IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS AND IN ORNAMENTS FOR DRESS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ASTON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
May, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said John Aston, my exors, admors, and
assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said John Aston, my exors, aduiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Aston, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUTTONS AND IN ORNAMENTS FOR DRESS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Aston, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the snid
John Aston, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thercon, 5
that is to say:-
First, my Invention consists of making die and pressure made covered
buttons by covering bodies or forms made of paper.
Secondly, my Invention consists of certain nodes, hereafter described, of
making ornaments for dress.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
And first, as
to the improvements in the manufacture of buttoms.
My improvements in buttons consist of a new mode of making covered
buttons principally intended and suitable for ladies' dresses, in which descrip-
tion of buttons it is very desirable to avoid the use of metallic substance or
shells heretofore used in making covered buttons by dies and pressure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING A.
I tako a piece of millboard or such like preparation of paper of that size
known in the trade as three pounds to the sheet, and cut out with a fly press
blanks or moulds, such as Figure 1, to form the upper part of the button; this
1
press
in a die to the desired form, as is well understood, of the intended
button, Figure 2: I next take a sheet of pasteboard or such like preparation
of paper of the size known as a half pound to the sheet, and cut out blanks,
Figuro 3, to form the lower side of the buttom. I then pierce these blanks
Fig. 3 with a hole in the centre, and through that hole I force a small piece
of canvas, Figure 4, to form the shank of the button. See Figure 5. The
next process is to attach the two pieces (Fig. 2 & 5) together by the aid of
glue or other strong cement, as shown at Figure 6; and as soon as they are
dry I press them in another die, formed to the shape of the intended button,
which completes the mould or inner part of the button, as is shewn at Figure 7.
Having thus made the body or mould, I will proceed to show the way in
which I cover the same with satin or silk, or any suitable material. I take a
piece of satin or other fabric, and have the back of it coated with a solution
of india rubber, which I believe to be the best cement for the purpose, from
which, when dry, I cut out circular discs for the covers of the buttons if the
button is to be circular, as shewn at Figuro 8. I then place the cover
Figure 8 in the dio a, which is heated by means of a jet of gas burning in the
1

page_text: hollow space of the bottom of the die to a temperature of about one hundred
and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit. Upon this silk I place a metal ring 6, and
in that ring the prepared mould Figure 7, which is previously coated with a
solution of india rubber. I then, by the aid of a fly press, force down the
mould (by means of the punch c), which immediately attaches itself to the
satin, and is as shewn at Figure 9. I next take the die a², and having heated
it to about one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit, I place Figure 9
in the same, and I force it down in the die and apply the punch 6, which causes
the edges of the satin to be turned down flat upon the back of the button
mould. I next take a disc of satin or other fabric Figure 10, prepared with
a solution of india rubber as before, and lay it upon the back of the button,
and again apply the punch 6, and the button is then finished. See Figure 11,
and the same in reverse, Figure 12, and section Fig. 12*. Buttons made as
above described can be embossed when desired, and thus have any suitable
figure or design by pressing them in a die with the required figure engraved
thereon, the die being heated to about one hundred and twenty degrees of
Fahrenheit, as before mentioned.
I now proceed to describe the way in which I ornament these buttons with
gimp or silk edgings.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING B.
I take the button Figure 9, only omitting the canvas tuft, and instead
therefore use the mould Figure 2, and place the mould covered with the satin
or other fabric cover Figure 8 in the die a², and force it down with the
punch 6, and the button is then completed, as Figure 13. I next take a gimp
edging manufactured for this purpose, see Figure 14, and place the button
Figure 13 in the die d, and upon that the gimp Figure 14, and lay upon the
gimp so placed the metal ring d', which keeps the gimp in its proper position
in the die. I now take some sealing wax or other suitable strong cement, and
attach the gimp and button together, as in Figure 15. The next process is to
cover the bottom or back of the button or centre portion with a disk of silk,
Figure 16, prepared with solution of india rubber, which finishes the intended
ornament, Figure 17, or I employ another mode of making ornaments for
dresses.

page_text: protruding through the back shells of die and pressure made buttons, this part
of my Invention requiring that the back of the button or centre portion of the
ornament should be covered, and have the gimp or ornamental part fixed to
such back cover. It is clear that any ornamental covering may be used, such
as velvet or terry velvet, or figured satin, with or without lace or network
over it, or I can surround it with an edging of silk, as Figuro 36.
Another mode of making ornaments suitable for ladies' dresses is as
Another mode of making ornaments suitable for ladies' dresses is as
10llows:
DESCRIPTION OF TIIE DRAWING F.
I take satin of good quality, and coat the back of it with a solution of india
rubber or other suitable cement; I then take strong fine linen, and coat that
also on one side; I next place the two substances so prepared together, and
form a compound cloth similar to Mackintosh cloth, and allow it to hang up for
a few hours to dry. I now cut out by means of the fly press discs or ovals, or
any shapes required from the prepared fabric, as Figure 37. The next process
is to take a die e heated to a temperature of about one hundred and twenty
degrees of Fahrenheit, and place the piece of satin or other cover Figure 37
in the same; I apply the punch or counter die e², and press it into the shape as
shewn at e, Figure 38. I now proceed to take a pasteboard formed to suit the
intended shape of the centre of the ornament, see Figure 39, and having coated
it with solution of india rubber, I place it in the hollow centre of the silk,
Figure 38, as will then be seen in Figure 40. I then take a piece of coated
satin or other fabric, Figure 41, and place it upon the under side of the silk
to form a cover for the under side of the ornament, as Figure 42, 43, & 44.
I next take another die f, with the required design or pattern upon it; and
having heated it to one hundred and twenty degrees of Fahrenheit, I place
the ornament Figure 42, 43, 44, prepared as before described into it, and
force down the punch or counter die f', which gives the final pressure and
finishes the ornament, Figure 45. It is obvious that the plan as above
described admits of considerable variations, and that circular ornaments and
other shapes may be produced by the same means.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the details herein described, so long as the peculiar character
of either part of my Invention be retained. But what I claim is,-
First, the manufacturing of die and pressure made covered buttons, as
described in respect to the Drawing A.

page_text: Secondly, I clain the nodes of making ornaments for dress, described in
respect to the Drawings B, C, D, E, and F.
In witness whereof, J, the said John Aston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of Noveniber, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.