CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DESCRIPTION OF BUTTONS COMMONLY KNOWN AS LINEN BUTTONS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Dredge Player, of the Firm of Iliffe and
Player, Brothers, Button Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DESCRIPTION
OF BUTTONS COMMONLY KNOWN AS LINEN BUTTONS."
Sealed the 31st January 1862, and dated the 23rd August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Dredge Player
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1861.
I, WILLIAM DREDGE PLAYER, of the Firm of Iliffe and Player, Brothers,
Button Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
DESCRIPTION OF BUTTONS COMMONLY KNOWN AS LINEN BUTTONS," to be as follows
(that is to say)-
My Invention consists in forming the shells of what are termed linen
buttons of one or two parts, having two eyeletted holes placed parallel on
each side of the centre, so that the metal between the eyeletted holes shall form
a metallic bar to sustain the pull or strain on the thread by which such buttons
may be sewn to garments.
The eyeletted holes may be formed from the metal shell, or separate eyelets
may be applied. These shells I purpose covering on the front, and exposing
the eyelets on the back, or covering the back and exposing the eyelets in

page_text: front, or by covering the eyelets both back and front so as to hide them from
external view. And the manner I proceed to make linen buttons of one shell
is to raise a rim in the ordinary way, and to gather the rim into a groove, so
that the fabric covering the front may be tucked in, and the free edge of the
metal closed down outward to form a finish, such shell being eyeletted for
sowing the button to the garment, as before described.
And, in conclusion, I wish it understood, that although I have described my
improvements as appertaining to linen buttons, I do not purpose confining
myself strictly to that material, as a mixture of cotton and thread, or cotton
only may be used in the covering of such buttons, but buttons so covered are
generally designated linen buttons.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Dredge Player in the Great Seal Patent Offico on
the 15th February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DREDGE PLAYER, of the Firm of Iliffe and Player, Brothers, Button Manu-
facturer, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Dredgo Player, Her special licence that I, the said William
Dredge Player, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Dredge Player, 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE DESCRIPTION OF BUTTONS COMMONLY KNOWN AS LINEN
BUTTONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Dredge
Player, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Dredge Player, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in forming two eyeletted holes in the shell of the
buttons commonly known as linen buttons, the said eyeletted holes being made
at points equidistant from the centre of the shell, and on the same diameter.
The metal situated between the eyeletted holes forms a bar over which the
thread is passed by which the buttons are sewn to the garments.
The eyeletted holes may either be formed by turning back the metal of the
edges of holes in the shell, or separate eyelets may be inserted and fixed in
plain holes pierced in the said shell. The said eyeletted shells may either be
covered in front by means of a perforated disc of linen, the perforations in
which correspond with the eyeletted holes, the said disc being fixed to the
shell by the said eyeletted holes, and the back of the shell being covered with
an unperforated disc of linen, or left uncovered. Or the shell may be covered
in front by means of an unperforated disc of linen, the eyeletted holes being
in that case visible only at the back of the button; or the back of the shell
may also be covered with an unperforated disc of linen by which the eyeletted
holes are concealed at the back as well as at the front of the shell. When
separate eyelets are used, the shell may be covered with perforated linen discs
both at back and front; I prefer, however, to carry my Invention into effect
in the several ways represented in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents, in plan, the back of a shell, having two eyelet holes a, a,
according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same; and
Figure 3 is a section of the same taken in a plane, in which the centres of
both holes are situated; Figure 4 represents in plan, and Figure 5, in edge
view the perforated double disc of linen with which the front of the shell of
the button is to be covered. The holes in the linen disc are marked b, b, in
Figure 4. Figure 6 represents in plan the front of the shell with the disc of
linen attached thereto, the attaching of the linen being effected by the turning
over of the edges of the eyelet holes a, a, upon the edges of the holes b, b, in
the linen disc, as will be best understood by an examination of Figure 7,
which represents the same in section. Figure 8 shews, in section, the com-
pleted button, the completion of the button having been effected by the outer
edge of the linen disc having been gathered into the annular trough c.
Figure 7, and the sides of the said trough closed in the manner illustrated in
Figure 8. As, however, the finishing of the button by the gathering in of
the edges of the disc of linen and the closing of the trough c constitutes no

page_text: part of my Invention, I do not consider a further description or the same
necessary.
Figure 9 represents the front of the finished button, and Figure 10 repre-
sents the back of the same. The double disc of linen, Figure 4, may be
unperforated, and the edges of the eyeletted holes a, a, turned back upon the
shell so as to round the edges of the oyeletted holes without connecting the
disc of linen to the shell at the said cycletted holes. In this case, when
the button is finished, the eycletted holes are seen from the back only of the
button, the said eyeletted holes being concealed at front by the continuous or
unperforated disc of linen.
Figure 11 represents in front view, Figure 12 in back view, and Figure 18
in section, another linen button constructed according to my Invention, the
said button, Figures 11, 12, and 18 differing from that already described and
represented in Figures 8, 9, and 10, only in having a fabric d at its back.
The eyeletted holes a, a, in the button, Figures 11, 12, and 13, are exposed
only in front of the button, being concealed at the back by the fabric d, which
covers the back of the shell; or the linen disc which covers the front of the
shell, as well as that which covers the back may be unperforated, in which
case the eyeletted holes are concealed both at back and front by the discs of
linen which cover the said front and back respectively.
In sewing on buttons constructed according to my Invention, the thread is
passed backwards and forwards through the eyeletted holes a, a, and over the
bar formed between tho said eyeletted holes.
Figures 14 to 19, both inclusive, illustrate my Invention as applied to
buttons, the shell of which is in two parts, Figure 14 representing in plan,
Figure 15 in elevation, and Figure 16 in section, the front or principal part
of the shell. Figure 17 represents, in section, and Figure 18, in plan, the
back part or ring of the shell; Figure 19 represents the two parts of the shell
together, the ring a being in its placo in the shell f. The shell ƒ has eyelet
holes a, a, according to my Invention.
I do not think it necessary to describe the method by which the two parts
e, f, of the shell are put together, as the said method constitutes no part of my
Invention, my Invention consisting only in the application of the eyeletted.
holes a, a, to the shell. Buttons made from shells in two parts may be
covered in the various ways, herein-before described, with respect to buttons
made from shells in one piece. In place of making the eyeletted holes from
the shells of which the bodies of the buttons are formed separate, eyelets may
be fixed in holes pierced in the said shells, but I prefer the method of carrying
my Invention into effect, herein-before described and represented.

page_text: I have not thought it necessary to describe or to represent the tools and
presses by which the buttons constructed according to my Invention are manu-
factured, as the said tools and presses do not differ in any essential respect
from those commonly employed for other like purposes.
Although I have only described the buttons made according to my Invention
as being covered with linen, yet I do not confine myself to that material, as a
mixture of cotton and thread, or cotton only, or a fabric composed of other
materials may be used for covering the said buttons, buttons so covered being
generally designated linen buttons.
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 claim as my
Invention the improvements in the description of buttons commonly known
as linen buttons, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, making the said buttons of a single shell, having two
eyeletted holes situated at equidistant points from its centre, and on the same
diameter, the said buttons being covered at front, or both front and back with
a linen or other covering, whether the shell be made in one or two parts, and
whether the eyelets of the said holes be made in one piece with the shell, or
be made separately, and fixed to the said shell.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dredge Player, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
WILLIAM DREDGE PLAYER. (L.S.)
Clerk to George Shaw.