IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow Wright, both
of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, for the
Incontion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS."
Sealed the 20th October 1865, and dated the 21st April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Greaves and
John Skirrow Wright at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 21st April 1865.
We, THOMAS GREAVES and JOHN SKIRROW WRIGHT, both of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS," to
be as follows:-
We take a common brace button made in the ordinary and well known
manner, having a bar across the centre, over which bar the thread passes to
attach the button to the garment. Our Invention consists of taking a thin
piece of metal and covering the bar above mentioned; the metal when closed
round the bar forms a loose tube or roller, which said tube or roller being
perfectly smooth will prevent the thread being cut by the sharp edges of the bar
as at present, and allow the button to remain securely attached to the garment.
With brace buttons in which the shape of the bar does not permit us to use
the covering metal in the manner already indicated, and with buttons made
with three or more holes pierced therein, we take a thin piece of metal, and
by forcing it through the holes or bar and closing or turning it down on the

page_text: under side, we cover the face of the button and the sharp edges of the bar or
holes against which the thread usually presses when the button is attached to
the garment, and thus obtain a perfectly smooth surface for the thread to
pass over.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow Wright in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 21st October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
GREAVES and JOHN SKIRROW WRIGHT, both of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow Wright, Her special licence that we, the
said Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow Wright, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Greaves and
John Skirrow Wright, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agrco with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow Wright, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow
Wright, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:―
Our Invention consists, firstly, in the construction of bar brace buttons in
the manner hereafter described.

page_text: We take a brace button made in the ordinary and well known manner,
having a bar across the centre, over which bar we place a separate piece of
metal, which loose piece of metal we close or turn over on the under side of
the bar so as to form a tube or roller encircling the bar. This tube or roller
presents a smooth surface over which the thread is sewn when attaching the
button to the garment.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in the application of a covering piece of
metal to brace buttons having three or more holes as follows:-Wo take a
thin piece of metal cut to the requisite shape, and force the edges through
the holes, and close or turn them down on the under side of the button; by
these means we cover the sharp edges of the holes and obtain a perfectly
smooth surface for the thread to pass over.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Greaves and John Skirrow
Wright, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twentieth day of
October, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-five.
20
Witness,
J. T. BESTON,
Agent,
Birmingham.
THOMAS GREAVES.
(L.S.)
JOHN SKIRROW WRIGHT. (L.S.)