AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS,. AND IN THE MODE OP AFFIXING THEM TO CLOTHES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN ISAAC
HAWKINS, of College Place, Camden Town, in the County of Middlesex, Civil.
Engineer, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great. Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of August, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,.
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Isaac Hawkins, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said John Isaac Hawkins, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others.
as I, the said John Isaac Hawkins, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at.
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during:
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS,.
AND IN THE MODE OP AFFIXING THEM TO CLOTHES," communicated to me by a
certain Foreigner, M. C. Van Esschen, residing abroad; in which said:
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Isaac Hawkins,.
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and

page_text: by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Isaac Hawkins, do hereby declare that the Invention, as communicated
to me, relates to that class of buttons which are affixed to clothes by means of
rivetting and the Invention consists,
Firstly, in so forming the shank of the button that a recess or cup shall be
left in the end of the shank, for the purpose of allowing the rivetting to be
effected with a small degree of force, and thus that delicately ornamented
buttons may be rivetted without injury from undue pressure on their orna-
mented surfaces.
Secondly, in performing the operation-of-rivetting by means of a tool that
shall press out the brim of the cup, turn it down, and leave an ornamental
surfaco on the end of the rivet, which tool may be forced against the cupped
end of the rivet and caused to leave the impression of its pattern upon the
rivet either by a hammer or by a press.
Thirdly, in the adaptation of a press, having a recess in which a garment
may be folded or rolled while a button is being rivetted at a considerable
distance from the 'edge of the garment. And,
2.
Fourthly, in forming a matrix or mould in which the ornamented or
embossed face of a button may be laid while its shank is being rivetted, so
that the resistance to the pressure may be afforded by the whole surface of the
button, or by such parts of the surface as will bear the pressure without being
injured. And the manner in which the said "Invention is to be carried into
effect is shewn by the 'Drawings" hereunto annexed, as explained by the
"description thereof herein contained; reference being had to the letters marked
"on the Drawings in correspondence with the same letters inserted in the
description! It is to be noted, that in the Drawings the buttons are repre-
sented about two or three times the ordinary size, in order to render their
minute parts more conspicuous..
Figure 1 represents a section of a button with a 'shank passed through a
piece of cloth, and 'the 'disc or washer put on but not rivetted. a, the cloth;
6; the button and shank;c, the cup in the end of shank, formed according
to the figure of the intended 'impression, so as to require the least degree of
'force to effect the rivetting and produce the figure. But in cases where an
ornamented end to the rivet is not required, the cup may be continued down
into 'the shank or even quite through it' and 'through the button, constituting
the shank a tube. d, the disc.

page_text: Fig. 2, section of a similar button after the shank has been rivetted down
upon the disc, with a detached section of the punch, or tool which has given
its figure to the end of the shank. c, the cup with the brim spread out and
pressed down upon the disc,, having received the impression of the punch e.
The face of the punch to be highly polished so as to leave a handsome surface
on the rivetted part of the shank.
Figure 3,.side view in full size of a press, of a convenient, form to allow a
portion of a garment to be rolled up when a button, is required to be rivetted
at a considerable distance from the edge of the garment.
Figure 4, front view of the same.
:
The letters of reference are alike for Figures 3 and 4. a, the frame of
the press; b, the bed; c, the matrix fitted on the bed and receiving the
button; d, the button; e, the punch, shewn also as at e¹ as it would appear.
when detached from the press;f, the sliding bolt; g, the screw; h, the
arm or lever for turning the screw; k, a section of a garment rolled; up
and occupying a space within the frame of, the..press. purposely left for
its reception.
Figure 5, perspective view of the matrix or mould. a, the receptacle for
the ornamental part of the button to lie in while the pressure is given; b, a
stem to go down into the bed of the press to keep the matrix steady. In
order to produce this matrix, I first construct of metal, wood; plaster of Paris,
or other suitable material, a hollow mould, the form and size of the body and
stem of the intended matrix. This mould, -properly. lubricated, I fill with
plaster of Paris mixed with water, and. before the plaster sets I place a button
with its face or ornamented side down upon and slightly, depressed into the
surface of the plaster. From this, as a pattern,, I cast in a flask, in the
ordinary manner of sand castings, a copy in type metal for, a working matrix;
but instead of sand I use powdered rotten stone slightly moistened with water,
which produces a much finer surface than can be obtained from sand. Other
modes of constructing the matrix and other metals or mixtures of metals
might be adopted, but I consider the mode and materials just described are
the best. If it be required that some parts of the ornamented surface of the
buttons should receive no pressure, I cut away by engraving the correspond;
ing parts of the matrix after it is cast. The working matrix being affixed on
the bed of the press, and the corresponding punch screwed into the sliding
bolt, the press is ready to be used for rivetting any number of buttons of the
same pattern. It is obvious that the matrix, may be fixed upon a portable
anvil, and the punch be used with a hammer...
I
Figure 6; section of a button usually sewed upon a garment through four

page_text: .
shank rivetted at both ends.
Figure 7, plan of the same.
Figure 8, section of the shanks, seen as detached.
Figure 9, section of a tubular shank, with a collar forming a double shoulder
as a substitute for the doubly cupped shank shewn at Figure 8. The same
letters refer to the same parts in Figures 6, 7, 8, and 9. a, the button; b,
the four ordinary holes by which the button has usually been sewed on the
garment; c, the shank; d, cloth; e, a double shoulder projecting around
the middle of the shank to leave a space between the button and the cloth
equal to the thickness of that part of the garment surrounding the button
hole.
Figure 10, section of a button with a depression in the middle of its face,
and a hole through the bottom of the depression, through which a shank
projecting from a disc passes, and is rivetted in the bottom of the depression
by means of an ornamented and polished punch, operated on either by the
press or by a hammer.
a, the button; b, the disc and its shank, cupped at
the end; c, the cloth.
Figure 11, sections of the button and of the shanked disc shewn separately.
a, the button; b, the disc and shank; c, the cup in the end of the shank.
And I hereby further declare, that I do not claim the constructing of any
button with a shank on which a disc or washer is rivetted, after the shank is
passed through a hole in the garment; and I do not claim the rivetting of a
pin projecting from the disc or washer, and passing into or through the button;
and I do not claim the rivetting by means of a press or hammer in cases
where the shank or pin has a solid end. But I claim the formation of the end
of the shank of such a button into the figure of a cup, whereby a moderate
degree of force applied to the brim of the cup, pressing it first outwards and
then downwards, will be sufficient to firmly rivet the shank upon the disc, or
to rivet a shanked disc firmly upon a button, as herein-before shewn and
described. And I claim the formation of a tool, to be operated on either by a
press or by a hammer, for effecting of the rivetting the brim of the cup
with little force, and at the same time impressing the rivetted part with an
ornamental surface, as herein-before shewn and described. And I claim the
application of a press, having a recess for receiving the folds of a garment,
which press is used for the purpose of rivetting the shank of such a button
when placed at a considerable distance from the edge of the garment, as
herein-before shewn and described. And lastly, I claim the formation of a
matrix or mould to fit the pattern of the button, and prevent undue pressure