IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS."-A communication from
abroad by Joseph Edouard Mittler, senior, Button Manufacturer, of 29,
Boulevart St. Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 15th August 1865, and dated the 2nd March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd March
1865.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of buttons of
glass or other silicious or bituminous matter, fusible or capable of being
softened by heat, or of matters hardened by baking, as ceramic substances, or
by exposure to the air, such as cement, mastic, or paste.
Hitherto these kinds of buttons have been made exclusively with metal
shanks or with holes, which arrangement is unsuitable from their inability to
set well when sewn on in any position, while according to this Invention I
make the shanks flexible and of any suitable form or material.
The means usually employed for manufacturing buttons with metal shanks
are as follows:-A small portion of the matter which is softened by heat is

page_text: poured on the shank previously formed, which is encased in and adheres to
the mass, the plastic material being then stamped with any suitable pattern
and again baked in order to prevent its breaking, the button with its glass
surface being afterwards finished by polishing when cold.
According to this Invention I manufacture similar buttons but with flexible
tufts or shanks as follows:-I recess a metal eyelet or thimble of brass, for
example, into the glass or other material forming the button, leaving the edges
projecting; I then stamp the button with any suitable ornament, and bake
the whole anew. When cold, I clean the brass eyelet by means of acids,
and polish the face of the button. I then place the tuft formed of thread or
fabric in any suitable form in the eyelet above mentioned, and turn down the
edges of said eyelet on the flexible tuft so as to enclose it and fix it to the
button, which is then complete. I may also produce the adhesion of small
pieces of metal or other substance to the face of the button for the purposes
of ornamentation as deemed desirable.. The flexible tuft may occupy either
the whole or part of the back of the button. I may also by attaching threads
or lace to the flexible tuft and allowing them to pass over the face of the
button produce an entirely novel ornamentation.
This Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, which show
the finished buttons and the several parts of which they are composed.
Fig. 1 shows the reverse side of a glass button of any suitable color and
with a shank or tuft composed of thread or other flexible material; Fig. 2, an
edge view, and Fig. 3, vertical section of same button; Fig. 4 shows a plan
of an ornamented button; Fig. 5, a reverse side of a glass button, which may
be of any suitable color, and furnished with a flexible shank covering nearly
the whole surface; Fig. 6 is an edge view, and Fig. 7, section of this
button; Fig. 8 shows a plan of a glass button ornamented with lace, sewn to
the flexible tuft and passed over the face of the button for the purpose of
ornamentation; Fig. 9 is a central vertical section of this button; Fig. 10
shows a small metal eyelet or socket; Fig. 11, an eyelet of larger size ;. and
Fig. 12, a plan of same. The same letters serve for all the Figures.
a, metal eyelet, ring, or thimble, provided with a hole b at its centre, the
edges of which are turned down so as to fix it in the glass while the latter is
still plastic. The eyelet a is further fixed in position by the material c, which
penetrates hole 6 in said, eyelet, and so secures it to the glass at same time that
it is still in connection therewith. d, glass, which may be stamped on its
exit from the furnace and while still plastic, by means a steel punch, so as to
produce any suitable ornamentation thereon; the glass encasing the eyelet is
again baked after being stamped. e, tuft or shank of thread or other flexible

page_text: material or fabric placed in the eyelet contained in the glass, and fixed to said
eyelet by turning down the edges of the latter all round so as to secure
the tuft thereto; f, metal wires, or it may be lace, attached to the shank
and passing across the face of the button. I may also, as before mentioned,
embed any suitable ornaments, such as spangles or metallic particles, in the
face of the glass button while in a heated state and in process of manufacture,
which would be cleaned at same time as the eyelets, or these glass buttons may
be otherwise ornamented as desirable.
Figs. 13 and 14 represent sections of two other forms of buttons with
flexible shanks. a, eyelet or socket recessed in the glass button d; e, flexible
tuft fixed between the glass and eyelet a, and projecting through hole 6 made
at the centre of said eyelet. In Fig. 14 a small metal socket 9 is let into
the glass button d, to which socket the flexible tuft is screwed or otherwise
attached by means of a metal ring to which it is connected. I may also affix
the flexible tuft to glass buttons by means of glue or paste, for which purpose
a small cavity is made in the glass in which is lodged the flexible tuft, to be
there secured by glueing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Clark, 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS," a communication to me from
abroad by Joseph Edouard Mittler, senior, Button Manufacturer, of 29,

page_text: Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Clark, 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,
reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say).:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of buttons of
glass or other silicious or bituminous matter, fusible or capable of being
softened by heat, or of matters hardened by baking, as ceramic substances, or
by exposure to the air, such as cement, mastic, or paste.
Hitherto these kinds of buttons have been made exclusively with metal
shanks or with holes, which arrangement is unsuitable from their inability to
set well when sewn on in any position, while, according to this Invention, I
make the shanks flexible and of any suitable form or material.
The means usually employed for manufacturing buttons with metal shanks
are as follows: A small portion of the matter which is softened by heat is
poured on the shank previously formed, which is encased and adheres to the
mass, the plastic material being then stamped with any suitable pattern, and
again baked in order to prevent its breaking, the button with the glass surface
being afterwards finished by polishing when cold..
According to this Invention I manufacture similar buttons, but with
flexible tufts or shanks, as follows:-I recess a metal eyelet or thimble
of brass, for example, into the glass or other material forming the button,
leaving the edges projecting; I then stamp the button with any suitable
ornament, and bake the whole anew. When cold, I clean the brass eyelet by
means of acids and polish the face of the button. I then place the tuft formed
of thread or other fabric in any suitable form in the eyelet above mentioned,
and turn down the edges of said eyelet on the flexible tuft or shank so
as to enclose it and fix it to the button, which is then complete. I may
also produce the adhesion of small pieces of metal or other substance on the
face of the button for the purposes of ornamentation, as deemed desirable.
The flexible tuft may occupy either the whole or part of the back of the
button. I may also. by attaching threads or lace to the flexible tuft and

page_text: allowing them to pass over the face of the button, produce an entirely novel
ornamentation.
.
This Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, which show the
finished buttons and the several parts of which they are composed.
Fig. 1 shows the reverse side of a glass button of any suitable color, and
with a tuft or shank composed of thread or other flexible material; Fig. 2,
an edge view, and Fig. 3, vertical section of same button; Fig. 4 shows a
plan of an ornamental button; Fig. 5, the reverse side of a glass button,
which may be of any suitable color, and furnished with a flexible tuft covering
nearly the whole surface; Fig. 6 is an edge view; Fig. 7, section of this
button; Fig. 8 shows a plan of a glass button ornamented with lace, sewn to
the flexible tuft, and passed over the face of the button for the purpose of
ornamentation; Fig. 9 is a central vertical section of this button; Fig. 10
shows a small metal eyelet or socket; Fig. 11; an eyelet of larger size ; and
Fig. 12, plan of same. The letters serve for all the Figures.
a, metal eyelet or thimble, provided with a hole 6 at its centre, the edges
of which are turned down so as to fix it in the glass while the latter is still
plastic; the eyelet a is further fixed in position by the material c, which
penetrates hole 6 in said eyelet, and so secures it to the glass at same
time that it is still in connection therewith; d, glass, which may be stamped
on its exit from the furnace, and while still plastic, by means of a steel puneb,
so as to produce any suitable ornamentation thereon. The glass encasing the
cap is again baked after being stamped. e, tuft of thread or other flexible
material or fabric placed in the eyelet contained in the glass and fixed to said
eyelet by turning down the edges of the latter all round so as to secure the
tuft thereto; f, metal wires, or it may be lace, attached to the tuft, and
passing across the face of the button. I may also, as before mentioned,
embed any suitable ornaments, such as spangles or metallic particles, in the
face of the glass button while in the heated state and in process of manufacture,
which would be cleaned at same time as the eyelets, or these glass buttons
may be otherwise ornamented as desirable.
Figs. 13 and 14 represent sections of two other forms of buttons with
flexible tufts. a, eyelet recessed in the glass button d; e, flexible tuft fixed
between the glass and eyelet a, and projecting through hole 6, made at the
centre of said socket. In Fig. 14 a small metal socket g is let into the glass
button d, to which socket the flexible tuft is screwed or otherwise attached by
means of a metal ring to which it is connected. I may also affix the flexible
tuft to glass buttons by means of glue or paste, for which purpose a small

page_text: cavity is made in the glass in which is lodged the flexible tuft, to be there
secured by glueing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)