IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND
APPARATUS FOR SECURING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Jacob Rothberger, Clothier and Court,
Contractor. of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th September 1868.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS
AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING BUTTONS TO ARTICLES OF DRESS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has reference to an improved mode of and apparatus
for securing buttons on to articles of dress in lieu of sewing. For this
purpose the shank of the button is formed in the shape of a small

page_text: open-ended tube having a shoulder a short distance from the end;
this shank is placed between two jaws secured together by a spring,
one of which jaws is fixed to a table or other object, while the other
carries a catch, whereby when the button shank is inserted the loose jaw
is drawn up close to the fixed jaw so as to hold the shank firmly; a
metallic point is then inserted into the open end of the tube, and that
part of the article of dress to which the button is to be secured is forced
over such point on to the shank of the button so as to lie close against
the before mentioned shoulder thereon; the point is then removed and
a rivetting punch is introduced into the open end of the tube, and is
caused by pressure or blows to widen out the tube in such a manner as
securely to hold the article of dress between it and the shoulder on the
tube. If requisite a metal washer may be placed over the end of the
tube before rivetting it down.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton
Abel, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING BUTTONS TO
ARTICLES OF DRESS," a communication to me from abroad by Jacob
Rothberger, Clothier and Court Contractor, of Vienna, in the Empire

page_text: of Austria, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Denton Abel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention has reference to an improved mode of and apparatus
for securing buttons on to articles of dress in lieu of sewing. For this
purpose the shank of the button is formed in the shape of a small open-
ended tube having a shoulder a short distance from the end; this
shank is placed between two jaws secured together by a spring, one of
which jaws is fixed to a table or other object, while the other carries
a catch, whereby when the button shank is inserted the loose jaw is
drawn up close to the fixed jaw so as to hold the shank firmly; a
metallic point or piercer is then inserted into the open end of the tube,
and that part of the article of dress to which the button is to be secured
is forced over such point on to the shank of the button so as to lie close
against the before mentioned shoulder thereon; the point is then
removed and a rivetting punch is introduced into the open end of the
tube, and is caused by pressure or blows to widen out the tube in such
a manner as securely to hold the article of dress between it and the
shoulder on the tube. If requisite a metal washer may be placed over
the end of the tube before rivetting it down.
Figures 1 to 6 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings show the
before described improved apparatus for securing buttons. Figure 1
shows a plan of the spring jaws in position for receiving the shank of
the button; Figure 2 shows the same view with the jaws closed up
after the button has been inserted; Figure 3 shows a section of the
apparatus; Figure 4 shows different forms of buttons with tubular
shanks; Figure 5 shows the metal piercer for inserting into the tubular
shank; and Figure 6 shows the punch for flattening down the shank.

page_text: The jaws A, A', are connected together by a spring B, the jaw A being
fixed to a table or other object by the bracket C. Each jaw has a
semicircular notch a, a', into which when the jaws are together, as in
Figure 2, is held the tubular shank d of the button D, as indicated in
Figure 3. The jaw A¹ carries a lever E hinged at 7 and having at e' a
cam surface which by being drawn against a projection on the under
side of A causes the jaw A¹ to be drawn up against the jaw A so as to
hold the button D firmly between the two. The piercer F is then
inserted into the hollow shank d, and the article of dress is drawn over
it on to the latter, and is pressed down upon the flange d' on the same.
The piercer is then removed, and if requisite a washer is placed over
the shank on to the material, after which the punch G is introduced into
the open end of the shank, and by blows or pressure is caused to flatten
or rivet down the end of the shank on to the washer or directly on to
the article of dress as the case may be.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, what I claim is, the before described improved means and
apparatus for securing buttons to articles of dress.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.