IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING BUTTONS TO FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, FRANKLIN AUGUSTUS SMITH the Younger of Providence Rhode Island United
States of America at present residing at the Royal Hotel Blackfriars in the City
of London, Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INSTRUMENTS FOR AND IN THE METHOD OF ATTACHING
BUTTONS TO FABRICS AND OTHER MATERIALS"-(A Communication to me from
abroad by George W. Prentice of Providence Rhode Island United States of
America Manufacturer) and in what manner the same is to be performed to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
•
In the specification of a former patent granted to Alfred Julius Boult as a
communication from myself is described an instrument for and method of attaching
buttons.
In this instrument which resembles a pair of pliers the fastener is held in one
jaw and the button in the other. On causing the jaws to approach, the point of
the fastener comes against the upper jaw, and is bent round and passes through
the eye of the button and back to the fabric. In practice this method of fastening
buttons occasionally fails from two causes. Sometimes the pointed stem of the
fastener instead of bending passes through the hole in the upper jaw which receives
the eye of the button and sometime it bends too soon or too much and does not
pass properly through the eye of the button.
•
-
My improved instrument is likewise provided with two jaws one of which is
constructed so as to hold the head of a fastener but the other does not carry the
button as heretofore. In using the instrument the point of the fastener is first
passed through the fabric or other material then through the eye of the button and
afterwards the prong is curled around the eye of the button by the other jaw.

page_text: A and B are the upper and lower jaws of the instrument. b is a forked spring
attached to the lower jaw by the screw b¹ and prevented from turning by the
pin b, c is a seat or recess for receiving the head of the fastener which by
preference consists of a single pronged malleable tack. a is a moveable plate.
pivotted to the upper jaw at a'. This plate has a hole d through it and is also
provided with a curved recess e, as shown in Figures 1 and 3.
In attaching a button to a piece of fabric or other material the operator
proceeds as follows. The head of the fastener is placed in the recess c of the jaw B
by forcing it under the forked. spring b which retains it in place. The plate a is
turned so that the hole d coincides with the point of the fastener. The fabric
is then placed in position and the point of the fastener is forced through it by
closing the jaws. The button is then placed on the point of the fastener and the
plate a is turned to place the curved recess e in position to receive the point of
the fastener. The jaws are then again forced towards each other whereby the
prong of the fastener is forced further through the fabric and its point is bent
round until it assumes the form shown at Figure 4. If desired the instrument
may be simplified by omitting the moveable plate a from the upper jaw and
forming the recess e in the jaw itself instead of in 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. A button attaching instrument having two jaws one provided with means
of holding a single pronged fastener, the other jaw being provided with a moveable
perforated plate substantially as described.
2. A button attaching instrument having two jaws one provided with means
of holding a single pronged fastener, the other jaw having a recess in it for bending
the prong of the fastener substantially as described.
3. The process of attaching buttons in which the point of the fastener is passed
through the eye of the button before being bent substantially as described.
4. The improvements in button attaching instruments substantially as
described.
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