IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
BOYLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Umbrella Frame Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Arthur Boyle, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Arthur Boyle, my
exors, admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Arthur Boyle,
my exors, admors, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Arthur Boyle, should cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next 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 large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Arthur Boyle, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of certain improvements in the manufacture of
buttons. And in order that the same may be fully understood I will
proceed to explain the Drawing hereunto annexed, the various Figures of which
are drawn to an enlarged scale, in order that the parts may be seen more
Figures 1 and 2 shews forms into which metal is bent, as a preparatory
process for making a brace or such like button, or else for making the back of
a covered button.
Figures 3 and 4 shew two sections of the parts Figures 1 and 2. I
usually employ soft annealed wire for such purpose, the metal in that state
being in the most convenient form for my mode of manufacture, but thin
rods of metal might be employed, though not so conveniently. The metal
being bent into either of the states shewn in Figures 1 and 2, it is then, after
annealing, to be shaped in dies so as to bring the same into the form shewn at
Figure 5, where a front view, a back view, and a section of a brace or such
like button are shewn produced by pressure in dies from either of the forms of
metal shewn at Figures 1 and 2. In making these buttons I prefer that the
under or bed die should be formed to correspond with the intended figure and
character to be given to the back of the button, and that the surface of the
punch or upper die should be made to correspond with the surface intended to
be given to the front of the button, the centre bar a forming the shank in
this case bent so as to stand off from the back of the button, but it
may, if
desired, remain straight. In the button shewn the metal has been flattened at
the inner surface, and the outer edge or circumference is formed into a bead
or ring; but these surfaces may be made differently, and may be made more
or less ornamental by forming the surfaces of the dies according to the effect
intended to be produced.
Figures 6, 7, and 8 shew a front view, a back view, and a section of
a metal button, where the part produced according to my Invention consti-
tutes only the back shell and shank of the button, the front being produced by
another shell of metal, as is well understood in making buttons, and, if desired,

page_text: buttons having the backs with shanks a made according to my Invention may
have the front covered with woven fabric, as is well understood. In Figures
7 and 8 it will be seen that the dies have been so formed as to flatten and dish
the metal, and to bend the shank a outwards.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
mode of making buttons described in respect of Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and
parts of buttons, as described in respect to Figures 7 and 8.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Boyle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.