CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANU- AND DARMADLY DRESS FASTENERS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph George Rollason, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, and John Wood, also of Birmingham, aforesaid,
Trading under the Style or Firm of Rollason and Wood, Machinists,
Die Sinkers, Stampers, and Patent Chain Manufacturers, for the
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANU-
AND DARMADLY DRESS FASTENERS.
"
ealed the 16th April 1875, and dated the 20th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph George
Rollason and John Wood at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th October 1874.
We, JOSEPH GEORGE ROLLASON, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, & JOHN WOOD, also of Birmingham, aforesaid, Trading
under the Style or Firm of Rollason & Wood, Machinists, Die Sinkers,
Stampers, and Patent Chain Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF SOLITAIRES, STUDS, AND PORTABLE DRESS
FASTENERS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
-
Our improvements in solitaires or portable dress fasteners consist in

page_text: applying to a round disc or other shaped base of the front ornament of
such kind of ornamental portable dress fastenings, and on this disc or
base plate we apply a rectangular or other shaped box with a rectangular
opening on the plane of such box furthest from the base, such rectangular
opening crossing the centre of the base; and to this box we apply a
metal shank bent up from thin metal, having lateral arms passing along
within the box from the angular shank to the extremity, which may be
flattened or otherwise fashioned to permit the shank being closed by the
pressure of the finger and thumb applied to the extremities.
On each side of the shank a graduated projection is formed terminating
abruptly a sufficient distance from the rectangular or other shaped box
before referred to.
This description applies to the front part, and we will now describe
the inner or back part, which also consists of a disc or other shaped
plate, in the centre of which a rectangular tubular shank is secured,
which rectangular tubular shank is pierced on each side to receive the
projections mentioned in the sheet-metal spring shank, before described
in the counter or front part. The two parts being thus arranged lave
only to be applied, that is, the spring shank placed within the
rectangular shank, when the former will yield and collapse by the
springy nature of its form until the raised parts of the spring shank
pass in and expand in lateral openings of the rectangular tubular shank,
when the parts will be thoroughly and securely held in connection
to be separated when desired by the application of the finger and thumb
to the projections of the spring shank.
Although we have not thought it necessary to describe an auxiliary
spring or springs for making the action more certain, nevertheless such
springs may be used if found necessary, and if necessary what we have
termed the spring shank may be made in two parts, the rectangular
terminal parts being united by a hinge joint, and with such mode of 3
constructing the spring shank auxiliary springs will be necessary.
The front disc or base may be ornamented in any desirable manner.

page_text: .
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph George Rollason and John Wood in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
GEORGE ROLLASON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and
JOHN WOOD, also of Birmingham, aforesaid, Trading under the Style or
Firm of Rollason and Wood, Die Sinkers, Stampers, and Patent Chain
Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four,
in the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph George Rollason
and John Wood, Her special license that we, the said Joseph
George Rollason and John Wood, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph George Rollason and John
Wood, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF
SOLITAIRES, STUDS, AND PORTABLE DRESS FASTENERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Joseph George Rollason and John
Wood, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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 we, the said Joseph George Rollason and John
Wood, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is, to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :—

page_text: Our improvements in solitaires or portablo dress fasteners consist in
applying to a round disc or other shaped base of the front ornament of
such kind of ornamental portable dress fastenings, and on this disc or
base plate we apply a rectangular or other shaped box with a rectangular
opening on the plane of such box furthest from the base, such rectangular
opening crossing the centre of the base; and to this box we apply a
metal shank bent up from thin metal, having lateral arms passing along
within the box from the angular shank to the extremity, which may be
flattened or otherwise fashioned to permit the shank being closed by the
pressure of the finger and thumb applied to the extremities.

page_text: But in order that our description may be more clearly or technically
understood we will describe the Invention by aid of the Drawing here-
unto annexed (reference being made to the figures and letters marked
thereon), drawn to a somewhat larger scale than actual size for better
definement
Fig. 1 is the back or base of what may be technically called the front
part of our improved solitaire consisting of a thin disc of metal deflected
around the edge, as (also by preference) across the centre, in the form
as shewn in the section at Fig. 2, which is taken through the dotted
line a, a, of the former Figure.
Into the four rectangular openings b, b, and b, b, we apply the pro-
jections of a rectangular box made from sheet metal, as represented in
the flat at Fig. 3, and in an edge and inside view at Fig. 4. The said
projections in each Figure (being marked c, c, c, c,) enter the rectangular
slots b, Fig. 1, and are bent outward on the reverse side, by which
means the union of this rectangular box is made with the part Figure 1
without solder, the use of which we prefer avoiding as much as possible.
But before uniting this rectangular box (marked A) to the said disc,
Figure 1, we place within it a spring detent, as exhibited in an edge
view at Fig. 5, the arms of which, marked d, d, work laterally from the
centre in the hollow of the flat rectangular box A, the extremities e, e,
extending sufficiently beyond the ends of the said box to permit the
finger and thumb to be applied for collapsing or bringing together the
sides of the shank marked f, f, the result of which will hereafter be
referred to.
Fig. 6 is simply a bottom view of Figure 5 shewing that the lateral
arms d, d, may be corrugated to produce rigidity.
Fig. 7 is a side view of the shank, Figure 5, with the front arm
removed, as through the dotted line g, g, Figure 5, and this spring
shank being applied within the rectangular box A and A, secured to the
base or disc first described at Figure 1, will assume the form as exhibited
in section at Fig. 8, and in a back view at Fig. 9, remarking that in the
section, Figure 8, we have represented an additional ring of metal
marked h, h, which performs the two-fold purpose, that of engaging

page_text: the back disc, Figure 1, and a front ornamental stone or setting, but
which may be suitably diversified, according to the design, pattern, or
material constituting the front pattern or ornament of such fastening.
The back or inner engaging part may be described as follows:-We
take a disc of metal, flat or convex, such as exhibited at Fig. 10, having
two pierce holes, as at k, k, and to this disc we apply a rectangular
hollow shank (mentioned in the Provisional Specification as a tubular
shank), which may be made from a flat piece of metal cut of the shapo
shown at Fig. 11, the same being bent into a rectangular or round-
ended form, the poles of which would be represented by the dotted
lines 1, 1, 1, 1, which being bent into form will leave openings on each
side of the triangular form shown at in, the two halves n and n making
up the opposite opening, and when thus shaped the projections p, p, are
placed in the slots k, k, of the disc, Figure 10, as shewn at Fig. 12,
when the projecting portions may be closed over, riveted down, and :
disguised by having some device stamped on the back, as exhibited in
the back view of the united parts at Fig. 13, of which Fig. 14 is the
reverse or front side.
The essential use of the angular lateral openings m and n when bent
into the hollow shank (as shewn at r, Fig. 15) is that when passing the
said hollow shank over the spring shank before referred to (as exhibited
at Figures 1, 2, 5, and 8), the lateral angular projection on the outsides
of the spring shank marked s will spring outward and fill the cavity
or openings m and n of the hollow shank, thereby effecting the union
of the front and back part of the solitaire, as shewn in the section at
Fig. 16, but which double detent or lateral holding may be relieved at
pleasure by the application of the finger and thumb to the extremities
of the lateral arms in connection with the spring shank, marked e, e, as
reference to the back view of the combined parts Figures 13 will exhibit,
but which extreme lateral ends of the spring shank are also shewn
marked with the same letter at Figures 5, 6, 8, and 9, thus completing
without the use of solder the whole unity of the parts with the ready
means of disconnecting the said compound back part with the compound
front part.
In forming means for attaching front and back parts together when ;
such parts are worn for ornament in the front of ladies' dresses, or
the nant that we have horotafora dosomibod on the found
851

page_text: be the back, and which said back part may be constructed of one piece
of metal, such as exhibited in the flat at Fig. 17, with the exception
that the lateral projections on the sides of the spring shank marked t, t,
are raised from the apex of the angle to an abrupt projection at the base,
5 and being bent up into a spring shank, as shewn in a top and side view
at Fig. 18, the spring shank thus formed may be when used passed
through from the inside of the dress, when the front (which may be of
the shape shewn in the front and sectional form at Fig. 19) may be
applied by the hollow (lateral pierced) shank of the front part being
passed over the spring shank of the back part. Ornaments thus con-
structed may be variously manufactured, fashioned, and adapted for
using ensemble, so that various front ornaments may be applied to the
back spring shanks, and which said equivalent means apply also to
hollow buttons that may be used for light summer wear in gentlemen's
3 vests or otherwisc.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention and the
manner in which the same may be variously put in practice (by artizans
accustomed to this description of fancy manufacture), we wish it under-
stood that we do not propose limiting ourselves to the shape or design
of the negative parts herein represented as they admit of being variously
shaped or ornamented, as also varied in size or proportion without
affecting our Invention, but what we claim and desire to protect by these
our in part recited Letters Patent is,—
The spring shank or double detent, as shown at Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8,
also at Figures 17 and 18, or their equivalents, that is to say, the
arms e, e, of the spring shank may be bent at a right or obtuse angle
where the arms are connected with the spring shank instead of being
curved as at u, u, Figures 5 and 18, and in section at Figures 8, in con-
nection with the hollow shank, with lateral pierce holes or equivalent
deflections (as shown at Figures 11, 12, 15, and 19), the two parts
(namely, the spring shank and the hollow shank), essentially permitting
and being connected or disconnected at pleasure.
And, Lastly. We claim to use, when required, the deflections in the
back face of the front part, as shown at Figures 1, 2, and 8, for the
purpose of giving length to the spring shank by allowing the curved
parts u, u, to move freely in these recesses, as the expanding force of

page_text: the spring shank is derived from its curved apex marked v, and if the
metal should be thick and hard the curved parts u, u, afford additional
power for compressing the said spring by the application of the finger
and thumb to the outer ends of the arms e, e, as before described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph George Rollason and John
Wood, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
JOSEPH GEORGE ROLLASON. (L.S.)
(L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
JOHN WOOD.
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.