AN IM- PROVED BUTTON FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Empson, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Button Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED BUTTON FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES."
Sealed the 28th October 1870, and dated the 29th April 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Empson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th April 1870.
I, THOMAS EMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
“AN IMPROVED BUTTON FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES," to be as follows (that is
to say) :—
My Invention applies to buttons known as linen or covered buttons,
such as are used for dress, female underclothing, and other purposes,
and consists in forming three holes triangularly placed concentric with
the centre, which holes I purpose forming either by raising shanks
front way in the metal shell of the button, and passing such shanks

page_text: through the front covering and spreading the metal over radially on
to the cloth or covering, or the said three shanks may be passed through
or formed from a front disc of metal and spread over or closed down on
the said disc or at the back of the button, so as to have the cloth
or covering material of the button between the shell and the front
concentric disc.
As a further modification the said holes may be formed by three
separate eyelets, applied by preference by passing their shanks through
the front fabric, and closing them over on the back.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Empson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
EMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas Empson, Her special license that
I, the said Thomas Empson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Thomas Empson, my executors, adminis-
trators, or 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 "AN IMPROVED BUTTON FOR CERTAIN
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Empson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal 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 Thomas Empson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: at Fig. 5, when by suitable tools and press the button is put into its
finished form by flattening the front surface and pressing the periphery
of the front shell around the periphery of the ring d, thus leaving the
button as represented in section at Fig. 6, and in front and back views
at Figure 1 first described.
The finished button represented in front and side views at Fig. 7,
differs from Figure 1 to the extent only of having the back covered
as well as the front, which may be effected by using an annular ring
formed from thin sheet metal with a concentric flange raised around it,
spreading slightly outwards, as exhibited in a flat and sectional view at
Fig. 8, marked e and f, and g represents the same ring covered with the
fabric by suitable tools, familiar to button tool makers and users, the
outer fabric connected with a front shell as at Figure 3 has to be
gathered in as there described, when the covered annular ring may be
placed within the shell, and the parts thus put together operated on
for the purpose of closing and finishing the button, which will assume
the form as shown in section at Fig. 9, and front and back views at
Figure 7, the flat and sectional view Fig. 10 being simply introduced to
connect the series.
And as a modification of my Invention I purpose forming or raising
three eyelet holes from a small disc of metal, as exhibited in flat and
edge views at Fig. 11, and this concentric triple eyeletted dise may be
applied on the front of the button, by the shanks of the eyelet passing
through the front covering and shell, and closing over on the back, as
exhibited in a front and back view at Fig. 12, notwithstanding the
raised triple eyeletted disc may be applied at the back and closed over
on the front, presenting the same external appearance on the front side
as at Figures 1 and 7, and this application I have exhibited at Fig. 13,
but if applied to the front as at h, Figure 12, the triple eyeletted disc
would assume the form and position as exhibited in the section Fig. 14,
which simply constitutes the button as far as the combination of the
triple eyeletted disc with the front fabric and front shell, the fabric as
at k, k, Figure 13, being gathered in over the flange of the shell, and
to complete the button with a covered or metal back as at Figures 1
and 6, I use the annular angular ring f, Figure 8, or ring Figure 5 which
I have repeated in a flat and edge view. at Fig. 15, and combined in a
button represented in section at Fig. 16.
Although I have exhibited these various modes of giving effect to my

page_text: Invention it will be readily understood by ordinary button manufacturers
that instead of forming the eyeletted thread holes as raised from the
front shell or from a separate concentric triple eyeletted disc, that small
separate eyelets may be used with the same effect and utility. In this
description I have used the terms front and back, nevertheless, by suitable
material being used, the back may be made the front, and the front the
back, or the fabric covering the disc and flange may be of one material,
and the concentric or inner portion of a different material, and the eyelets
when applied separately or in combination with the concentric triple
eyeletted disc may pass through the front and back fabrics, and the disc
be made a front or back ornament. Nor is it essential that buttons
thus made be flat, as they may be concaved or convexed on the front, if
desired, nor do I purpose confining myself to any exact detail of con-
necting or putting the parts together, so long as such modes does not
interfere with the use and application of three radial equidistant holes
formed through the button as herein-before described, the said ring or
eycletted holes forming on their sides towards each other a smooth bar
for the thread used in fixing such buttons to garments to ride on.
I have not thought it necessary to describe technically the mode or
tools for raising or forming the said cyeletted holes, as such appliances
are well known and understood by skilled button makers, nor to describe
or exhibit the tools for raising, clipping, closing, covering, or piercing the
said metal and fabric for making the said buttons, as these appliances
are also well understood in the button trade.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Empson, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
THOMAS EMPSON. (L.S.)