AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES BUTTONS
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, I, JOHN CHRIS-
TOPHERS, of New Broad Street, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Seventh day of October, in the second year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Christophers, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Christophers, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Christophers, my exors, admors, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES BUTTONS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John
Christophers, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my, said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Christophers, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained by the following description thereof (reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon),
that is to say:-
My said Improvement in Clothes Buttons consists in making clothes
buttons with shanks of a peculiar kind, to be permanently united to washers,
as herein-after described, in order that such buttons may be affixed and
permanently fastened to the clothes upon which they are to be worn by means
of the small washers or disks of metal plate, which washers are to be applied
to the shanks in manner following (viz.), by rivetting one such washer
upon the extreme end of the shank of each button, after that extreme end
is passed through the thickness of the material whereof the clothes are made,
so that the said washer will apply at the back or inside of the said material
when the head of the button is at the front or outside surface of the material.
The shanks of clothes buttons which are made according to my said improve-
ment are not formed with eyes or openings in them. as usual to receive
sewing thread, but the said shanks are round pins of metal, or other hard
substance, which are firmly fastened by soldering, rivetting, or other suitable
means, to the backs of the buttons at the centres thereof, so as to project
out from the backs of the buttons for a length equal to the two or more
thicknesses of materials whereof the clothes are made, or so many thicknesses
as the buttons are required to the button together, and to one or more of
which thicknesses the buttons are to. be affixed. The extreme end of each
of the said round shanks terminates in a small round metal pin, which projects
out from the end of the said shank, that end forming a projecting shoulder
around the base of the small pin. The shank is inserted into a small hole
of a proper size to admit the shank, which hole is pierced with a bodkin or
other suitable instrument, through the material to which the button is.to be
affixed; and the aforesaid washer (which is perforated with a hole through its
centre, of a size to fit close upon the pin at the end of the shank.) is applied
over the said pin at the back or inside of the material whereof the clothes are
made, with the central part of the washer, near its central hole, applying
flatways against the projecting shoulder of the shank around the base of the
pin. And, finally, the extreme end of the pin, which projects through the

page_text: central hole of the washer, is rivetted down or enlarged by striking it with
repeated blows of a small rivetting hammer, in order to expand the said
projecting end of the pin'into the form of a small rivetted head, which is
flattened down nearly to a level with the flat surface of the washer. The
said rivetted head of the pin retains the washer firmly, so as to prevent its
being detached from the end of the shank of the button. And the said
washer is so much larger in diameter than the round shank, that it will not
permit the shank to be withdrawn through the aforesaid small hole in the
material to which the button is fastened, and into which small hole the shank
inserted as aforesaid before the washer was applied, and rivetted to the pin
at the end of the shank. Or, otherwise, instead of forming buttons according
to my improvement, with a small round pin at the end of the shank, as afore-
said, a small hole may be perforated up in the centre of the shank, in the manner
of a tube, and instead of a hole as aforesaid through the centre of this washer, a
pin may project out from the centre of the washer, in the same manner as the
stem of a flat-headed nail projects out from the head thereof, tho said pin being
so adapted to the hole in the shank that it will fasten very tight therein when it
is driven into that hole by blows with a hammer, or when the pin is forced into the
hole by pressure. The said hole up the centre of the shank may, if required, be
perforated quite through the head of the button, in order that the extreme head
of the pin of the washer may project sufficiently through the centre of the front
of the button to enable the said end to be rivetted thereon, and rendered quite
secure from withdrawing; but except with small button it will be sufficient
to fit the pin tighter into the hole in the end of the shank, and by forcing it
very tight up that hole the pin will hold so fast that it cannot be easily with-
drawn. Or, otherwise, buttons may be made according to my improvement
with the round shank firmly fixed by soldering, rivetting, or otherwise, to the
centre of the washer, which is to go at the back or inside of the materials
whereon the button is to be affixed. And the head of the button is to be
fastened to the end of the shank," where the shank comes through the said
material, either by a small pin projecting out from the end of the shank, in
order to enter a hole in the centre of the head of the button, the extreme
end of the small pin being rivetted in the centre of the front or outside
surface of the button, or else by a pin projecting out from the centre of the
head of the button at the back thereof, in order to enter a corresponding hole,
which is perforated up in the centre of the shank, the said pin being fitted
so tight into that hole as to fasten firmly when it is forced therein; or the hole
may be perforated quite through both the shank and the washer, and the end
of the pin may come through the washer and be rivetted thereon.
"

page_text: And for the more complete explanation of the nature of my improvement,
I have hereunto annexed a Drawing, in which buttons made according to
my improvement are represented double the real size for a medium sized
button.
Figure 1 is a button, whereof a, a, is the head, and b, c, is the shank
projecting out from the centre of the head at the back thereof; f, f, is the
washer, which has a hole d through its centre, to be applied over the small
pin c at the end of the shank b, which shank is either made out of the same
piece with the head a, a, of the button; or else the shank is firmly fixed to
the head a, a, by soldering, rivetting, or other well-known means suitable
to the substance whereof the head a, a, is composed, whether it be metal,
horn, wood, bone, ivory, pearl, or shell, the small pin c of the shank being
in all cases made of such metal as admits of being easily rivetted by striking
the end of the pin with repeated light blows of a small rivetting hammer.
During this rivetting operation the central part of the front a, a, of the
button is supported on a small rivetting stake or anvil, which is placed on a
work bench, post, or other firm support, and the surface of that stake or anvil,
to prevent injury to the face of the button, may be covered with cloth or soft
leather. The washer f, f, may have four small holes perforated through it
if required for the purpose of sewing the washer by a needle and thread to
the material whereof the clothes are made, in order to confine the washer, and
thereby prevent the button from turning round, which turning round may be
sometimes objectionable when the button has a device on the front, but with
plain buttons such sewing is not necessary.
Figure 2 represents a button, whereof the shank b is perforated with a
small hole up its centre, in the manner of a tube; and the washer f, f, has
a pine projecting out from the centre of the flat surface of the washer, which
pin is either made out of the same piece with the said washer, or else it is
firmly fastened thereto by soldering or rivetting, or other well-known means
suitable to the substance whereof the washer f, f, is composed. The pin e must
be of a suitable size to fit tight into the hole up the shank, but the extreme end
of the pin being slightly tapered so as to enter the hole, a few blows of a hammer
will drive the pin so tight into the hole as to make it firmly hold fast therein.
Or, if the hole be perforated quite through the head of the button, the extreme
end of the pine can be rivetted in the centre of the front of the button. The
shank b may be made in the same piece with the head a, a, of the button, or
it may be soldered, rivetted, or otherwise fixed thereto. The hole may be
drilled or otherwise formed up, the centre, or the hollow shank b may be made
by rolling up a strip of copper plate around a wire, and soldering the joint to

page_text: form a small tube which may be made true and smooth by drawing, in the
manner of wire. And suitable lengths of such, tube being cut off will form
the hollow shanks b with the required perforations; and they may be soldered
to the head a, a, of the button, or it may be inserted through a hole in the
centre of the head and rivetted in front.
Figure 3 represents a button with a shark 6 terminating with a small pin c,
similar to the shank in the button, Figure 1, except that the shank in Figure 3
is fixed to the washer ff, which is to go on the back or inside of the material
to which the button is to be fastened. And the head a, a, of the button is
to be applied by rivetting the extreme end of the pin where it comes through
the centre of the front of the head a, a. After the end of the pin c has been
securely rivetted by light blows of the rivetting hammer, the rivet may be
neatly finished by using a counter punch, which has a small hollow cavity
excavated in the end of it. Applying the counter punch upon the rivetted
end of the pin c, and striking a few blows on the head of the counter punch,
any marks which the rivetting hammer may have left may be removed, and
the rivetting rendered smooth. Or the hollow at the end of the punch may
be engraved with a pattern, in order to give an ornamental appearance to the
rivetting. A counter punch may be used in all cases to give a neat finish to
the rivetting; but it will be quite superfluous when the rivetting is not on the
front of the button.
Figure 4 represents a button which has a perforated shank very similar to
the shank of the button, Figure 2, except that the shank in Figure 4 is fixed
to the washer f, f; and the pin e, which is to enter into the perforated shank,
is fixed to the centre of the head a, a, of the button at the back thereof. The
fastening of the shank to the washer or to the head of the buttons, described
by Figures 2 and 4, may be performed by the pressure of the screw press, or a
lever press in lieu of by the blows of a hammer upon an anvil. The washers
f. f. are not always of metal plate; but it may be made of any other suitably
hard or tough substance that cannot be easily drawn through the materials of
which the cloths are made. And each of the three washers f. f, represented
in Figures 2, 3, and 4, may have the like four small holes perforated through
the washer near its edge, as shewn by f, f, in Figure 1. The heads a, a, of
the buttons may be made of any of the materials commonly used for buttons,
such as iron, steel, white metal, copper, or brass, gilt or plated; or the said
heads may be faced with a thin shell of what is called gold plate or silver
plate; or the heads may be made of horn, wood, bone, ivory, pearl; or shell;
or the heads may be made of some suitable material, and covered with paper
and stuff, or cloth, or other suitable substances, attaching the said covering by

page_text: any of the most convenient modes of making covered buttons, particularly
by a mode invented by Mr. Benjamin Sanders, and for which a Patent was
granted to him by King George the Third, dated the Fourth day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and thirteen. The materials of the clothes to
which the aforesaid buttons are to be fastened may be pierced through with a
bodkin, or perforated with a punch called a leather punch, in order to make
a hole to exactly admit the shank of the button; and if requisite the clothes
material may be fortified around the edges of the said hole by sewing thread
worked with a needle, in the manner of what are called eylet-holes. And
in order to facilitate the insertion of the shanks of any of the aforesaid buttons
into the materials of the clothes, short steel bodkins, such as are represented
in Figures 5 and 6, may be used. These bodkins are sufficiently sharp-pointed
at one end to penetrate through the said materials, and increase in size towards
the other, and where they are of the full size of the shanks b of the buttons.
If such a bodkin be used for interserting the buttons represented at Figures 1
and 3, it must be made as shewn in Figure 5, the large end being hollowed
with a hole to easily admit the small pin c at the end of the shank b. Or if
a bodkin be used for interserting the buttons represented at Figures 2 and 4,
it must be made like Figure 6, the large end of the bodkin having a small
pin r projecting out from the centre of it to fit rather slackly into the hollow
of the shank b, one or other of the said bodkins being applied at the end of
the shank of the button, as shewn by the dotted lines in Figures 5 and 6, and
the point of the bodkin being forced through the material by pressing the
shank forwards, the bodkin will conduct the shank through the material into
the proper situation for fastening the washer or the head of the button.
Having now described the nature of my said improvement, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I, the said John Christophers, do hereby
declared that what I claim as my Invention is, the making of clothes buttons
with a shank and washer of the particular kind herein-before described, in
order that such clothes buttons may be permanently fastened to clothes by
permanently uniting the head of the button and the washer together, by
rivetting the extreme end of the small pin wherewith the shank terminates,
or the rivetting a pin very tight into the perforated shank, in the manner
herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Christophers, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two.
JOHN (L.S.) CHRISTOPHERS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of April, in
the year of our Lord 1832, the aforesaid John Christophers came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.