A NEW OR IMPROVED COMBINED BUCKLE AND BUTTON HOLE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Shaw, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "A NEW OR
IMPROVED COMBINED BUCKLE AND BUTTON HOLE."-A communication
from abroad by Louis Alexander Kettle, of Philadelphia, United
States of America.
Sealed the 11th March 1870, and dated the 15th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Shaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th September 1869.
I, GEORGE SHAW, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A New
OR IMPROVED COMBINED BUCKLE AND BUTTON HOLE," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists of a buckle combined with a spring button
hole for braces or other suspenders or bands. A buckle frame of the
ordinary kind is connected with the spring button hole by means of a wire
loop, the said button hole and loop and prongs of the buckle being made
of one piece of wire. The ends of the wire are pointed and form the
prongs, while the intermediate portion of the wire is bent into the form of

page_text: a loop, the lower contracted part of the loop forming the button hole or
support on which the button rests when the combined buckle and button
hole are in use. The two parts are connected together by horizontal
portions of the loop forming a shaft or axis which passes through eyes on
the ends of the buckle frame. The shaft is formed by bending the loop
at the base of the prongs at right angles to the said prongs; or the
two parts may be connected together by the lower ends of the buckle
frame being bent into the same line so as to form a shaft. The wire at
those parts where the prongs set in or commence is twisted once or twice
round the said shaft. Where it is wished that the buckle shall have a
strap loop for holding down the loose end of the brace or strap the said
strap loop may be formed from the piece of wire forming the loop and
button hole. The said wire is bent after it has formed the joint into the
required shape of the strap loop before it passes into the prongs. The
bendings whereby the shaft is formed in the first-described modification
form a strap loop; or the buckle and button hole may be formed of
one continuous piece of wire; in this case the portions of the wire
above the loop are first bent so as to form a strap loop, and afterwards
passing for a distance parallel are turned downwards and outwards so as
to form the prongs.
The said Invention is made wholly of wire, which may be bent into
the required shape by machinery. In using the said Invention it is
secured to the brace or strap or suspender by means of the prongs, the
end of the brace, or strap, or suspender being passed through the strap
loop when the buckle has one. The button is inserted in the loop and
passed down to the contracted bottom of the loop which constitutes the
button hole. Being made of wire the loop and button hole are elastic
and act in use more pleasantly than the rigid loop and button hole
heretofore made.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said George Shaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SHAW, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Shaw, Her special licence that I,
the said George Shaw, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Shaw, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED COMBINED BUCKLE AND
BUTTON HOLE," a communication to me from abroad by Louis Alexander
Kettle, of Philadelphia, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Shaw, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Shaw, 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 :-
The said Invention consists of a buckle combined with a spring)
button hole for braces or other suspenders or bands, and I will describe
the same with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
Figures 1 and 2 are perspective views and show different modifications
of the said Invention; Figure 3 shows a modification of the said
Invention with the addition of a strap loop; Figure 4 shows a buckle
and button hole composed of one continuous piece of wire bent to the
required shape; Figure 5 shows the application of Figure 4 to a strap
or band.
The said Invention consists of a buckle combined with a spring.
wire button hole and strap loop, as in Figure 3, or without the strap-

page_text: loop, as in Figures 1 and 2, or the buckle and button hole may be formed
of one continuous piece of wire as in Figure 4, which latter is adapted
for permanent attachment to the back of the suspender in the manner
shown in Figure 5.
In the Drawings A is the ordinary buckle frame in common use to
which I apply the said improvement; B is the button hole loop; C is
the lower part of the button hole loop B in which the button rests; D,
Figure 3, is the strap loop for receiving the end of the strap after being
passed through the frame A and received by the prongs; E, Figures 1, 2,
and 4, is a space answering the same purpose in these Figures as the
loop D does in Figure 3, namely, to receive and hold down the loose
end of the strap projecting beyond the prongs, as shown in Figure 5.
The wire forming this space E serves as a shaft for attaching the two
parts together, except in Figure 4, where no joint or hinge is required,
where it acts as a rest and shield for the prongs F, F, as well as receiving
the end of the strap or suspender as aforesaid. The suspender or strap
is pushed through the frame A and secured by the prongs in the usual
way, the loose end is then passed down through the loop D (when a
buckle like Figure 3 is used), or through the space E in the other
modification, the button is then slipped through the elastic spring wire
button hole loop B, and from there passed to its resting place C, which
holds the button firmly. Figure 2 operates like Figure 1, the difference
between them being in the joint or hinge, the joint or hinge in Figure 2
being formed by wrapping the wire one or more times around the shaft
or frame and then passing it upwards, forming the prongs. The loop
D, Figure 3, is formed of one piece of wire with the prongs and button
hole loop B, as shown, the hole being formed of one piece by machinery
and as quickly made as hooks and eyes ready to be attached to the
shaft or frame A. The said improvements being formed of spring wire
are necessarily slightly elastic.
I am well aware that rigid metallic button holes have been heretofore
attached to buckles and other articles and also that rigid metallic strap
loops have been used; but what I claim 'is,-
1. Forming a spring wire button hole and prongs of one and the same
continuous piece, having a frame A, as in Figures 1, 2, and 3, or without
the said frame as in Figure 4, substantially as described.

page_text: 2. Forming a spring wire button hole B with a loop D and prongs
of one and the same continuous piece having a frame A (Figure 3),
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Shaw, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
7, Cannon Street,
Birmingham.
GEORGE SHAW. (L.S.)