IMPROVEMENTS IN SETTING INSTRUMENTS FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS AND SUCH LIKE FASTENINGS TO WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sutton, in the
County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SETTING
INSTRUMENTS FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS AND SUCH LIKE FASTENINGS TO
WEARING APPAREL."-A communication from abroad by David
Heaton, of Providence, Rhode Island, in the United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 23rd October 1875.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sutton, in the County of
3 Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN SETTING INSTRUMENTS FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS AND SUCH LIKE
FASTENINGS TO WEARING APPAREL," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to new and useful improvements in the con-
struction of setting instruments, such as are described in the Specifi-
O cation of a Patent granted to me, No. 18, in the year 1875.

page_text: The first improvement relates to the improved construction of the
upper jaw, in which the button and its metallic fastener are held pre-
paratory to being set in the material of the apparel, and consists in
dispensing with the use of the slotted spring and lateral opening through
the upper jaw, as shewn in the Specification above mentioned, and in
place thereof forming the recess in the upper jaw, in which the head of
the button is received with its bottom inclining downwards towards the
front or open side of the recess. Below the recess is also a slot extending
from the front to the rear part of the same, said slot being arched on the
lower surface of the jaw, so as to receive the connecting part of
the metallic fastener, as described in the before-mentioned Specifi-
cation. The shank of the button after being attached to the connecting
part of the fastener, as described in the before-mentioned Specification,
is inserted into the open end of the slot at the bottom of the recess, and
is pushed back along the slot as far as it will go, which will be deter-
mined by the length of the said shank. The button and fastener will
thus be wedged into and held securely by the upper jaw, and the
prongs of the fastener will be maintained in position for insertion into
the material to which the button is to be attached.
The second part of the Invention consists in constructing the lower
jaw of the pinchers with a broad dovetailed slot across it to receive a dove-
tailed sliding piece, having a die wrought in its upper surface of a proper
form to receive the points of the said fastening prongs, and to deflect
and bend the same together against and into the material by shutting
the two jaws together. The sliding piece may be adjusted and held in
position in the dovetailed recess by means of a set screw bearing upon its
lower surface; or instead of the screw a coiled or flat spring may be
introduced under the die to afford sufficient friction to retain said die in
place when adjusted; or a flat spring may for the same purpose be used
in connection with a screw. The form of the die may be changed to
accord with fastenings having a greater or less number of prongs, and
several sliding pieces may be provided if desired, each having a different
form of die suitable to receive the points of the prongs of various con-
structions of fasteners. By this means it will be observed that one
single instrument can be made applicable for the setting of all the
different kinds of fasteners, as well as allowing of its easy adjustment to
suit the several lengths of the wire shanks of the buttons, a result
which has never heretofore.been accomplished in any device relating to.

page_text: the same subject of invention. The same objects may also be accom-
plished by forming the upper surface of the lower jaw with a novel
form of die; this consists of two parallel concave grooves formed cross-
wise of the jaw. One groove extends back across the jaw the same
distance as the slot in the upper jaw, whilst the shorter groove is placed
centrally with the longer groove, the bottom of these grooves or recesses
being of an inclined or tapering shape, and one recess extending as far
back as the slot in the upper jaw, buttons having shanks of different
lengths can be readily adjusted, and held in the proper position for
setting in the upper jaw by pushing the same back in the slot until the
bottom of the button rests securely in the recess, as herein-before
described, and as the grooves or recesses extend back in the same
direction with the slot they receive the points of the fastening prongs
however far back they may have been pushed into the slot of the upper
jaw.
With clinching mechanism constructed as above described the setting
operation is performed by placing the shank of the button having a
metallic fastener attached thereto within the slot in the upper jaw, as
just described, and placing the material to which the button is to be
attached between the jaws; the handles of the jaws are then quickly
closed together, and drive the prongs through the material and clinches
them upon the back part of the same, as fully described in the Specifi-
cation before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st April 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sutton, in the County of Surrey, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in

page_text: the thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her
special license that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Toni-
linson Bousfield, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SETTING INSTRUMENTS FOR ATTACHING
BUTTONS AND SUCH LIKE FASTENINGS TO WEARING APPAREL," a communication
to me from abroad by David Heaton, of Providence, Rhode Island, in
the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and scals, 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 Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 :-
This Invention relates to new and useful improvements in the con-
struction of setting instruments, such as are described in the Specifi-
cation of a Patent granted to me, No. 18, in the year 1875.
The first improvement relates to the improved construction of the
upper jaw, in which the button and its metallic fastener are held pre-
paratory to being set in the material of the apparel, and consists in
dispensing with the use of the slotted spring and lateral opening through
the upper jaw, as shewn in the Specification above mentioned, and in
place thereof forming the recess in the upper jaw, in which the head of
the button is received, with its bottom inclining downwards towards the
front or open side of the recess. Below the recess is also a slot extending
from the front to the rear part of the same, said slot being arched on the
lower surface of the jaw, so as to receive the connecting part of the

page_text: metallic fastener, as described in the before-mentioned Specification.
The shank of the button after being attached to the connecting part of
the fastener, as described in the before-mentioned Specification, is
inserted into the open end of the slot at the bottom of the recess, and is
pushed back along the slot as far as it will go, which will be determined
by the length of the said shank. The button and fastener will thus be
wedged into and held securely by the upper jaw, and the prongs of the
fastener will be maintained in position for insertion into the material to
which the button is to be attached.
The second part of the Invention consists in constructing the lower
jaw of the pinchers with a broad dovetailed slot across it to receive a
dovetailed sliding piece, having a die wrought in its upper surface of a
proper form to receive the points of the said fastening prongs, and to deflect
and bend the same together against and into the material by shutting
the two jaws together. The sliding piece may be adjusted and held in
position in the dovetailed recess by means of a set screw bearing upon
its lower surface; or instead of the screw a coiled or flat spring may be
introduced under the die to afford sufficient friction to retain said die in
place when adjusted, or a flat spring may for the same purpose be used
in connection with a screw. The form of the die may be changed to
accord with fastenings having a greater or less number of prongs, and
several sliding pieces may be provided if desired, each having a different
form of die suitable to receive the points of the prongs of various con-
structions of fasteners. By this means it will be observed that the
single instrument can be made applicable for the setting of all the
different kinds of fasteners, as well as allowing of its easy adjustment to
suit the several lengths of the wire shanks of the buttons, a result which
has never heretofore been accomplished in any device relating to the
same subject of invention. The same objects may also be accomplished
by forming the upper surface of the lower jaw with a novel form of die,
as herein-after more fully described.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a perspective view of a
setting instrument embodying some of the improvements; Figure 2 is a
sectional view of the lower jaw of the same; Figure 3 is a perspective
view of the button and fastener before being attached to material;
Figure 4 is a similar view of the fastener separately.
A is the upper and B the lower jaw of the setting instrument, said
jaws being operated by the handles C, D, in the usual manner; E is the

page_text: The advantages of the above-described setting instrument will be
readily seen, inasmuch as from its construction it is not likely to get out
of order, and is strong and durable; the operation of setting the buttons
is also to a great extent simplified.
At Figure 5 I have shewn a modification of the setting instrument,
in which in place of adapting to the lower jaw a sliding piece H with a
suitable die upon its upper surface the upper surface of the lower jaw
has formed in it a die of a novel form, by means of which the prongs of
the fastener may be properly deflected and clinched even though the
buttons may have shanks of different lengths. A and B represent the
two jaws of the setting instrument, having the handles C and D. The
upper jaw A is formed with a recess E having an inclined or wedge-
formed bottom, and with slot F, as herein-before described. The lower
jaw B is provided with an elongated die 6 and a shorter die 6' arranged
parallel to each other, and constructed in a concave form in cross section,
as shewn. The dio extends the same distance back on the face of the
lower jaw as the slot F in the upper jaw A, while the shorter die b' is
arranged in a central position to the other, as shewn. The die b
receives the two front prongs of the metallic fastener, and the die b' the
single rear prong of the same when driven through the material to
which the button is to be attached, and firmly clinched upon the back
part.
It will be observed that the bottom of the recess being of an inclined
or tapering shape, and the dies b and b' extending as far back as the
slot F, that buttons having shanks of different lengths can be readily
adjusted and held in the proper position for setting in the upper jaw A
by pushing the same back in the slot until the bottom of the button
rests securely in the recess, and the dies band b' extending back in the
same direction with the slot receive the points of the fastening prongs
to allow of a ready and efficient means for attaching buttons having
said different sized lengths of sbanks to shoes or other wearing
apparel.
In Figures 6 are represented modifications of the die adapted to
be used in connection with metallic fasteners of a corresponding
shape.
The advantages of setting instruments, constructed as above described,
will be readily perceived over complicated and expensive devices used