IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS to be as follows:-
Year: 1884

page_text: I, ROBERT ELSDON of 76 Manor Road, Brockley in the County of Kent, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS to be as follows:-
"
My invention relates more especially to the manufacture of buttons with a shank
or eye fixed therein for the purpose of attaching the said button to the garment or
other object, such buttons are generally known as solid buttons but their forms
and structure vary considerably and the invention is applicable to most of the
varieties.
Heretofore the shanks or eyes have been secured to the buttons by soldering
or rivetting and the.object of my invention is to fix the said shanks or eyes in the
buttons in a more economical manner than can be done by those means. For this
purpose I make the blanks which are intended to form the button of a smaller
diameter than the finished button is intended to have, and of a thickness such
that when the blank is subjected to the blow of a stamper or to other pressure the
blank shall be expanded to the required diameter and reduced, where required, to
the proper thickness. In the centre of the aforesaid thick blank I form, by stamping
or otherwise, a recess or recesses into which I spring or place the tangs or feet of
the shank or eye. I then place the thick blank with the shank or eye in it into a
suitably shaped die and allow a stamper to fall on to the face of the blank or apply
thereto other suitable pressure this has the effect of closing the metal of the blank
up round the tangs or feet of the shank firmly securing the latter in place embedded
in the metal, the blank being; by the same operation, reduced to its proper thickness
generally except about the centre which may remain thicker in order to leave
material to hold the shank or eye, and the blank is also increased to its proper
diameter as before described. It will be understood that it is the extra thickness
of blank I employ which enables me to recess the tangs or feet of the shank into
the blank and to strike up or swage the material round the tangs or feet of the
shank in order to secure the latter in the blank.
'
The dies may have any desired device or name engraved thereon so that the one
stamping operation not only fixes the shank or eye but imparts the required device
and marks to the body of the button.
W. H. BECK,
Agent for the Applicant,
115, Cannon Street, London,

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, ROBERT ELSDON, of 76 Manor Road, Brockley, in the County of Kent, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS" and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and Figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates more especially to the manufacture of buttons with a shank
or eye fixed therein for the purpose of attaching the said button to the garment or
other object. Such buttons are generally known as solid buttons, but their forms
and structure vary considerably, and this invention is applicable to most of the
varieties.
Heretofore the shanks or eyes of solid buttons have been secured to the buttons
by soldering or rivetting, and the object of my present invention is to fix the said
shanks or eyes in the buttons in a more economical manner than can be done by
those means. For this purpose I make the blanks which are intended to form the
button of a smaller diameter than the finished button is intended to have, and of a
thickness such than when the blank is subjected to the blow of a stamper, or to
other pressure, it shall be expanded to the required diameter, and reduced, where
required, to the proper thickness. In or across the centre of the aforesaid thick
blank, I form, by any suitable or convenient means, a recess or recesses, having by
preference, their sides or walls slightly undercut, into which I slide, spring or place
the tangs or feet of the shank or eye. I then subject the thick blank with the
tangs or feet of the shank or eye therein, to suitable pressure, and thus firmly
secure the said shank or eye to the blank or button.
In the accompanying sheet of Drawings Figure 1 illustrates the separate parts
intended to form the button. Figure 2 illustrates the finished button and Figure 3
shews a modification of construction.
In Figure 1, A is the thick blank, having an undercut groove B across the centre
thereof. This groove may be varied in shape as desired or required, and may be
formed by any suitable or convenient means, as for example by a circular or other
saw, by a graving tool, or otherwise. It may be formed in each blank separately or
the blanks may be stamped or cut out of sheets of metal in which continuous grooves
or recesses have been previously formed at suitable distances apart. C is the shank
or eye, which may be formed of wire bent into the required shape, the tangs or feet
being left of the original section of the wire, or stamped or pressed into such a shape
as to correspond more or less to the shape of the recess B in the blank A. The tangs or
feet of the shank or eye are slid, sprung, or placed, into the recess B of the blank A,
and the latter is then placed into a suitably shaped die, and a stamper is allowed
to fall on to the face of the blank, or other suitable pressure is applied thereto.
By this means the metal of the blank is closed up more or less round the tangs or
feet of the shank or eye, embedding the same in the metal, and thus firmly securing
the shank or eye in place. By the same operation the blank is reduced to its
proper thickness and diameter, and any required device, name, or mark may also

page_text: be imparted to the front or back of the button, which may also be curved or dished
to any desired extent. Figure 2 shows in section and back view a solid button
finished in the manner herein before described.
In some cases the tangs or feet of the shank or eye may be of a dove-tail shaped
section, the recess or recesses in the blank being in such cases preferably of a
rectangular shape (as shewn at A¹, B¹, C¹ Figure 1,) so that when pressure is
applied to the blank, the sides of such rectangular recess or recesses are swaged
over the dove-tail sides of the said tangs or feet.
The wire from which the shank or eye is formed may be of the same metal as
that of the blank, or it may be of different metal, and the completed button may
be afterwards gilded, silvered, brassed, enamelled or otherwise treated in order to
render the whole uniform in appearance.
Figure 3 shows a modification in the construction of the above described button,
in which, instead of the recess being cut completely across the back of the blank,
one or two recesses B B are cut or stamped out in order to receive the tangs or feet
of the shank or eye C which tangs or feet do not in this modification extend across
the diameter of the blank, but are forced or placed in the recess or recesses formed
for them therein, and the blank is then subjected to pressure as before, and reduced
to its proper thickness, except about the centre, which may be left thicker in order
to leave material to hold the shank or eye, and the blank is also increased to its
proper diameter as hereinbefore described.
It will be understood that it is the extra thickness of blank I employ which
enables me to recess the tangs or feet of the shank into the blank, and to strike up
or swage the material round the tangs or feet of the shank or eye in order to secure
the latter in the blank or button.
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
In the manufacture of buttons, the method of fixing the shanks or eyes, which
consists in making the blank of greater thickness and smaller diameter than the
finished button or blank is intended to be, grooving or recessing such thick blank,
inserting the shank or eye into such groove or recess, and fixing the same therein
by exerting pressure on the thick blank, so as to extend the latter to the required
diameter, to reduce it to the required thickness, and to strike or swage up the
material round the feet or tangs of the shank or eye, in order to secure the same,
as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the Drawings hereto annexed.
Dated this 15th dox of Tune 1885
ROBERT ELSDON.
Per W. H. Beck, Agent,
115, Cannon Street, London.