IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE Manufacture OF BUTTONS
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Dredge Player at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th May 1872.
I, WILLIAM DREDGE PLAYER, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE Manufacture OF BUTTONS,”
to be as follows :—
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
machinery for the manufacture of buttons, by which improvements
the buttons are manufactured more economically, are more uniform in
quality and more accurate in finish than buttons manufactured in the
ordinary way.
I will describe my Invention as arranged for the manufacture of
covered linen buttons.
My said Invention however is suitable for the manufacture of other
buttons, such for example as buttons consisting of one or more parts of
metal only, but the arrangement of my Invention herein-after described
includes the mechanism by which buttons other than covered linen
buttons may be manufactured.

page_text: The essential parts of a machine for the manufacture of covered linen
buttons according to my Invention are as follows:-Upon a circular
horizontal carrying table a series of six perforations is made, the said
perforations being equidistant from one another and concentric with the
centre of the table. In each perforation is a die or tool in which the
button is formed and which takes part or assists in the manufacture of
the button. By an intermittent rotatory motion of the said table the
tools or dies with the partially made buttons are carried to the several
points over or under which the moveable tools for making the buttons
are situated and work. In a horizontal plane a little higher than that
in which the carrying table described works, a second rotating table is
situated, the said second rotating table overhanging or projecting upon
the first described table. The uncut linen or fabric is passed by an
intermittent motion across the edge of the carrying table and is cut out
by the machine by the arrangement hercin-after described. The linen
disk is conveyed by the intermittent motion of the carrying table to the
piercing tools, where coming to rest it is operated upon by the said
piercing tools and pierced. The pierced disk is next carried under the
overlapping portion of the second table which by its rotation has
brought over the said pierced linen disk the pierced metallic shell which
forms the foundation of the button. This shell has been guided in its
motion by a fixed groove underneath the second feeding table, by which
guide the projecting edges or "teats" of the pierced holes are brought
into the position requisite to make them correspond with the piercings
in the linen disk. By means of a descending tool the metal shell is
depressed upon the linen disk, the "teats" of the shell entering the
holes in the linen disk, the shell and disk being now operated upon by
the tools the " teats are eyeletted or turned over upon the linen disk
around each hole. By like intermittent motions of the table the
partially formed button is brought under the tools by which the linen
disk is raised and turned over the edge of the metal shell and fixed by
the usual ring or back which has been fed into the machine by the
second feeding plate at the proper stage of the manufacture of the
button. By further motion of the carrying table the partially formed
button is brought under the operation of tools which complete the
button by the ordinary processes.
""

page_text: another linen disk. Each of the perforations in the carrying table
carries one of the tools described, and there are consequently six buttons
in course of manufacture at the same time.
The fabric from which the disks or covers are cut is carried by rolls
having an intermittent motion, and is brought over a fixed cutter or the
tool in the carrying plate when it is in the position first referred to..
A descending punch cuts out from the fabric a disk and forces it
into the said fixed tool.. The sheet of fabric not only performs an
intermittent motion longitudinally in a backward or forward direction,
but after a row of disks has been cut it advances laterally so as to bring
an uncut portion of the fabric within the operation of the machine.
The intermittent motions of the tables together with the motions of
the several moveable tools are taken from one or more shafts, the
intermittent motions being produced by ratchets and pawls or other
equivalent mechanical agents.