Improvements in Buttons.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application. 14th June; 1895-Accepted, 20th July, 1895
Improvements in Buttons.
I, JOHN VACHE PILCHER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at
1031 Morton Avenue, Louisville, in the County of Jefferson and State of Kentucky,
U.S.A., Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
Improvements in "Buttons," and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to that class of buttons. which are adapted to be.
secured to a garment automatically, that is without the aid of sewing; and its
objects are:-
First. To adapt a button shank having a broad base, to penetrate the cloth to
which the button is to be attached; and to further adapt the same shank to be
removably secured to the head:
Second. To provide means for securing the head to the shank, and
Third. To provide means for removing the head from the sbank whenever it may
be desired to detach the button from the cloth:
To this end my invention consists. in the construction and combination of parts
forming a button hereinafter described and claimed, reference being, had to the
accompanying drawing, in which-
Fig. I, is a side elevation of a button according to my invention, attached as in
service, upon a piece of cloth which is shown in cross-section.
Fig. II, is an enlarged vertical section of the same, with a button secured to the.
cloth.
Fig. III, is a vertical section similar to Fig. II excepting that the key is shown
in a raised position as it would be before the shank has been locked to the head,
or after the shank has been unlocked to permit the button head to be removed
therefrom.
Fig. IV, is a side view, and
Fig. V, is a top view of a shank.
5 represents a piece of cloth, 6 the button head, 7 the shank, and. 8 the key.
The button head is stamped up of sheet metal, with a narrow neck 9 and a spreading.
base 10.
In the top of the head are formed two eyes 11 through which pass the two legs.of
the key 8. The shank 7 is pointed at its upper end so that it may be pushed through
cloth, making its own hole, and it is reduced in size midway its body, leaving it
broad at the shoulder 12 so that the shoulder can barely be crowded through the
neck 9 of the head. In passing through the neck 9 the point of the shank 7 enters
between the legs of the key 8, and when. the shoulder 12 has passed through the
neck 9 the key 8 may be pushed down so that the ends of its legs will wedge into
the space between the neck 9 of the button and the body 7 of the shank, whereby
the shank will be permanently secured to the bead of the button.
In applying this button the point of the shank is to be pressed up through the
cloth 7, then the button head. 6 is to be placed over the projecting, end. of the
shank, the key 8 being in the meantime raised. Now the button and shank are
to be pressed closely together until the base 10 of the head and the base 13 of the
shank clamp the cloth firmly between them, then the key 8. is to be pressed down
P7.1

page_text: to the button head, when its two legs entering the neck 9 below the shoulder 12
will rigidly secure the button to its shank upon the cloth. The button is now
ready for service.
i
If at any time it becomes necessary to change the position of this button upon
the cloth, or to remove it entirely therefrom, the key 8 may be raised by inserting
the point of a knife between its head and the head of the button and prying upward
upon the key, whereby its legs will be drawn out from the neck 9, leaving the
shank 7 free for the button head to be raised therefrom, then the shank may be
withdrawn from the cloth and the button may be applied elsewhere. There is so
very little movement sidewise of the legs of the key 8 in being sprung inward as
they are pushed into the tapering neck 9, to bind the shank 7, and in being sprung
outward to release the shank that common brass, steel, iron, or tin will answer
the purpose of the key, and endure being locked and unlocked hundreds of times
without injury; yet when the key is in place the shank cannot be removed from
the head of the button except by such severe strain as will swell the neck 9 out of
shape and this small neck is so rigid that the button could be torn bodily through
any kind of cloth, taking a piece of the goods with it, without in the slightest
degree loosening the shank in the head; and yet the raising of the key 8 to
release the shank requires very little force because the legs of the key are parallel
sided as to the thickness of the metal, and these legs only serve to fill the space
between the tapering neck 9 and the smaller tapering body 7. Thus it will be
seen that this button may not only be attached to the goods by any person without
the aid of needle and thread, or of any other thing except the button itself, and
when so attached it is secure to the extent of the full strength of the cloth; and
when it is desirable to remove the button for any purpose it may be done without
injury to the cloth and without any injury to the button, so that the same button
may be used any number of times. It will be understood that these buttons may
be made with either a long or short neck 9 to receive the opposite portion of the
thick or thin garment to which this portion is to be buttoned. Part of the
advantages of this invention. would be secured if the shank described were
deprived of its point so as to require a bodkin or similar implement to make
the hole in the cloth to receive the shank, but the pointed shank adds much to its
utility.
A single aperture in the top of the button might be made to receive both legs
of the key; or if one leg of the key was removed still the other leg would wedge
the shank against the opposite side of the neck and hold the head to the shank in a
like manner to that described, because the shoulder of the shank fits the neck so as
to pass through only with a close rub and anything to the amount of one leg of the
key inserted between would hold it. The button head may be ornamented or plain,
and the key head furnishes especial facilities for holding a central ornament to be
surrounded by the head as a field or background.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim as my invention is-
1. The combination of a button shank having a broad base at one end, pointed
at the other end, and reduced in size in its body leaving a broader shoulder above;
a button head provided with a broad base and a small neck and an opening up
through the base, neck and top, the said opening through the neck being of a size
to barely permit the passage of the shank shoulder and enlarged upward, and a
key passing freely down through the head and provided with legs adapted to fit
removably between the said neck of the button and body of the shank beneath the
said shoulder of the shank, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a button-head having an aperture through it; a shank
having a shoulder nearly as large as the said aperture and fitted to pass through

page_text: it; and a key provided with legs adapted to enter the aperture at the opposite
side of the button beside the shank and beneath the shoulder, substantiallyļas
described.
Dated this 91at der of Mo 1805
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40 Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.