AN IMPROVED PERFORATED BUTTON
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GIBBS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent unto Her present most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, that I had invented "AN IMPROVED
PERFORATED BUTTON," and Her said Majesty, being willing to give encourage-
ment to all arts and inventions which may be for the public good, was
graciously pleased, by Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, .
the Sixth day of September last (One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
eight), in the second year of Her reign, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
to give and grant unto me, the said Henry Gibbs, my executors, administra
tors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by my or their deputies, servants,
or agents, or such others as I or they should agree with (and no others),
during the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention
within that part of Her said Majesty's Dominions called England, Her Do-
minion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to
me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, shall seem meet, and as that
I or they shall enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of
the said Invention, during the said term of fourteen years; and for that end
Her said Majesty requires and strictly commands all Her subjects whatsoever,

page_text: within England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, that they shall not,
neither directly or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my said Invention,
or any part thereof, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same,
nor make any addition thereto or subtraction therefrom, whereby to pretend
himself or themselves to be the inventor or inventors thereof; and whereas the
said Letters Patent contain a proviso, obliging me, the said Henry Gibbs, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
hand and seal, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference
being thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
my
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Gibbs, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described and ascer-
tained in manner following, and by the aid of the Drawing hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My said improved perforated button is formed with two parallel circular
disks, which are firmly united together at a suitable distance asunder by a
small central circular part (which I call the shank), so as to leave a sufficient
interval or space between the two parallel disks to receive the thickness of the
cloth or leather or other material through which the button hole is formed.
Wherefore the general form of my said improved perforated button resembles
that of a pulley with a deep but narrow groove around the edge of its circum-
ference, except that one of the edges or sides to that groove may be larger in
diameter than the other. And my 'said improved perforated button is fastened
to the 'cloth or other material of the garment whereon the same is to be worn,
with one of its said two disks (which I call the inside disk) fastened in contact
therewith by a sewing of thread passing through the holes or perforations
wherewith the button is perforated, those perforations being either perforated
through the central part of that one of the two, aforesaid disks which is to
apply against the garment (and which I call the inside disk, as aforesaid), or
else perforated through the circumferential part of that said inside disk, in
which latter case that inside disk may be larger in diameter than its fellow
disk (which I call the outside 'disk); but, on the contrary, in case the perfora-
tions are made, as above mentioned, through the central part of that said inside
disk, then the same may be smaller in diameter than its fellow or outside
disk; but in either case (or however the size and proportions of the parts of
my said improved perforated button may be varied) it is in all cases to have
two parallel circular disks, leaving a narrow interval or groove between the two

page_text: small central circular part, which, as herein-before mentioned, I call the
shank, and by which the two disks are united together, may be raised or
stamped out of either one or other of those two disks, according to circum-
stances. For instance, if my improved perforated button is made as is shewn
in Figures 1 and 2, with the perforations at the central part of the inside
disk B, which is to go against the garment, then it will be most convenient
to make that disk a flat (or nearly flat) circular plate B, Figure 2, with the
requisite perforations at its centre, and to raise or stamp out the shank E
from the central part of the outside disk A, which in the finished button
when the shank E is soldered to the said outside disk A will exhibit a
circular opening at the centre of that disk, and through that opening the
needle is passed and repassed in the act of sewing on to the garment; or other-
wise, if my improved perforated button is made as represented in Figures 3
and 4, with the perforations at the circumferential parts of the inside disk B,
which is to go against the garment; then it will be convenient to raise or
stamp out the shank E, Figure 4, from the central part of that inside disk B,
and the outside disk A will be a flat (or nearly flat) circular plate, which is to
be soldered to the shank E. But in either case the perforations through
which the threads are to be passed must be made with smoothly rounded
edges at the margins or borders of all the several perforations, in order to
avoid cutting or wearing the sewing thread. And note.-Although I have
mentioned stamping out of plate as the mode which I recommend for making
the said disks, the same may be cast and rendered smooth and true by
turning in a lathe if preferred, and the requisite perforations may be formed
by drilling and countersinking. Or, instead of forming my said improved
perforated button by affixing two pieces together, as herein-before mentioned,
the same may be formed out of one piece by turning that piece in a lathe to
form the groove between the two disks, and in that case my improved per-
forated button may be made of metal, wood, bone, pearl, ivory, or horn by
the means well known to button makers, and practised by them for making
ordinary perforated buttons of such materials.
Having now described my said improved perforated button, I, the said
Henry Gibbs, do hereby declare that the new Invention, whereof the exclusive
use is granted to me by the said Letters Patent, consists in the mode, herein-
before described, of forming a perforated button with two parallel circular
disks, leaving a narrow groove or interval between the two for the reception
of the cloth, leather, or other material wherein the button hole is formed,
one of which disks is to be applied against the cloth or other material of the
garment, and fastened thereto by a sewing of thread through suitable per-

page_text: for the reception of the cloth or material wherein the button hole is forined,
and which button hole is to take. hold around the aforesaid small circular
central part (which I call the shank), by which the two disks are united, in
order that when the button is buttoned the cloth or material may be lodged
between the two disks, whereof one, which I call the inside disk, is applied
against and fastened to the cloth or other material of the garment by a sewing
of thread through perforations, either at the centre or else at the circum-
ference of that inside disk; and the other, which I call the outside disk, is
that which projects off from the garment, and which is passed and repassed
through the button hole in the act of buttoning or unbuttoning; wherefore
the said outside disk answers to and stands in the place of the usual circular
disk of perforated buttons, except that it does not stand so near to the cloth
or other material of the garment as is usually the case in ordinary perforated
buttons, because of the interval which is left between the two disks, and
which interval is, as before mentioned, adapted to receive the thickness of the
cloth or other material through which the button hole is made.
And for the more complete explanation of my said improved perforated
button, I have hereunto annexed a Drawing, wherein A or A in all the
Figures represents the outside disk, herein-before mentioned, which stands. off
from the garment; and B or B, the inside disk, which is applied, as herein-
before mentioned, against the cloth or other material of the garment, and
which disk is perforated with holes either through its central part, as shewn
at B, Figures 1 and 2, or else through its circumferential part, as shewn at
B, Figures 3 and 4, the perforations being (as in all other perforated buttons)
for the purpose of receiving the sewing of thread by which the button is to
be fastened to the garment. E or E in all the Figures is the small central
circular part by which the two disks A or A and B or B are united together
as one, and which small central part E or E I call the shank, because it will
occupy the button hole when the button is buttoned, so as in that respect to
answer the purpose of a shank, although it does not enter into or through tho
cloth or other material of the garment to which the button is fastened, as the
metal shanks of most other buttons do; for, as already stated, my improved
perforated button is fastened against the garment by a sewing of thread through
its perforations, as is the case in ordinary perforated buttons. And as to the
mode of making my said improved perforated button, the same is best formed
of two pieces, which may be stamped out of metal plate, according to the
usual and well-known practice of button makers, and then put together by
soldering, so as to become like one piece. Each of the said two pieces. so
stamped out will form one of the two disks herein-before mentioned, and the

page_text: forations, which perforations may be either at the central part of that one
disk or else at the circumferential part thereof, as already herein-before fully
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Gibbs, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-nine.
Inrolled the Fifth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
nine.