IMPROVEMENTS IN DOUBLE SHELL BUTTONS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Iliffe, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Button Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
DOUBLE SHELL BUTTONS."
Sealed the 13th July 1860, and dated the 24th January 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles lliffe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
January 1860.
I, Charles Iliffe, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN DOUBLE SHELL BUTTONS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists firstly, of a double shell button, having at its back a
neck raised from the back shell. The said button has a bar formed at the
bottom of the neck, or starting from the bottom of the neck, the said bar being
formed from one or both shells. In sewing on the button the thread is passed
over the said bar.
My Invention consists secondly, in the following method of making the
holes of double shell buttons. In cutting out the holes in the blanks, I cause
the edges of the said holes to be turned inwards, so that when the two shells
are secured together the edges of the holes have a rounded figure, and are not
capable of cutting the thread. This part of my Invention is applicable to
double shell buttons having any number of holes, or holes of any shape.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Illiffe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
July 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ILIFFE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles
Iliffe, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Iliffe, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Iliffe, 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 DOUBLE SHELL BUTTONS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Iliffe, 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 lliffe, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of a double shell button, having at its back a
neck raised from the back shell. The said button has a bar formed at the
bottom of the neck, or starting from the bottom of the neck, the said bar being
formed from one or both shells. In sewing on the button the thread is passed
over the said bar.
This part of my Invention is illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 A, and 4 B,
of the accompanying Drawing. I have represented at a in Figure 1, a plan of
the upper side of the front shell of a button constructed according to my
Invention, and at b, a section of the front shell. At c, Figure 2, I have
represented a plan of the outer side of the back shell of the button, and at d,
Figure 2, a section of the back shell.

page_text: Figure 3 represents an elevation, and Figures 4 and 4 A, vertical sections
of a finished button made from the shells Figures 1 and 2. The section b,
Figure 1, and the section d, Figure 2, of the shells of the button are taken
through the shells in the shortest direction of the bar of the shells, and the sec-
tions of the finished buttons; Figure 4 and Figure 4 B, are taken through the
longest direction of the bar, and the section of Figure 4 A is taken through the
shortest direction of the said bar of the button. Both the front and back shells
marked respectively e, f, have each a hollow or semi-tubular bar, marked
respectively and f. When the two shells e, f, are closed together in the
ordinary manner, the semi-tubular bars e, f, come face to face with one
another, forming the hollow bar g, Figures 4 and 4 A, in the finished button.
The bar g may be made to lie parallel with the bottom of the neck h, formed
on the back shell of the button, or the said bar may start from the edge of the
said neck h, and project to the required extent into the said neck. In the
button shown in Figures 4 and 4 A, the bar g is made parallel with the bottom
of the neck h.. In the button represented in section at Figure 4 B, the bar g
starts from the bottom of the neck and projects into the said neck. In sewing
on the button, the needle is passed backwards and forwards through the needle
holes in the button, the thread being carried a sufficient number of times
over the bar g. Instead of forming the bar g from both shells of the button,
as described, the said bar may be formed from one shell only, with the same
or nearly the same effect.
In thus modifying this part of my Invention, I prefer to make the bar on the
front shell, the edges of the said bar e², Figure 1, being turned inwards, so as
to make the said bar nearly tubular in forin; or, the neck h and bar 9 may
be formed of one piece of solid metal dropped into the shells. The needle
holes i of the button may be made of any ornamental figure, and any desired
number of holes may be used. By making double shell buttons with necks
.having bars, over which the thread is passed according to this part of my
Invention, great economy in their manufacture is effected.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the methods herein-after described and
illustrated in Figures 5, 6, 6 A, 7, 8, and 9, of the accompanying Drawing, of
making the needle holes of double shell buttons. I will describe and illustrate
this part of my Invention with reference to double shell buttons with necks,
but I wish it to be distinctly understood, that this part of my Invention is
applicable to double shell buttons, with or without necks.
holes in the blank, I do not detach the pieces or flaps of metal, the cutting out
of which forms the holes in the button, but I leave the said pieces of metal as
flaps on the inner edges of the holes, that is, the edges against which the thread
In cutting out the

page_text: bears when the button is sewn on a 'garment. The said edges being turned or
doubled back, they form rounded edges which are incapable of cutting the
thread. At k, in Figure 5, I have represented in plan the face of the front
shell of a button constructed according to my Invention. At 1, Figure 5 is a
section of the same, and at in, Figure 5 is a plan of the under side of the same.
As the back shell of the button does not differ essentially from the front shell,
I have not shown it separately in the Drawing. In making the needle
holes n, n, and bar o, two nearly semicircular slits or piercings are made in
the blank, the said slits or piercings forming the curved sides of the holes n, n.
The partially separated and nearly semicircular flaps are doubled or bent back,
as best seen in the section 7 and plan m, Figure 5. The needle holes and bar of
the back shell are made in a similar manner. When the front and back shells
are secured together, as represented in Figures 6 and 6 A, which represent
sections of a finished button made according to my Invention, a bar o is formed,
the edges of which are so smooth and rounded that they are incapable of
cutting the thread used in attaching the button to the garment.
In Figure 5
the section of the upper shell is taken through the shortest direction of the
bar o, and the section of the finished button, Figure 6 is taken through the
longest direction of the bar o, and that of Figure 6 A is taken through. the
shortest direction of the said bar o.
I sometimes modify the construction of the needle holes and bar of the
button, Figure 6, in the following manner :-I give to the front shell the form
represented in Figure 7, which represents a plan of the under side, and also a
section of the said shell. The nearly semicircular pieces p, p, which are
partially detached to form the needle holes, are bent into a position nearly at
The
right angles to the front of the shell, as seen in the section, Figure 7.
back shell of the 'button'is represented in Figure 8, which représents a plan of
the under side' and section, in which said Figure 8 the semicircular partially
detached pieces which form the needle holes are bent back upon one another,
as represented at q. When the two shells, Figures 7 and 8, are secured or
closed together in the ordinary way, the semicircular pieces p, p, of the front
shell are 'made to clip or close round the bar g of the back shell, and thus to
form a rounded and smooth edge to the bar forming the inner edges of the
needle holes of the button. A finished button minde according to the last
described modification of my Invention is represented in plan of the under side
and section in Figure 9. Instead of bending the pieces p, p, of the front shell
round the bar 9 of the back shell, I sometimes dispense with the bar q, and
bend the pieces p, p, round'a short piece of wire dropped into the front shell.
I have represented buttons made according to the second part of my Inven-

page_text: tion with two needle holes only, but more than two holes may be employed, if
desired, and the said holes may be of any ornamental shape. The dies and
machines by which the blanks for the shells represented are cut out and
pierced, and the said shells raised and afterwards secured or closed together to
form buttons, are essentially of the same construction as those ordinarily em-
ployed in the manufacture of buttons, and I therefore do not think it necessary
either to describe or to represent the said dies and machines.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as
my Invention,
Firstly, the improvement in double shell buttons having necks herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 A, and 4 B, of the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, forming the bar over which the thread is
passed in sewing on the button, from one or both shells or of a separate piece,
the said bar either lying parallel with the bottom of the neck of the button or
starting from the bottom of the neck and projecting into the said neck.
Secondly, the improvements in double shell buttons, with or without necks
herein-before described with reference to Figures 5, 6, 6 A, 7, 8, and 9 of the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making the inner edges of the needle
holes of the said buttons rounded and smooth, by either turning inwards the
edges of the metal of the bar forming the inner edges of the said holes in both
the front and back shells; or making the edges of the bar of the front shell
clip, or close round the bar of the back shell, or round a piece of wire inserted
for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Iliffe, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
CHARLES ILIFFE. (L.S.)