CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LINEN BUTTONS, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO BUTTONS COVERED WITH OTHER; FABRICS
Year: 1874

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LETTERS PATENT to William Empson, Button Manufacturer, of Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, and William Palmer, Tool
Maker, also of Birmingham aforesaid, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LINEN BUTTONS, AND WHICH SAID
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO BUTTONS COVERED WITH OTHER;
FABRICS."
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Sealed the 29th December 1874, and dated the 4th July 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Empson and
William Palmer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 4th July 1874.
We, WILLIAM EMPSON, Button Manufacturer, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, and WILLIAM PALMER, Tool Maker, also of
Birmingham aforesaid, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LINEN BUTTONS, AND

page_text: WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO BUTTONS COVERED WITH OTHER
FABRICS," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
Our improvements consist in manufacturing the buttons described-
in the above title by forming from a thin disc of metal a concentric
raised circular part in which we form a bar by piercing out two
round, eliptic, or semicircular pierce holes, and deflecting the edges
of the bar so formed that the thread used for securing such button
to garments may rise smoothly and lay in the hollow of the deflected
bar. The outer edge of the said disc we raise upward from the base
side, thus forming a circular trough between the outer raised flange
and the raised concentric centre. We next take a disc of metal pierce
concentrically with a hole slightly larger than the raised central portion
of the disc first described, and around the edge of this pierced disc
we deflect a flange downward (by preference), allowing the said deflected
flange to extend slightly beyond the vertical flange of the bar disc.
With these two metal shells we form our improved construction of
button, by covering the flat or front side of the concentric pierced
disc with a disc of cloth or fabric, the said fabric being also con-
centrically pierced, but with a smaller pierce hole in order that it may
be gathered through the face of the pierced shell, and also gathered
in under the outer flange of the said shell, when it is ready to be
connected with the concentric raised bar shell by covering (by preference)
the bottom of the said concentrically raised shell with a woven fabric,
the said fabric gathered up over the outer flange of the said shell,
when the two shells thus treated may be put together by proper tools!
and appliances, whereby the flange of the pierced shell with its covering
will be gathered in concentrically around the under shell, thereby
binding the parts together, presenting a button covered back and
front with woven fabric, excepting the concentric raised ring and
divisional bar.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Empson and William Palmer in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 1st January 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
EMPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Button Manu-
facturer, and WILLIAM PALMER, also of Birmingham aforesaid, Tool
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Empson and William Palmer,
Her special license that we, the said William Empson and William
Palmer, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said William Empson and William Palmer, our executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, should at any time agree 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF LINEN BUTTONS, AND WHICH SAID IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO BUTTONS COVERED WITH OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said William Empson and William
Palmer, 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 William Empson and William
Palmer, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say)
Our improvements consist in manufacturing the buttons described

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in the above title by forming from a thin disc of metal a concentric
raised circular part in which we form a bar by piercing out two
round, eliptic, or semicircular holes, and deflecting the edges of the
bar so formed that the thread used for securing such button to garments
may rise smoothly and lay in the hollow of the deflected bar. The
outer edge of the said disc we raise upward from the base side, thus
forming a circular trough between the outer raised flange and the
raised .concentric circle surrounding the bar. We next take a disc
of metal pierced concentrically with a hole slightly larger than the
raised central portion of the bar disc first described, and around the
edge of this pierced disc we deflect a flange downwards (by preference),
allowing the said deflected flange to extend slightly beyond the vertical
flange of the bar disc. With these two metal shells we form our
improved construction of button, by covering the flat or front side
of the concentric pierced disc with a disc of cloth or fabric, the
said fabric being also concentrically pierced, but with a smaller pierce
hole in order that it may be gathered through the face of the pierced
shell, and also gathered in under the outer flange of the said shell,
when it is ready to be connected with the concentric raised bar shell
by covering (by preference) the bottom of the said concentrically
raised shell with a woven fabric, the said fabric being gathered up
over the outer flange of the said shell, when the two shells thus
treated may be put together by proper tools and appliances, whereby
the flange of the pierced shell with its covering will be gathered in
_concentrically around the under shell, thereby binding the parts together,
presenting a button covered back and front with woven fabric, excepting
the concentric raised ring and deflected bar.
-Drawings hereunto annexed, we will proceed to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING.
Fig. 1 represents in a flat and sectional view the bar shell, the
section being taken through the dotted line a, a. The pierce holes
b, b, which give form to the bar c may be of any other suitable
shape that will readily admit of being deflected below the plane of
the annular ring d, d, and at the same time allow the raw edges

page_text: of the bar to be curved or lapped over on the under side so as to
provide a smooth surface for the attaching thread to work on, as will
be seen by the transverse sectional form of the bar c. The lower
annular face of this shell marked e, e, forms the back support of the
finished button. The outer flange f, f, forms the double purpose, firstly,
to give strength, and secondly, to afford means for gathering. in and
holding the back fabric.
Fig. 2 is an outside annular disc and sectional view of same taken
through the dotted line 9; 9. This annular disc is covered by the front
fabric, as shown at Fig. 3, which represents in section the said
annular disc covered over with a fine disc of fabric, as shown at
Fig. 5, the extreme edge of which is gathered in under the outer
flange of the metal annular disc marked h, h, and also, by suitable
tools, expanded through the perforation, and radially gathered around
the concentric pierce hole of the metal shell k, k.
Fig. 4 is a repeat of the section Figure 1, showing the disc of linen
or other fabric represented at Fig. 6 stretched over its bottom side,
and brought over the flange f, f, and gathered in by the closing in
of the said flange in the process of covering and shaping the said
button, which is represented in a finished front, edge, and back view at
Figures 7, 8, and 9.
The manner of manipulating or treating the said metal shells with
a front and back disc of fabric to unite the parts, shape, and form the
button, will be readily understood by ordinary skilled button tool makers
and workpeople accustomed to the use of such tools, in combination
with a fly press which is an ordinary and well-known appliance,
extensively used in the manufacture of buttons, and needs no detailed
description here.
The button herein described and represented is designed for what
are technically called linen buttons, and is drawn on an enlarged
scale for the facility it affords of defining its peculiar formation and
mode of construction; nevertheless, the same shape and form of shells
permits of their being covered with any other fabric so as to make
such buttons generally useful either for ladies' or gentlemen's wear:
As by this simple arrangement we produce strength and durability

page_text: as well as provide a deflected and suitable strong bar for supporting
the thread by which such buttons are attached to garments, the
deflection of which bar below the plane of the annular metal ring
that surrounds the bar protects the thread from injury or abrasion
either in washing, ironing, mangling, or wear; but if preferred that 5
the front of the button should be entirely covered with fabric that
which we have represented as the back may be used for the front,
in which case the curved concave form of the bar, with the plane
of the annular metal ring of the bar, may be modified, both in its
lengthway and transverse sectional shape, in order that the bar may 1
be adapted internally for the attaching thread to ride on the inner
face of the bar, the process of sewing on such buttons being performed
by passing the needle through one pierce hole, and through the front
fabric, and taken back through the front fabric by passing the needle
obliquely through the puncture it first made in coming through, and 1
through the other pierce hole of the bar shell. By this means being
continued the sewing-on thread will ride only on the inside of the bar
and secure the button.
And as a further modification where thinness of construction may
be preferred the outer flange, either of the metal shell f, f, or h, h, may a
be omitted, the one or the other shell being so arranged for engaging
and securing the front and back fabrics around the edge of the flangeless
shell, and within the edge of the flanged one.
Having thus fully described and exhibited our Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into effect by artisans and
operatives accustomed to the manufacture of buttons, as well as the
modifications and variations herein expressed, we wish it understood
that we claim as of our Invention, the manufacture of buttons as
herein described and exhibited (that is to say), the raising from what
may be called the back shell a concentric annular ring having a
suitable deflected bar (according to the manner in which the button
may be used) formed within the circumference of the said concentric
raised annular ring, and in connection with the same of an annular
metal shell covered by the front fabric, the concentric pierce hole in
the said shell corresponding (in combination with the front fabric)
with the circumference of the raised ring of the back shell, as exhibited
more particularly at Figure 7, and generally with the detailed Figures

page_text: and description herein set forth, without any regard to the fabric with
which the said shells may be covered, or to the size or proportion of
the said buttons so made.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Empson and William
Palmer, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-four.
10 Witness,
WILLIAM H. TAYLOR,
Clerk to J. S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
WILLIAM EMPSON. (L.s.)
WILLIAM PALMER.. (L.S.)