IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED BUTTONS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
TURNER CHATWIN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button
Manufacturer, and GEORGE SEYMOUR, of the same Place, Tool Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of January, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Turner Chatwin and George Seymour, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Thomas Turner
Chatwin and George Seymour, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said Thomas Turner Chatwin and George Seymour, our exors,
adiiors, 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, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED BUTTONS;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, that we, the said Thomas Turuer Chatwin and George
Seymour, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: i
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 largo
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Thomas Turner Chatwin and George Seymour, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates, first, to a mode of making covered buttons with
external metal backs perforated for the passage of shanks, whereby the sizes
of the materials employed for making the front parts of a given size of button
are reduced; secondly, our Invention relates to a mode of making covered
buttons whereby the backs are covered; and, thirdly, our Invention relates to
the application of a magnetised punch for carrying down the front iron shell of
covered buttons into the covering tools.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us.
.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a dise of iron, such as would be used in making a given size of
button; and Figure 2 is a disc of woven fabric, such as would be used in
covering such size of button, supposing the button to be made according
to means heretofore practised; Figure 3 shows a disc of iron, which is
to be annealed after being cut out; and Figuro 4, a disc of woven
fabric, such as would be used for the front shell and covering of a like
size of button when made according to the first part of our Inven-
tion; and a relative difference of sizes of the parts would be found to
take place when making other sizes of buttons according to our Inven-
tion. The great distinction in the process of manufacture being that the
edge of the front shell is not turned over to so great an extent as those
heretofore made; and in order, notwithstanding that circumstance, to get
strength enough at the edges to retain the parts together, we employ iron or
other metal about twice as thick as that heretofore used; this additional
thickness of metal requires that the front shell before covering, and before the
back shell is introduced into it, should have the edges turned inwards by.
proper tools or dies, and then be annealed, otherwise the great strength of
metal night be injurious to the front covering fabric, if all the turning over of

page_text: the metal at the edges were done after covering. Figure 5 shows a section of
a front shell for a covered button after it has been formed by the dies or tools,
Figure 6. In making the front shells from discs, such as is shown at Figure 3,
they are to be drawn through tools, as is well understood, so as to raise the
edges when the shells are to be annealed, and then they are to be acted on by
the tools or dies, Figure 6, which will turn the raised edges over, as is shewn at
Figure 5. The front shells a being properly prepared, are then to be used in
making covered buttons; and for this purpose I prefer to employ a magnetised
punch or die. And we would remark, that this use of a magnetised punch is
applicable when making covered buttons with iron shells of the ordinary
dimensions, but it is particularly applicable when carrying out the first part of
our Invention, as it aids in ensuring the correct placing of the front shell a on
the centre of the covering material, and by its being attached to the punch
when descending, the punch is not liable, as it otherwise might be, to act on
the partly turned over edge. The punch is made of steel, and is converted
into a magnet in the ordinary manner, and as is well understood, and in using
it the shell is placed on the end. The edges of the shells a will only touch the
punch in such manner that they will slip off if the punch were not a magnet ;
the circumstance of its being a magnet causes the shell a to be held or
attracted to the punch. The covering material bis placed into the lower tool
or die, Figure 7, and retained by the outer ring of the covering tools, as
is shown. The punch descends, and with it the front covering shell, carrying
down the covering material into the lower tool, and the tight fitting of the
parts a, b, in the tool will allow of the punch ascending without carrying away
the shell a. The ring c being removed from the lower tool, the tube dis
inserted with the back collet e therein, as shown at Figure 8, which is of such
diameter as to enter the reduced diameter of the front shell, and the parts are
combined as shewn at Figure 9, and the buttons have then to be finished, as
heretofore, on the finishing tools or dies. By this mode of making covered
buttons, it will be seen that the diameter of the disc for the shell a is reduced
and the thickness of metal increased, and the edges are partly turned over in
the tools, Figure 6; and it is these circumstances, when combined with and
applied to the making of covered buttons with external perforated metal backs,
which constitute the novel feature of this part of our Invention.
We will now describe the second part of our Invention, which has for its
object a mode of making covered buttons with covered backs, and consists of
covering the back collets or shells with the back covering material by
fastening it thereto by turning over the edges of the metal of the back collets
or shells, and then shaping them, as hereafter explained,

page_text: Figure 10 is a disc of covering materal for the back of a covered button,
the central part being pressed outwards by suitable tools, as shown. Figure 11
is a disc of paper similarly prepared, such paper being placed between the
back covering fabric f and the back shell or collet h. The back shell is
formed as shewn at Figure 12, and the parts ƒ and g having been placed
in the raised disc of metal h, as is shewn at Figure 13, the shell is to be
placed in the lower of the tools or dics, Figure 14, and the punch brought
down, which will partly gather the edge of the shell over, as shewn at
Figure 15. The shell h is then to be subjected to the action of the tools,
Figure 16, which will close the edge of the shell securely down, so as tightly
to hold the back covering fabric f, and allow of the shell being pressed into
shape by the tools, Figure 17, by which the back shell or collet, Figure 18,
will be obtained; and it is the causing of the back covering f to be securely
fastened to the back collet or shell by the folding over of the edge of the metal
and then shaping the back shell, which constitutes the novelty of this part
of our Invention, for we wish it to be understood that we do not claim.
the covering of the backs of covered buttons, that having been before
practised, and so as that the back covering shall act as the shank or partly as
the shank.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that what we claim is, -
First, the mode herein described of manufacturing covered buttons Ly
preparing the front shells in similar dies to Figure 6, when combined with
perforated back shells, and in such manner that the sizes of the materials used
are diminished, as above explained.
Secondly, we claim the mode of manufacturing covered buttons with
covered backs, by fixing the covering materials to the backs, and then shaping
the back shell, as herein described.
And, thirdly, we claim the application of a magnetised punch, as herein
described, for aiding in the manufacture of covered buttons.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Turner Chatwin & George
Seymour, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-first
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and forty-five.
THOMAS TURNER (L.s.) CHATWIN.
GEORGE SEYMOUR. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid Thomas Turner Chatwin and
George Seymour came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained. and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.