape
into a receiver provided for that purpose; and when such buttons are
so sorted, if required, they may be carded, in which case increased
facilities are provided for effecting this object, by which the work is
much simplified and economised, independent of which the form of
carding may be greatly diversified, and yet rendered mathematically
correct. This is effected by a perforated metal plate, the perforations
being concentric with circular recesses, in which the buttons lie bottoms
upward; and after the buttons are so distributed on the plate the card
covered with foil, or otherwise, is placed on them and held down by a
frame, and when thus arranged the buttons are sewn to the card, and
when complete the back frame is removed, and the carded buttons
also leaving the perforated plate free to be again charged.
The order and extent of perforation may be diversified to any extent,
cach size button or design in arrangement requiring separate perforated
plates. In some instances the card on which the buttons are to be sewn
may be perforated in order of arrangement with the said perforated
plates to save trouble to the carder puncturing the cards with the
needle; and this mode may also be adopted to facilitate the carding
of buttons without the use of the metal perforated plate and frame.
before mentioned, as the said perforations not only indicate the position

page_text: of the buttons to be secured to the card, but facilitate the operation;
and as an extension of this the board or card for receiving the buttons
may be embossed with slight projections on the one side and cavities
on the other, such embossed parts being also perforated, if preferred,
to facilitate the regularity of the work of passing the needle through and
through the card. The said embossed card is applicable to be used
with or without the metallic perforated plate and frame before
mentioned.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said John
Humphrey Pratt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HUMPHREY PRATT, of the Firm of Pratt, Brothers, and Farmer, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and E. C. Pratt, Brother, and
Company, of New York, United States of America, Merchants, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Humphrey Pratt, Her special
license that I, the said John Humphrey Pratt, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Humphrey
Pratt, my 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FINISHING PARTS OF CERTAIN
DESCRIPTIONS OF BUITONS, AS ALSO FOR SORTING AND CARDING BUTTONS," a
communication to me from abroad by George Penrice Farmer, of
New York, and Jacob John Hatcher, of Philadelphia, both in the
U. States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Humphrey Pratt, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of

page_text: the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Humphrey Pratt, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and 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):
These improvements apply, first, to the operation technically known
as bottoming or backing, a term well known in the manufacture of
pearl buttons, and consist of an apparatus for holding any desirable
number of buttons with their fronts downward, so as to permit the
backs of such buttons to be presented to the face of suitable grinding
machinery, whereby the inequalities on the back surfaces of such
buttons are removed, so that the buttons shall be an uniform thickness,
and such pearl buttons so bottomed or backed or buttons otherwise
constructed or made if required may be carded, in which caso increased
facilities are provided for effecting this object by which the work is
much simplified and economized, independent of which the form of
carding may be greatly diversified and yet rendered mathematically
correct. This is effected by a perforated metal plate, the perforations
being concentric with circular recesses in which the buttons lie bottoms
upward; and after the buttons are so distributed on the plate the card
covered with foil or otherwise is placed on them and held down by a
and
frame, and when thus arranged the buttons are sewn to the card;
when complete the back frame is removed and the carded buttons also
leaving the perforated plate free to be again charged.
The order and extent of perforation may be diversified to any extent,
each size button or design in arrangement requiring separate perforated
plates. In some instances, the card on which the buttons are to be
sewn may be perforated in order of arrangement with the said perforated
plates to save trouble to the.carder puncturing the cards with the
needle; and this mode may also be adopted to facilitate the carding of
buttons without the use of the metal perforated plate and frame before
mentioned, as the said perforations not only indicate the position of the
buttons to be secured to the card, but facilitate the operation; and as
an extension of this the board or card for receiving the buttons may be
embossed with slight projections on the one side and cavities on the

page_text: other, such embossed parts being also perforated if preferred to facilitate
the regularity of the work of passing the needle through and through
the card. The said embossed card is applicable to be used with or
without the metallic perforated plate and frame before mentioned.
That portion mentioned in my Provisional Specification relating to
the means of sorting or separating buttons of mixed sizes, so that they
may be separated according to their size, I have abandoned, and there-
fore further description is rendered unnecessary.
But with a view of being correctly understood as to the nature of that
portion of the Invention herein-before referred to as relating to the
backing of buttons, I will further describe the same in connection with
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the figures and letters marked.
thereon (that is to say) :—
Fig. 1 represents partly in section the apparatus arranged for this
purpose.
A, A, is an iron stand that may be otherwise constructed or formed,
on which the bed B is secured, and to this stand A the vertical sup-
port C, C, is attached or formed with it, to which vertical support the
horizontal arms D and E are secured, the front portions of which form
the glands or bearings for the vertical shaft F, F, to work in. This
shaft is confined by the glands G and H, and has a collar at its lower
end, as also the means of fixing the same to the grindstone marked J,
while at the top of the shaft F the pinion K is secured by a feather
working in a groove at the top of the shaft. This pinion has a boss
marked L, which rests on the projecting arm D and gland G. The
pinion gears into a corresponding bevilled wheel, partly broken off,
marked M, which wheel is secured to the driving shaft N. To avoid
confusion I have not thought it necessary to set out or exhibit the cogs
in the pinion or driving wheel, as a practical workman will understand
this without such detail. Bosses are formed on the sides of the arm D
at O, O, for engaging with the top ends of the top straps P, P, which
work at their lower ends on axes marked Q, Q, which axes pass
through a divided angular arm or lever shown in a detached top view at
Fig. 2, to be hereafter referred to, the angle parts a, a, forming the
bearing for the pins or axes for the top straps. P, P, and lower straps
R, R, to work on, the axes Q, Q, being secured by the nuts b, b, screwed
over their outer ends, the lower ends of the straps are connected to pro-
jections on a split collar marked S, and held together by two screws

page_text: :
.
'
passing through projecting flanges. These collars engage the vertical
shaft F by fitting in a sunken groove for that purpose. At the back of
this apparatus and passing through a slot in the standard C, shown in
dotted lines, a horizontal lever is placed working in connection with the
part Q, so that by operating on this lever, as will be hereafter referred
to, the rods or straps P,.P, and Q, Q, are pulled back in a sufficient
angular position as to elevate the stone J, J, and shaft F, F, bodily, so
as to permit the portable plate U, U, holding the buttons to be bottomed
or backed to be passed underneath the stone J with their fronts down-
wards on the bed B, so as to present their backs to the operation of the
stone J, which being sufficiently lowered by the action of the lever T
as to be in contact with the backs of the buttons, and the stone caused
to revolve by means of the driving shaft N, wheel M, and pinion K, the
whole scries of buttons under operation will be reduced or ground to an
equal and uniform thickness.
Fig. 3 is a side view of as much of Figure 1 necessary for better
explaining the general construction and action, all the parts being
marked with the same letters of reference as in Figure 1.
I have not thought it necessary to exhibit any particular way in which
the lever T may be brought into action, as this may be effected in 2
various ways, such as by a compound lever connection worked by the
foot or otherwise, so that the attendant may readily clevate or lower the
stone J from or to its work. The frame for holding the buttons to be
backed may be of metal with sunken recesses for the buttons to lie in
face downwards, such recesses being of the same diameter as the buttons 2
to be backed, varying the plate for the various size buttons usually made,
.but if preferred this plate may be formed of a flat piece of metal, and a
perforated plate laid over it, the perforations defining the size of the
buttons it is designed to hold while the buttons are being backed by the
action of the stone, the perforated plate being held within the angular 3
clip c and button d.
Fig. 4. illustrates the mode of holding buttons in an uniform series or
design for carding, which may be done in any set form as to quantity or
device.
The apparatus consists of two metal plates marked A', A', and B', B¹,
the latter being perforated and countersunk in the desired order, such
as exhibited in a separate flat and edge view at Fig. 5, while the top
'plate A; A, has parts removed corresponding to the design of the
3

page_text: countersunk perforations of the plate B', as seen in a separate flat and
edge view at Fig. 6. The plate A' is represented at Figure 4, in position
on the plate B', the countersunk perforations being seen through it.
Exact position as relating one with the other is obtained by the pro-
jection e formed in the middle of the end of the plate A', which fits in
a slot marked f formed in the clip of the plate B', and at the other end
by a button fastened to the plate B¹ by a set screw; the head 7 passes
through a slot in the plate A', so that when the head or button is
turned at right angles the two plates are correctly engaged. In
operation labour of the humblest capacity may be engaged, as the
buttons have only to be placed face downward in the countersunk
cavities, and the card to which they are to be sewn laid over them and
next the plate B¹, the head of the button g being turned and the set
screw screwed up, when the operator can readily pass the needle
through the card and button, and back through the same button, and so
on until the whole series is secured, when the plates may be separated
and the card with the buttons attached removed. for repeating the
operation, but in some instances the engaging plates may be superseded
by piercing and embossing the card in the order or device in which it
may be desirable to card pearl or other buttons, and which pierced and
embossed cards may have the manufacturer's or vendor's name embossed
or printed on them, and have a metallic or paper face, that is to say,
card covered with foil, which has a clean and agreeable appearance for
button cards. And this modification of the Invention I have exhibited
at Figs. 7 and 8, Figure 7 representing the card simply pierced in an
order for taking three dozen buttons, the thread being passed through
the pierce hole and returned through the same, and continued through
and through the next in rotation; and Figure 8 represents a series of
pierce holes concentric with embossed or depressed circles, whercon the
buttons to be carded are placed; and Fig. 9 represents a card simply
pierced with double holes the size of the needle to be used by the
operator, such pierce holes indicating the form or number of buttons to
be attached to such cards.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, I will observe that I do

page_text: the general spirit and object of the Invention, but what I claim and
wish protected by these my in part recited Letters Patent is, —
Firstly. The arrangement or its equivalent herein described and set
forth for bottoming or backing the description of buttons known as
pearl buttons.
Secondly. The means and apparatus herein described and exhibited
for facilitating the arranging, holding, and sewing on of pearl and other
buttons to trade or other cards for sale.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Humphrey Pratt, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this 8th (Eight) day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
GEO. P. FARMER.
JOHN HUMPHREY PRATT. (L.S.)