IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING BUTTONS FOR SHOES, GLOVES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1884

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by David Hunter Brandon, Engineer and Patent
Agent, of No. 1, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Republic of France, acting as
Agent for Ira Fames Saunders, of Union City, County of Branch, State
of Michigan, United States of America.]
.
"
I CHARLES AUBREY DAY, of 321 High Holborn, London, Middlesex Fellow of
the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING BUTTONS FOR SHOES, GLOVES AND OTHER ARTICLES,"
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention has for its object the production of an improved spring' button to
be employed to secure together the overlapping edges of shoes, gloves and other
articles.
The improved spring button herein to be described is made from a blank cut
from a narrow thin strip preferably of steel, the said blank being bent centrally to
form a spring head or loop, the sides of the blank bent to form the head or loop
being contracted to form a neck and leave locking projections above it at each side,
and thereafter the blank is bent outwardly to form rests and prongs to bear against
and enter the material to which the spring button is to be attached, the said spring
button having cooperating with it an eyelet which is secured to another part of the
shoe, glove or other article to which the said spring button is attached, the spring
button being so set into the material that the axis of its eye is in the direction of
the strain of the eyelet thereon, the metal at both sides of the eye being thus
subjected to equal strain and the eye being so placed as to perinit the same to be
entered by means of a hook so that the spring button may be pulled through the
eyelet.
This invention consists of a spring button constructed from a narrow thin flat
metal blank doubled or bent to form a head or loop the sides of which has bulges
or locking projections located just above a contracted neck, the metal of the blank
being bent below the neck to form a rest and prongs or clinching points, and
with this spring button there is combined a cooperating eyelet the latter being

page_text: .
applied to the spring button so that its line of strain thereon will be in the
direction of the axis of the eye of the.spring button as will be described.
Figure 1, shows in side elevation the inner side of a shoe having my improved
spring button applied thereto.
Figure 2, a side elevation of one of my spring buttons on a larger scale.
Figures 3 and 4, sections thereof in the lines x, x and x¹, x¹.
Figure 5, a sectional detail of one of my improved spring buttons shown as.
attached to material, and an eyelet secured. in a second piece of material and
engaged with the spring button, and Figure 6, a plan of a hook which may be
advantageously used to draw or pull the spring button through the eyelets in
the overlapping eyeletted flap.
The spring button A is preferably formed from a blank cut from a narrow thin
strip, or flattened ribbon of metal, the said blank being doubled or bent upon itself
at or about its middle to form a loop like head a, and contracted at c, to form a
round neck leaving above it projections b at each side below which may catch the
eyelet i to be referred to, and thereafter the remaining portions of the arms or side
of said blank are bent outwardly and then downwardly to form the shoulders or
rests d, and the prongs or clinching ends e, all as clearly shown in figures 2 and 5.
In the formation of the spring button the narrow flattened blank or that portion
thereof entering into the loop or head and neck is bent between its edges into.
concavo-convex form as shown in the section figures 3 and 4, thus greatly
strengthening the spring button and presenting a convex surface for the action
of the eyelet.
The prongs e of the spring button are forced through the material or leather of
the part B of the shoe or other article with which the spring button is to be used,
and clinched on the under or inner side thereof by means of any suitable tool or
instrument adapted for the purpose, the said spring buttons being each secured
along the edge of the part B with the axis of the eye in the loop or head in line
with the strain on the spring button and at right angles to the line of the gap in
the shoe or other article which
to be closed by the said spring button and
eyelet, the latter being set in the eyelet or overlapping flap C of the shoe or other
article.
The eyelets correspond in number with the spring buttons and they are
arranged to engage with the heads of the spring buttons to thus secure the eyelet
flap to the part B it overlapping the latter and closing the opening between the
parts B, C. In use the spring buttons A are set with relation to the gap to be
closed by them in the shoe or other article as in figure 1, wherein it will be seen
that the axes of the eyes of the spring buttons are in the line of the strain of the
eyelets thereon, and that each arm or side of the spring button is subjected to like
strain.
This arrangement prevents any of the eyelets of the connecting flap C from
becoming accidentally disengaged from the spring button.
.
Such disposition of the eye of the spring button also permits a hook such as
shown in figure 4, to be advantageously used to pull the button up through the
eyelet and force the latter down thereon against the shoulders of the button, the
space between the edges of the head a of the spring button and the eyelet being of
suflicient size to permit the end of the hook to be readily inserted diagonally down
through the eyelet into the eye of the button.
To unfasten the shoe or other article, the corner of the overlapping piece or
flap containing the eyelets will be grasped between the thumb and finger and the
flap will be lifted or pulled from the first spring button and each succeeding
spring button as when ripping a seam.
The metal of which the spring buttons are composed is sufficiently light and
the eyes of the heads thereof are sufficiently large to slightly contract under the
strain of the eyelets thereon, as the latter are forced down over the buttons the
latter at such time closing together at their necks, the stock being sufficiently
flexible or yielding to permit such contraction of the necks.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
A spring button for shoes, gloves, and other articles, bent to form a head or
loop a, and contracted to form necks and locking projections, and having rests d,
and prongs e, the said spring button being attached to the material as described to
present the eyes of its head or loop in the line of strain exerted thereon by the
eyelet, the latter being set in a piece which overlaps the piece with which the
spring button is connected, all to operate substantially as set forth.
DAY, DAVIES & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant,