AN IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTONS
Year: 1886

page_text: I MADISON DANIEL SHIPMAN, of Dekalb in the County of Dekalb and State of
Illinois, United States of America, Glove Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of iny invention for AN IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTONS and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My improvement relates-more particularly to that class of separable buttons.in
which there is a tube in one of the parts adapted to receive a stud from the other
part, through a slot in which tube a spring passes and enters a groove or recess in
the stud, and the invention consists in the peculiar arrangement and construction
and combination of parts hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.
The accompanying drawings show my improvement on an enlarged scale the
better to show the parts. In said drawings-
Figure 1 is a vertical central section of my button in position for use;
Figure 2 is a section on the line * * in-
Figure 3 which is a vertical section of the cap and tube before its attachment ;
Figure 4 is a similar section of the stud before its attachment;
Figure 5 is a like section of an eyelet used for fastening the stud;
Figure 6 is a similar section of a washer for fastening the button;
Figure 7 is a like section of a modification of the mode of fastening the stud.
A represents the cap which forms substantially the top of the button proper and
is provided with a central tube B, said cap and tube being struck up in one piece,
and preferably having the tube formed thickest near its junction with the cap at
the point where a round aperture or a slot is formed, through which passes one end
of a spring D coiled around inside the cap; which end catches into an annular
groovo in a stud E. At F is shown a washer beneath the cap, forming an enclosure.
for the spring but this washer may sometimes be dispensed with. G is a washer
for fastening the button to the material.
The stud E is provided with a base H, having an overhanging rim h all around
the same.
At the junction of the stud and its base is an enlargement I, whose
object will be hereafter explained. J shows an eyelet which is used to fasten the
stud to the material K.

page_text: . Having thus described all the parts I will now proceed to describe the mode of
uniting the same to the material.
In securing the stud a hole is made through the material in the usual manner
and after the stud E is passed through it the eyelet J is slipped over the shank of
the stud and is then pressed down by a.suitable punch or other device, and when
the lower part of the eyelet strikes the enlargement I, it is forced open and spreads.
as shown in Figure 1 until it extends outward under the rim h, which by the
pressure of the punch is flattened down upon the lower part of the eyelet and thus
the stud is securely fastened in place.
To secure the button top A the tube B is passed through a hole in the material
and a washer, if one is used, is placed on the lower end of the same, when the force
of a punch or other suitable instrument will clinch the lower part of the tube and
spread it, as shown, and firmly secure the button top or cap to the material.
When the button is attached to the material as in use it is only necessary to
press the button down over the stud, when the latter will enter the tube and its
point will push back the end of the spring D, which (when it reacts) will enter the
annular groove in the stud and thus the button and stud will be securely fastened
together, against any ordinary strain. A sudden pull, however, in the proper
direction will easily separate the button from the stud and thus the glove or other
object to which the stud and button are attached may be fastened or unfastened
with the greatest ease.
Instead of making the stud, base and the rim all in one piece. as shown in
Figures 1 and 4 the stud may have a base of comparatively small diameter and a
cap L (see Figure 7), with an over turned flange or rim formed on its periphery,
and the whole may be united by pressing on the eyelet as shown in said Figure 7.
It is of course obvious that the studs may be made solid or hollow as desired,
but I prefer them made hollow; as shown in Figure 1 and 4, and where I refer to
studs in the following claims I mean to include solid as well as hollow studs.
I am not aware that there has ever been used a single piece which contains as
integral parts a cap or button top and a clinching tube which together constitute
a whole piece in which one portion, as the cap A, is to be secured to the fabric or
material while the other portion, as the tube B, serves as a connected and a ready
means for clinching the first named portion of the material.
When the cap and tube are made separately as has been proposed and the stud
is pushed into the tube there is a tendency to displace the tube,.and unless it is
very strongly fastened below it will, in course of time, become loosened and be
forced upwards and thus be made useless. This will not occur with mine, and
moreover with my construction the cap and tube may be used as a shirt stud
without being fastened to the cloth, by leaving off the fastening washers and
simply using the parts shown in Figures 3 and 4. If the corresponding parts in
those buttons having the cap and tube made separately, were used in this way,
said cap and tube would separate and the button thus become useless.
The other advantageous results obtained are that the cost of producing the
single pieces A. B, will be very much less than that of separate caps and tubes, and
the work and expense of assembling the separate pieces, are wholly obviated, which
is of great importance where large quantities are to be made; and, further, the
making of the button top proper and tube in a single piece enables the button to
be more readily applied and secured to the material than where the cap and tube
are separate parts; and, further, this solid union of the tube with the button
proper prevents the forming of an annular projecting surface around the central
hole in the button top, such as is produced when the said top and tube are made
separate.
I may sometimes substitute for the turned over flange h of the stud, a series of
spurs arranged around the base H, and projecting upward and inward in the same
way as said flange, which I should consider an equivalent for.the same in claim 4
fifiontian

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained, the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is―
1-In a separable button, the hollow cap and tube A B formed integral, the
hollow cap portion being the button.top proper, and the tube portion. being the
means for uniting the connected button top with the fabric, or a piece on the fabric,
by clinching, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2-As an improved article of manufacture a separable button consisting of
a hollow cap, and a tube both formed in one piece, a spring projecting through the
tube, the cap being adapted to receive and hold the spring and the tube having
a hole or slot to receive the same, and a slip stud provided with an annular groove
or notch into which the spring catches, substantially as described.
3-In a separable button, a tube perforated at its side to receive the spring and
made of increases thickness around the tube near the perforations, substantially as
and for the purpose specified.
4-A stud having a base provided with an inwardly turned flange, and an
enlargement near the junction of the stud, and base, constructed to deflect the
fastening eyelet toward the flange and under the same, substantially as described. .
Dated this Oth dess of Novenian 1006 S