AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHOD OF CARDING CERTAIN DESCRIP- TIONS OF DRESS FASTENINGS AND OTHER ARTICLES, AND IN THE FABRICS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO. WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
ILES, of Bordesley, in the Borough of Birmingham, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-fifth day of March, in the ninth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Iles, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Charles Iles, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Iles, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE METHOD OF CARDING CERTAIN DESCRIP-
TIONS OF DRESS FASTENINGS AND OTHER ARTICLES, AND IN THE FABRICS EMPLOYED
FOR THAT PURPOSE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I,
the said Charles, Iles, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
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 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: Charles Iles, 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 Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention consists,-
First, of an improvement in attaching hooks and eyes and other small
articles to cards or surfaces, or what is technically called "carding" them.
Secondly, my Invention consists of an improvement in attaching buttons to
cards, or what is technically called "carding" them. And,
Thirdly, my Invention relates to employing woven fabrics in place of card-
board, for "carding" hooks and eyes and buttons.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
In "carding" hooks and eyes, and also buttons without shanks, and other
articles, on cards, it has heretofore been usual to employ needles and thread by
hand, and thereby successively fastening the hooks and eyes or the buttons to
the card, the needles employed passing through and through the cards; and,
in fact, the dress fastenings have been heretofore sewn by needle and thread,
which require care and some skill and practice so to perform this operation as
to produce a regular and uniform effect.
'
Now, according to the first part of my Invention, hooks and eyes are
"carded" on to surfaces of card, or the substitute therefor hereafter described,
by causing the surfaces to be punctured; and the thread is conducted through,
and formed into loops, by a suitable instrument, as hereafter explained, into
which loops the hooks and eyes are introduced, and thus are they attached.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a front view in section of a bench, with apparatus applied
thereto, suitable for carrying out this first part of my Invention. Figure 2 is
a plan, and Figure 3 is a transverse section of the same. Figure 4 shews
part of a side view of the apparatus; and Figures 5 and 6 shew two sketches,
representing the placing of hooks and eyes in the loops as they are formed;
and Figures 7 and 8 shew some of the details separately. And it should be
stated that the same letters of reference are used in each of the Figures to
indicate the same parts. And I would first call attention to Figures 7 and 8,
where a portion of card is represented, having a few hooks and eyes attached
thereto, or what is technically called "carded." The card or surface a has

page_text: numerous cross cuts formed through it; and this may be said to constitute the
first step of my improvements. And these cuts are made by a fly press and
cutters in a similar manner to perforating cards or metal, using cutters in
place of punches, or suitable cuts may be made by other means. And I would
state, that the form of the cut may be varied, so long as it is such that thread
can be formed into loops by being pressed or passed through by a suitable
instrument, as hereafter explained. 6 is the instrument which I use for con-
ducting the thread through the card or surface on which the hooks and eyes
are to be "carded." This instrument simply consists of a blunt blade, made
hollow on the upper part, so that the thread may rest thereon, and be raised
up thereby through the card or material a. The instrument 6 is raised up by
a treadle c, by means of the connecting rod d; and the spring e presses back
the instrument 6 when the foot is removed from the treadle. fis a' tube, fixed
in the bench, through which the instrument 6 works. 9 is a bobbin, the
pulley of which is pressed on by a spring to keep the bobbin from turning,
unless the thread is drawn on; and h is a wheel on the axis of the pulley, by
which the thread may be drawn tight at any time. i is the bed on which the
card a is to be placed when operating, the nature of which is clearly shewn in
the Drawings. And in order that the card or surface a may be correctly held,
a gauge j is affixed on to the bed i in such manner that the blade will receive
on it one of the cuts in the card or surface, by which the surface a will be so
held that another of the cuts will come opposite the blade 6; and when the
instrument 6 is pressed up by the treadle, it will come up through that other
of the slits in the surface a, and in doing so it will bring up the thread; and,
in descending, the instrument 6 will leave a loop of the thread on the upper
surface of the card a, into which loop a hook or eye or other article to be
"carded" is to be introduced, as will readily be understood on examining the
sketches Figures 5 and 6, where hands are shewn in the act of placing in the
one case an eye, and in the other case a hook, through the loop which has
been brought up; and the thread is to be tightened by turning the wheel on
the axis of the bobbin. It will be evident that in this manner other small
articles, besides those described requiring to be "carded," may readily be
done as above explained, in place of sewing the same to the surfaces as
heretofore.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which, as before stated,
relates to an improvement in "carding" buttons; and the same consists in a
mode of attaching buttons to perforated surfaces, in place of attaching the
same by sewing with needle and thread as heretofore. The mode of accom-
plishing this part of my Invention is to have the surfaces employed perforated,

page_text: so as to receive the buttons in the perforations, and then they are fastened
therein by thread or other means, as hereafter explained. Figure 9 shews a
portion of a card or surface a. Figure 10 shews an edge view in section of
the same; and Figure 11 is a back view of the same, buttons being inserted
into part only of the perforations. Figure 12 shews a section, and Figure 13
a plan, of the dies used by me for making and shaping recesses in the surface a
to receive the buttons, and Figure 14 shews a portion of the card in section.
The card or surface is to be perforated with holes (not quite so large in
diameter as the buttons), by the punch and die k and 7, which are suitably
formed to perforate and countersink the card around the perforations, so as to
receive the buttons; and having filled the card with the buttons, the front
surface of the buttons being downwards, I then paste a surface of paper or of
woven fabric a¹ at the back of the card a, and over the buttons which are in
the countersunk parts thereof, and thus will a series of buttons be "carded."
It.is not, however, necessary that the perforations of the surface a should be
countersunk, as the buttons may be inserted into perforations of sufficiently
large diameter to receive the buttons; and then I employ threads to fasten
the buttons in the perforations of the card or surface a. Figure 15 shews a
front view, Figure 16 a section, and Figure 17 a back view of a portion of a
.card or surface a, "carded" in this manner; and Figures 18 and 19 shew a
portion of a card in the act of being filled. m is a plate, in which there are
recesses corresponding with the perforations in the card or surface a; and
over this plate the card or surface a is then placed, the perforations therein
corresponding with the recesses in the plate. A series of threads are then
placed over the card a, so as to lie across each perforation at right angles, as
are shewn. These threads come from a series of bobbins, weighted or other-
wise, to keep the threads tight. Buttons are to be inserted into each per-
foration, and they being pressed into the recesses will carry down a quantity
of the thread; and then a surface of paper, or it may be woven fabric, is to be
pasted at the back, by which the buttons and the threads will be secured in
the surface a.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which consists in
applying woven fabrics, properly prepared, to the purpose of "carding" such
articles as are herein described in place of cardboard. And in performing this
part of my Invention I employ calico or other woven fabric, which is to be
stiffened sufficiently for the purpose, and this I prefer to do by pasting or
cementing paper on to one or both sides of the fabric, or by applying pulp, or
otherwise stiffening the same; and in this state I employ such material in the
manner herein-before described.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the details so long as the peculiar character of my Invention
be retained. But what I claim is,-
First, the "carding" hooks and eyes and other articles by perforating the
cards or surfaces, and conducting thread through the same,
the same, as above
explained.
Secondly, I claim the "carding" buttons by perforating cards or surfaces,
and inserting buttons into the recesses or perforations, and fastening the same
therein. And,
Thirdly, I claim the application of woven fabrics suitably prepared to
"carding" hooks and eyes and other small articles and buttons, as above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Iles, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.