Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Jan., 1887
Complete Left, 3rd Oct., 1887
Complete Accepted, 4th Nov., 1887
I ABRAHAM AKEROYD, of 160 Maperton Road, Bradford, in the County of York,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a new or improved machine for manufacturing or putting
together the various parts forming compound or covered buttons; and it consists of
an upper die, and bed dies arranged upon a movable carriage, and in the construction
and arrangement of mechanism or divices for operating the dies and regulating and
defining their motion.
An elevated bed plate or table is employed supporting a standard provided with
guides, in which a die rod, carrying a die at its lower end slides. An arm on the said
die rod extends through a slot in the standard and is attached by an adjustable
attachment to a connecting rod passing below the bed plate where it is joined to a
lever hereinafter called the lower lever, pivotted to a hanger on the underside of the
bed plate. A spring is provided to lift the said die rod and its connections to the
limit of their upward motion.
The upper die is arranged to cooperate with two bed dies (hereinafter distinguished
as the first and second bed dies) supported on a movable carriage. The said carriage
is pivotted to the bed plate, or otherwise guided thereon, so as to permit the bed dies
to be alternately brought beneath the upper die. Suitable stops and means of
adjustment are provided in connection with the said carriage and bed dies to allow the
motion of such carriage to be accurately adjusted and defined, and the bed dies
arranged to be brought in exact coincidence with the upper die.
The said lower lever is provided with an antifriction roller arranged to engage
with a cam mounted above such lever on a rocking shaft supported by hangers secured
to the underside of the bed plate. An arm extending from the said rocking shaft is

page_text: cam.
fitted with a pedal adapted to enable the operator's foot to vibrate the shaft and its
An adjustable stop is arranged in connection with the pedal arm to limit the
rocking motion of the shaft, or an independent arm on the rocking shaft may be
arranged to engage with the said stop.
An antifriction roller is mounted on the top face of the cam on the rocking shaft
arranged to engage with a lever above such roller pivotte: to the hanger supporting
the lower lever. The said upper lever is preferably constructed with an adjustable
steel face having an inclined end to engage with the antifriction roller mounted on the
cam. A pin or lug projecting vertically from the end of the upper lever is capable
of being raised by the motion communicated by the cam to such lever so as to engage
with a spindle supporting the second bed die thereby raising such die.
The various parts constituting the machine are relatively arranged, and the dies
constructed to operate as follows. The shell of the button is placed in the first bed
die together with the covering material above the same, and such die is brought
beneath the upper die, thus on vibrating the rocking shaft by means of the pedal arm
the cam thereon imparts a downward motion to the free end of the lower lever to
which the rod connecting such lever to the die rod is jointed, thereby enabling the
upper die to cooperate with the first bed die in folding the covering material over the
shell and transferring such shell and covering material to the upper die which is
constructed to clasp it.
The second bed die into which the collet and wad filling has been placed is then
brought beneath the upper die and the combined action of such dies force the filling
and collet into the shell and the flange of the latter is bent in, so completing the
button. After which the upper dic is raised and suitable mechanism connected
therewith releases the button.
It is obvious that different forms of dies will be required according to the size and
shape of the button required to be produced.
The cam on the rocking shaft is so formed that after the lower lever and die rod
with their connections have been depressed the portion of the cam acting upon the
antifriction roller mounted on such lever is formed to a curve struck from the centre
of the rocking shaft, whereby the upper die is held stationary after being depressed
and the motion imparted by the antifriction roller on the top face of such cam to the
spindle of the second bed die relative to the motion of the pedal arm is arranged to
gradually decrease as the arm assumes a vertical position and the pressure between the
upper and lower dies is required to be greatest, thereby increasing the leverage, and
as the strains are approximately in a vertical line and upon opposite sides of the cam
the bearings of the rocking shaft are not unduly worn by excessive pressure.
Dated this 31st day of December 1886.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.

page_text: Buttons.
I, ABRAHAM AKEROYD, of 160, Maperton Road, Bradford, in the County of York,
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
This invention relates to a new or improved machine for manufacturing or putting
together the various parts forming compound or covered buttons and it consists of an
upper die, and bed dies arranged upon a movable carriage, and in the construction
and arrangement of mechanism or divices for operating the dies and regulating and
defining their motion.
In order to fully describe my invention reference is to be had to the accompanying
drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1, is a vertical sectional elevation of a button making machine illustrating
my improvements.
Figure 2, is a rear elevation of the bed plate and parts supported thereby.
Figure 3 is a plan of the bed plate and attachments thereto.
Figure 4, is a longitudinal central section through the bed plate and its
attachments.
Figure 5, is a perspective view of the parts below the bed plate.
Figures 6 to 9, are views illustrating the manner in which parts of a button are
put together.
Figure 10, is a detail view of one of the operating levors.
The bed plate A, is shown as oblong in form supported by legs B and supporting a
standard provided with guides 2, 2 in which a die rod D slides.
An arm 3 extending from the rear of the said die rod through a slot X in the
standard C is connected to a rod 4 by means of the nuts 5, 5 provided for the
purpose of vertically adjusting such rod in respect to the arm 3, and a spiral
spring 6, is connected to an eye on the standard and to the lower end of the rod 4 or
attachment thereto so as to lift the rod 4 and die rod to the limit of their upward
motion.
The die 9 on the end of the die rod D cooperates with two bed dies E and F which
are supported by a movable carriage G. The said carriage may slide between guides
or may be otherwise guided on the bed plate A, and limited in movement so that the
bed dies may be brought alternately beneath the die 9. As shown the carriage G is
pivoted by a pin 10 to the bed plate so as to be capable of oscillating upon said pin
and a finger 11 on the carriage plays between set screws 12, 12 turning in studs 13, 13
on the bed plate and serving to limit the oscillation of the carriage. By adjusting
0

page_text: the screws 12 the movements of the carriage are so defined that each bed die can bo
brought into exact coincidence with the die 9.
In the bed plate A is a slot Y through which extends the spindle or stem 15 of the
die E.
It will not be necessary to describe in detail the construction of the said dies,
which constitutes no part of this invention and which will vary according to the
character of the buttons to be made. The general form of such dies is set forth in
Letters Patent of the United States issued to my correspondent William W. Wade,
on the 1st June A.D. 1880, No. 228,233.
In figures 6, 7, 8 and 9, W is the fabric covering of the button, V the metallic
Hanged shell, Z the paper wad or filling, U the collet with central eye for the nipple
of canvas S.
The shell is placed in the bed die F with the covering material above the same, the
said die is brought beneath the die 9 and the shell is forced into the latter the
covering being thus folded down across the edge of the shell as in figure 7, the bed
die E into which the collet and wad filling have been placed is then brought beneath
the die 9 and the latter is brought down towards E with the parts of the button in
the stage represented in figure 8, and the filling and collet are forced into the shell
and the flange of the latter is bent in to hold all the parts in place as shown in
figure 9. After this operation the die 9 is raised and the completed button removed.
The carriage G is swung from side to side by hand, the stop devices defining the
position of each bed die in respect to the die 9 with great precision.
The movements of the spindle 15 of the die E, and of the die 9 are effected by the
mechanism which I will now describe.
The lower end of the rod 4 is connected to the outer end of the lever 20 pivoted
to a hanger 21 below the bed plate, and in hangers 22, 22 also below the bed plate
turns a rocking shaft 23 carrying the cam I which occupies a position directly above
a friction roller 24 carried between lugs on the lever 20.
To the hanger 21 is also pivoted the rear end of a lever 30 having a beveled lower
face 41 on the outer end extending over the cam 1. The said lever is provided with
a stud or projection 32, which when the bed die E is below the die 9 occupies a
position directly below the stem 15.
An arm 33 extends from the shaft 23 which is provided with a pedal or foot piece 34
projecting laterally, so that such shaft can be vibrated by the application of the
operators foot. A stop arm 35 extends from the arm 33 and an adjustable stop 36
supported by the bed plate is arranged to be struck by the arm 35 for the purpose
of limiting and defining the rocking motion of the shaft.
The cam I carries at one end a friction roller 40 and the other end has a
curved face 42 coinciding with a circle of which the axis of the shaft 23 is the
centre.
When the bed die is below the die 9 the rocking of the shaft 23 in the
direction of the arrow figure 5 will bring the curved face 42 of the cam I to bear
on the lever 20 which will be depressed and thereby draw down the die rod D and
die 9 until the shell V and covering W are transferred to the die 9.
The shaft 23 is then rocked in a reverse direction as the carriage G is moved to
bring the bed die E below the die 9, after which the shaft 23 is again rocked in the
direction of its arrow.
As the cam I is thus brought towards a vertical position its face 42 is brought
against the roller 24 of the lever 20 and its roller 40 is brought against the inclined
face of the lever 30, the lever 20 is thus depressed moving downward the die 9 and
the lever 30 is raised bringing its lug 32 against the stem 15 of the bed die E and
lifting the said stem so that the button is compressed between the ascending portion
of the bed die and the descending die 9 until the filling and collet are forced into the
shell the flange of which is bent to lock the parts together.
The stop arm 35 now strikes the stop pin 36 whereby the further motion of the
shaft 23 is arrested and the crushing of the button prevented.
It will be seen that as the face 42 of the cam I coincides with a circle the lever 20

page_text: is not moved after the edge of the cam passes the center of the roller 24 whereby the
upper die 9 is held stationary after being depressed, and also that as the roller 40
strikes the inclined face 41 of the lever 30 the latter is gradually lifted, while the
die 9 is held in place and that as the cam I gradually assumes a vertical position
between the bearings 24 and 41 and greater pressure is required the leverage
increases. As the strains are approximately in a vertical line and upon opposite
sides of the cam there is no tendency to force the shaft 23 against its bearings and
unduly wear the machine besides increasing the labour of operating it as would be
the case if the strains were on one side of such shaft.
As the motion of the shaft is reversed the lever 30 gradually drops but the lever 20
and die 9 are not moved until the lug 32 is free from contact with the stem 15 when
the die 9 will be quickly lifted and the carriage G is at liberty to be moved to repeat
the operations described.
It will be seen that the bevelled face 41 of the lever 30 secures a more gradual
lifting of the lever 30 and a greater pressure..
In order to reduce wear and facilitate repairs the bearing face of the lover 30 may
be formed of steel or a hard metal plate 50 lying against the lower side of the lever
between lugs 51, and this plate may be adjustable to insure the lifting of the lever at
the proper time. Thus the plate 50 may have a slot 52 through which extends a
fastening bolt 53 the latter being loosened to adjust said plate longitudinally and
tightened to secure the plate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The combination in a button making machine, of an upper die arranged above
the bed plate, and bed dies secured to a carriage connected to the bed plate to be
reciprocated thereon, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The combination of the bed plate, upper die, reciprocating carriage upon the bed
plate, bed dies supported by said carriage, and side stops for limiting the motion of
the carriage, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination of the bed plate, standard supporting the upper die,
reciprocating carriage supporting lower dies, and adjustable stops for limiting the
lateral motion of the carriage, substantially as herein shown and described.
4. The combination with the upper die rod sliding in guides, of a lever pivoted
below the bed plate and connected to said die rod, a spring for lifting the lever, a
rocking shaft and a cam carried thereby for depressing the lever, substantially as
set forth.
5. The combination with the slotted bed plate and reciprocating carriage carrying
bed dies, in combination with a lever pivoted below the dies, and a cam for
clevating the lever into contact with the stem of the die above the lever substantially
as set forth.
6. The combination of the slotted bed plate, reciprocating carriage carrying bed
dies, lever pivoted below the bed plate provided with a stud for making contact
with the stem of the die, and cam arranged below the lever, substantially as set
forth.
7. The combination with the bed plate, of a reciprocating carriage carrying bed
dies, a bracket supporting the sliding rod of an upper die, a lever pivoted below the
bed plate and connected to the upper die rod, a second lever pivoted below the
bed plate to contact with the stem of one of the bed dies, and a shaft carrying a cam
arranged between the two levers, substantially as set forth.
8. The combination with the bed die actuating lever 30 and the upper die
actuating lever 20, of an intermediate shaft provided with a camn, the bearings of
the levers upon such cam being in approximately a vertical line passing through the
cam shaft, substantially as set forth.
9. The combination with the levers 20 and 30, of a cam arranged upon an

page_text: intermediate shaft and provided with an end curve to correspond with a circle having
the axis of the shaft for its centre, substantially as set forth.
10. The combination of a cam curved at one end, of a lever 20 with a bearing for
said curved end, and a lever 30 having an inclined face 41, substantially as and for
the purpose set forth.
11. The combination with the lever 30 and cam I, of a detachable plate 50
adjustable on said lever and having a bevelled end, substantially as set forth.
12. The combination with the lever 30 and cam 1, of a detachable plate 50, having
a double face 41 secured and adjustable to the lever substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
13. The combination of the rock shaft, cam, bed dies, lever 30, and arm connected
with the rocking shaft and adjustable stop 36, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 1st day of October 1887.
DRACUP & NOWELL,
Bradford, Agents.