IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTERS OR TOOLS FOR CUTTING OR FORMING BUTTONS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Gray Elrick at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th December 1880.
CHARLES GRAY ELRICK, of Aberdeen, in the County of Aberdeen, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN CUTTERS OR TOOLS FOR CUTTING OR FORMING
BUTTONS."
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of cutters or
tools for cutting, turning, or forming buttons from horn, bone, ivory, or other similar
material, and is designed particularly to enable such tools to be used in turning
lathes or drilling machines, or with other machines having a revolving spindle, as well
as in ordinary button turning machines. The improved tools are also specially
adapted for cutting numbers of buttons from the pieces of material used, such
as waste horn, and thus avoiding the loss of time and trouble involved in
sawing or preparing the "blanks,' as is necessary with the ordinary tools and
machines.
ور
The main features of novelty or improvements of the Invention consist in
forming the cutting blades or edges of the said tools portable or separate from and
adjustably setting and fixing them to their holders, which are also constructed
so that the cutting blade, which is fitted in each tool, acts as a rotating planing iron
to cut or "shave" the surface of the material to the desired shape of the button.
The holder of the cutting blade is formed of a short cylindrical or tapered bar,
which is turned off or squared at one end for convenience of insertion or gripping
in a turning lathe or drill spindle, and at the other end is made fully the diameter
of the size of button to be cut. The end face is turned approximately to the
contour of the front or back of the button, as it may be intended to cut the one
side or the other. This turned end of the holder has a small segment cut out of
it into which the cutting blade is inserted with its cutting edge very slightly
projecting beyond the turned face and set radially from the centre of it. The
cutting blade lies longitudinally along the cut edge of the segment, and may be
directly fixed thereto by one or more small screws passing through slots in it to
admit of adjustment, but it is preferred to cut away the mid part of the holder at
about right angles to one of the segmental radii to leave a half round bar only at
this cut part, the flat side of which is in the longitudinal centre of the holder. The

page_text: cutting blade is in this case formed with an inner angled side or lug by which it is
secured to the flat cut face by a screw or other equivalent passing through a short
slot in the lug of the blade for adjustment longitudinally. The radial edge left by
the cut segment at the end of the holder forms a shoulder against which the cutting
blade may bear, but the blade may be held sufficiently secured by the screw to
allow of a small radial space being left behind the cutting blade, and a considerable
opening is also left by the cut segment in front of the cutter for the passage of
cuttings or shavings. The cutting edge of the blade is made to suit the form of
button to be produced, and its back edge is bevilled and sharpened like the "iron "
of an ordinary plane. It is preferred to set the cutting blade longitudinally with
its inner edge at the centre of rotation of the holder, but it may be set at any angle
inclined to the longitudinal centre, and also across the end face of the tool holder
otherwise than radially.
One holder and cutter or tool is usually required for the front of the button and
another for the back. The one side of the button is first cut or turned, or a piece
of the material, such as waste horn, is cut by one tool, and then the other side is cut
by the second tool, to form as many buttons as the piece contains. The tool last
used is formed with an outer deep cutting edge which pierces the material round
the circumference of the button and allows it to drop out when formed.