AN IMPROVED NEEDLE AND FASTENER FOR SECURING BUTTONS FOR UPHOLSTERY PURPOSES
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Benjamin Cox and Caleb
Hosmer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th March 1875.-A communication from abroad
by George Norwood, of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of
America.
We, BENJAMIN Cox, of 48°, Regent Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Merchant, and CALEB HOSMER, of St. Mary Cray, in the County of Kent,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED NEEDLE AND FASTENER FOR SECURING BUTTONS FOR UPHOLSTERY
PURPOSES," a communication, to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to a peculiarly formed needle and fastener for
securing buttons upon the stuffed or padded portions of upholstery, such
as chair and sofa seats and backs, bedding and other furniture, and the
seats and lining of carriages and the like.
Heretofore these buttons have been attached by means of an ordinary
needle and cord or thread. And in cases where this needle cannot be
passed through the back of the cushion or other portion of furniture to
be buttoned it has been necessary to remove the cushion or padding, or a
portion of the same, or its covering or backing from its frame or support.

page_text: This is particularly the case with railway and other carriage linings; and
in railway and other vehicles constantly in use the buttons are con-
tinually coming off and the necessity for rebuttoning them is of very
frequent occurrence; and in the case of household and similar furniture
the trouble and inconvenience attending the ordinary method of
rebuttoning the seats and backs is so great that in many instances it is
avoided by leaving them without buttons, in which condition they have
an unsightly and shabby appearance.
Our Invention is designed to afford the means whereby this buttoning
or rebuttoning of upholstery or furniture may be effected without the
inconvenience of removing, uncovering, or disturbing any portion of the
seat, cushion, or padding of the article to which the buttons are to be
attached, and by which the buttons may be quickly and securely
fastened. The said Invention is very simple and may be used by any
person capable of ordinary sewing or similar work.
Our improved needle is a rod of steel, brass, or other suitable
material, with a point and eye at one end and provided with a handle or
holder at the other end. The said rod or needle must be of convenient
length to enter far enough into the cushion or other padded or stuffed
article or portion of furniture to be buttoned. One side of the said rod
has in it a long groove or channel extending from the eye towards the
other end for the reception of the cord or thread, by which the buttons
are to be held and secured; and on the opposite side of the needle there
is a short groove or recess extending ondwise from the eye for the
reception of the aforesaid fastener. The latter is a piece of steel or
other metal wire bent into such a form that it has an eye at or near its
centre, and the fastener is placed in the said short groove of the needle
with its eye projecting through the eye of the needle, and the cord or
thread is passed through the eye of the fastener but not through the eye
of the needle, the said cord extending from the said eye upward in the
long groove or channel in the rod. One end of the said fastener is
straight and somewhat pointed, and this end is placed in the groove
toward the point of the needle so that it will pass freely with the point
of the needle through the leather or other material on which the buttons
are to be secured; the other end of the said fastener is slightly turned or
bent outward or laterally, so that when the needle is withdrawn the
said end will be caught and stopped by the said material or by the
horschair or other stuffing, or by strings or other internal portions of the

page_text: cushion or other portion or article of furniture to which the buttons are
applied. The fastener being thus held and kept from coming out or
back with the needle forms a holder for the cord or thread whose two
ends extend outside the leather or other covering. One of these ends is
passed through the button and the two ends are then drawn tight and
tied under the button which is thus firmly and durably fastened.