AN IMPROVENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1827

page_text: TYNDALL'S SPECIFICATION:
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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
TYNDALL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gentleman,, send
greeting.
!
a.
…
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WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand.
eight hundred and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Tyndall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial license, full
power, solo privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Tyndall, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such person or persons as I, the
said Thomas Tyndall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should agree.
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon Tweed, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BUTTONS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that if I, the said Thomas Tyndall, should not particularly.
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner;
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,

page_text: and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large.appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Tyndall, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
This Improvement in the Manufacture of Buttons, and in the Machinery
or Apparatus for Manufacturing the same, consists in the construction and
use of a novel combination of mechanism constituting a machine, in which
buttons for clothes may be made with considerable expedition and in a more
perfect manner, both as to form and construction, than had been hitherto effected
by any means heretofore employed. The accompanying Drawings exhibit the
machine in several views upon a scale of one fifth the real size.
Figure 1 is a front view of the machine, shewing all parts that can be seen
on the front side, drawn geometrically. Figure 2, a back view of the same;
some of the parts being exhibited in section to shew the construction of the
Figure 3 is an end view, in which several of the parts
are seen that could not be rendered evident in the back and front views.
N.B. In these and the subsequent Figures of the Drawings the same letters
refer to the same parts of the machine.
machine more perfectly.
In order to render the construction and operation of this machine perfectly
evident, I shall first describe in a general way what kind of button it is intended
to produce. The machine is designed to manufacture metal buttons for clothes,
and also covered buttons for the same use, but with a peculiar sort of shank.
The shank for the back of the intended button is formed by raising a convexity
in the centre of a metallic disc with force, or any other number of holes.
formed in it, pierced and shaped in such a way as to form a straight passage
for the needle and thread (when sewing it on) through opposite holes parallel
to the face of the button, which piercing and forming of the metallic disc into
a shank is effected by a succession of moving dies. The face of the said
button is made from a disc or. circular piece of metal, or metal and cloth, or
any other suitable material, which are united together and to the shank, after
the ordinary manner of making shell buttons. And these operations are
effected in this machine through the agency of the carrying parts and the
several dies in the manner about to be described.
Previous to explaining the particular movements and operations of the
several parts of the mechanism, I think it desirable to point out the four

page_text: principle roots of action which are seated in the main shaft, and will be
seen by reference to the accompanying Drawings, A, A, A, being the main
rotatory shaft of the machine.
First, excentrics B, B, are fixed upon the shaft for the purpose of actuating
the upper die or punch box C, C, through the agency of the connecting
rods D, D.
Second, the excentrics E, E, (also fixed on the main shaft) for the purpose
of actuating the lower die or punch box F, F, through the agency of the con-
necting rods G, G.
Third, a cam H attached near the centre of the main shaft for the purpose
of driving the wheels I, K, L, M, and N, which carry the several parts that
are intended to constitute the button. This cam H drives the said wheels
through the agency of the curved lever O, the pall P, the ratchet wheel Q, the
shaft R, and the geer work S, T, U, V.
Fourth, cams W, W, fixed near the extremities of the main shaft for the
purpose of moving the frame X, X, which carries and feeds in the Florentine
or other material (wound upon the roller Y) of which the faces of covered
buttons are to be made, the movements of this frame or carriage being effected
through the agency of the vertical slides Z, Z, the right-angled levers a, a,
(connected to the slides,) the palls b, b, and the horizontal ratchets c and d
fixed to the said frame or carriage X, X.
Let it now be supposed that I am about to make that description of button
the face of which is covered with Florentine. The roll of Florentine is sus-
pended as at Y in the sliding frame or carriage X, the edge of the material
being drawn off the roll and placed between the feeding chaps e, f, seen in the
end view Figure 3, but more evidently in the auxiliary Figures 4 and 5. The
piece of Florentine is advanced about an inch and half beyond the feeding
chaps on to the feeding board g, its edge being introduced into a narrow slit
under the circular cutter or shears h; and here, it may be observed, that the
carriage, with the Florentine so placed, is intended to be slidden to and fro, by
the operations of the machine hereafter to be described, for the purpose of
cutting out ranges of circular pieces from the end of the Florentine.
Before commencing the description of my mode of making a button, it will
be necessary to explain the peculiar construction of the wheels I, K, L, M,
and N, and to point out their particular offices. For this purpose I must
refer to the auxiliary Figure 6, which represents the appearance of the said
wheels on the upper side, and, in which there are three different parts of the
button to be acted upon by. the several punches or dies, for the purpose of
forming, bringing together, and, uniting them. The wheel N is a circular

page_text: plate of metal, about a tenth of an inch thick, having four holes equi-distance
from the centre and from each other. These holes are formed with rabbets
round them, in which rings are fixed with chambered apertures corresponding
in size with the circular pieces of Florentine (a section of the chambered ring,
with a portion of the wheel N, is shewn full size at Figure 7). A disc of
Florentine, after having been cut out by the circular sheer h, is deposited in
the chambered ring of the wheel N, for the purpose of being conveyed into
the space between the wheels L and M, there to be united to the shell, which
shell is at the same time brought immediately over it by the wheel L. The
disc of metal, which is to constitute the shell of the button, is to be placed by
hand in the rabetted tube or drawing block i (see Figure 1), where it under-
goes the operation of what is technically called "drawing through" by the
descending punch, and is thereby deposited in the corresponding cylindrical
hole of the wheel M, and is carried by the rotation of the wheel into the
situation, where it is transferred to the wheel L to meet the disc of Florentine
before described. The disc of metal, of which the shank of the button is to be
formed, must be deposited in an elastic tube k (see Figures 1), where the
descending punch pushes it down into the corresponding hole of the wheel I,
and is, by the rotation of that wheel, conveyed to the wheel L to be united in
the lower wheel K with the shell and its covering of Florentine. The dic or
punch boxes being made to approach towards and recede from each other by
the rotation of the main shaft A, as before described, the faces of the upper
and lower series of punches 1, 2, 3, &c. &c., are brought together in the holes
of the wheels I, K, L, M, N, for the purpose of forming and uniting the parts
of the button in the following manner :-(The progress of the several parts of
the button being exhibited in the auxiliary group of Figures 8). A hole of
the wheel M, marked 1, receives the shell of metal from the drawing block i,
by the descent of the punch 1 fixed to the upper box C, and which in its
progress through the drawing block has its edge raised, as represented in the
auxiliary Figures 8 at the section No. 1, from whence it is carried round by
the wheel M to the next pair of dies or punches 2, and so on by the following
At every rotation of the main shaft A, the cam H drives the curved
lever O through about one fifth of a revolution; and the pall P, attached to
an arm extending downward from that curved lever, having hold of the
ratchet wheel Q, which has five teeth, consequently drives that wheel and its
shaft R round ono fifth of a revolution, the lever returning again as the cam
recedes by the power of a spring. This movement of the shaft R carries the
wheel I also one stage, that is, one fifth of a revolution forward; and the
toothed wheel S, at the lower end of the shaft R, taking into the wheel T,
means.

page_text: causes the train of toothed wheels T, U, and V, and their shafts, to be driven
round, and consequently at every movement of the bent lever O and its pall P
(that is, at every revolution of the main shaft), the carrying wheels I, K, L,
M, N, are moved one stage, by which the shells, covering picces, and shanks
are successively brought under the different dies, and the button completed.
The shell of the button, now advanced to the hole at 2, is by the approach of
the die boxes C, F, passed between the upper and lower dies 2,2; and its edge
is further bend round, that is, gathered in, as shewn in section in Figure 8,
At the next
No. 2, the upper die 2 being made concave, the lower one flat.
movement of the wheels, the shell is brought to the situation of the hole 3,
Figure 6, which coincides with a hole in the wheel L. The descent of the
upper punch 3 now pushes the shell out of the whell M into L, where it
remains ready to be carried at the next movement to be united to the disc of
Florentine. I have already stated that the disc of Florentine has been placed
in the chambered ring of the wheel N, at the hole marked 4 in Figure 6; it is
only therefore necessary to observe, that the movement of this wheel, by the
means before described, having brought the disc of Florentine to the situation
marked 5, Figure 6, the upper punch in its descent pushes the shell down,
carrying the disc of Florentine before it into the hole of the lower wheel K,
where the edges of the Florentine are turned up, enclosing the shell, as shewn
at No. 5, Figure 8.
. I now proceed, to explain the manner of preparing the shank, and of
bringing it forward to be united to the shell and covering. I stated above
that a disc of metal was to be deposited in the elastic tube k, Figure 1, for the
purpose of making the shank of the button. This disc is now forced down, by
where it is
the descent of the upper die 6, into the hole 6 of the wheel
pierced with four small holes by punches fixed in the upper die, as shewn at
No. 6, Figure 8. The next movement of the wheel I brings the shank-piece
to the situation 7, Figure 6, when, by the approach of the dies 7, 7, the holes
just pierced are now countersunk, and the central part of the disc raised, as seen
at No. 7, Figure 8. The next movement of the wheel I brings the shank to the
situation 8, where the dies pinching it raises the centre still higher, and
Another movement of the wheel I
rounds up the metal between the holes.
carries the shank to 9, Figure 6, the situation where the operation last
described is repeated, and the shank completed, as shown edgewise at No. 9,
Figure 8. The next movement of the wheels L, K, conducts the shell with
its covering to the situation 10, Figure 6, and at the same time the wheel I
brings the shank-piece also to the situation 10, immediately over the shell.

page_text: Here, on the approach of the dies 10, the edge of the Florentine is gathered
in over the edge of the shell. by a small apparatus about to be described, and
the shank-piece is introduced into the recess at the back part of the shell
carrying in the edges of the Florentine before it. This apparatus for gathering
in the edge of the Florentine is exhibited (of the full size) at No. 10, Figure 8,
where a portion of the wheel K is represented in section. Each hole of the
wheel K receives a metal box a, a, in which four vertical levers b, b, arc
mounted upon fulcrum pins. The upper ends of these levers are formed into
segments c, c, of a horizontal circle; the inner edges of which segments
embrace the shell and covering of the button, as shewn in the Figure. On
the approach of the lower punch 10, a conical collar fixed thereon comes
against the tails of the levers b, b, pressing them outwards; and the seg-
ments c, c, at the upper ends of the levers, consequently being forced inwards,
gather and compress the edge of the Florentine; at the same time the upper
punch 10 pushes the shank-piece out of the wheel I down upon the shell
and its covering, as shewn at No. 10, Figure 8, and forces it into the recess at
the back of the shell, by which means the edge of the Florentine is pushed in
under the bent-up edge of the shell, when by the pinching of the dies the
shank-piece towards its edge is flattened down and expanded within the shell,
which lock the several parts of the button together. The next movement of
the wheels brings the button into the situation 11, Figure 6, where the
approach of the dies firmly closes the parts and finishes the button. Another
movement of the wheels brings the button to 12, Figure 6, where the descent
of the punch 12 discharges it from the machine. Figure 9 is a horizontal
representation of one of the punch boxes, the sockets into which the stems of
the punches are inserted being cut through in section, in order to shew the
binders and their set screws by which the punches are fixed.
I shall now proceed to describe that part of the apparatus which is designed
for supplying or feeding, the machine with the Florentine and cutting out the
circular pieces or discs for covering the shells of the buttons in the way above
explained. The Florentine or other material, having been tightly and evenly
wound upon a roll is placed in the sliding carriage X, in the situation shewn
at Y in the back part of the machine.. The pivots or ends of the roller are
suspended upon levers 7, 1, mounted in the side standards of the carriage X,
and weights are attached to the levers for the purpose of pressing the roll of
Florentine tightly against the top. board. A portion of the Florentine is drawn
off the roll and laid evenly upon the feeding board g, having been passed
between the feeding chaps e, f. The carriage X is now slidden to the ex-

page_text: tremity of its range upon its railway m, m, m, at the back of the machine, one
corner, of the Florentine being passed into the slit in the cylindrical cutter h, a
particular description of which cutter is exhibited in the detached Figure 10.
The machine being now put in action, the descent of the upper punch box C
will cause the pin n, affixed to the punch box by a bracket, to come down
upon the top of the cylindrical cutter, and to force it through the Florentine so
as to cut out the disc and push it into the chambered ring of the wheel N, as
before said, and as will be evidently shewn in Figure 10.
The particular construction of the cutting cylinder requires now to be ex-
plained. It consists in the first place of an outer tube of cast iron, marked in the
Figures 2 and 3, which tube is firmly attached to the feeding board g. Within the
outer tube ha cylindrical tube o of steel is fixed, through both of which the
slit before mentioned is made for the Florentina to pass. Another thin tube of
steel (which is the cutter p) fitting closely within o, is made to slide up and
down with a spiral spring coiled round it as q, q, bearing against a shoulder at
top, by which means the cutter p is kept up; within this cutter a cylindrical
punch is fitted, and is also kept up by a strong spiral spring s. These are the
situations of the parts of the cutter previous to the piece of Florentine being
cut out. It will now be perceived that by the descent of the upper punch
box C, the pin n will be brought down upon the top of the punch r, forcing it
and the cutter p through the Florentine, the steel tubes o and p acting together
as shears. The disc of Florentine having been thus cut out, the further descent
of the cutter p and punch r carries the disc to the bottom of the tube o, below
which one of the chambered rings in the wheel N is situated. The cutter has
been thus passed to the bottom of the tube, and is stopped there by the
shoulder at its coming in contact with the top of the outer cylinder, but the
punch r, being supported by the spring s, is allowed to pass a little further, by
which means the disc of Florentine is carried out of the tube and deposited in
the chambered ring below. Having cut the first disc of Florentine from the
corner of the piece spread upon the feeding board, other discs in the range
are cut out in the same way, the carriage being shifted in a lateral direction
after the rising of the cutter at every rotation of the main shaft by the follow-
ing means: Near the extremities of the main shaft A there are cams W, W,
acting on the slides Z, Z, as shewn in Figure 3, by means of which the sliders
are made to ascend and descend at every rotation of the main shaft. To the
lower, extremities of these sliders right-angled levers a, a, are attached by joints,
and to the longer arms of the right-angle levers palls b, b, are connected also
by joints, which palls take into two horizontal rachetts c, d, fixed to the sliding
frame
or carriage X, X, and which are most evidently seen in the back view

page_text: of the machine, Figure 2. It will now be seen by the rotation of the main
shaft the cams W, W, raise and depress the sliders,, and the sliders as
they ascend and descend cause the right-angled levers a to vibrate upon their
Now there
fulcrum pins, and consequently to slide the palls b, b, to and fro.
is a contrivance that will be explained below by which one of the palls will be
lifted up out of the ratchet while the joint of the other pall is lowered into
the teeth of the ratchet, consequently only one of the palls will be in action at
one time. It will be seen in the same back view, Figure 2, that the pall at
the left hand is the one which is in operation, and that by the vibrating action
of the right-angled lever the point of the pall has been made to move the sliding
frame X by a series of strokes, a tooth at a time. The carriage with the Floren.
tine having by the successive movements before described reached its greatest
extent to the left hand, one of the arms stands exactly over one of the small
levers a*, and in this situation the next descent of the punch box C causes the
lever a to raise the arms, which overdraws a catch from the back of the
upper feeding chap e, and allows that chap to be thrown back with its frame
The distance
by the force of a spring e, as shewn in the auxiliary Figo 4.
to which this chap recedes must be regulated by a screw *, according to the
breadth of the required disc. The edges of the feeding chaps are furnished
with fine points, standing in inclined positions, as shewn full size in the section
Figs. 5, 5, 5, for the purpose of taking hold of the Florentine. In order to
bring forward the Florentine for a new range, the chap e, which has fallen back,
must be again brought up, as at Fig. 3, which is done at the first return of
the carriage by the small arm e, at the back of the frame, passing over the
inclined plane f* placed in the middle of the back of the machine, as shewn
about to take place in the detached Figure 11, and the upper chap being
thus thrown up to its former position is there again held by the catch b*.
I have described the whole of the process of and all the parts of the
machine suited to the making of covered buttons, but I also make in the same
It is, however,
machine metal buttons of the kind called shell buttons.
necessary to observe that in the manufacture of shell buttons formed entirely
of metal, there will require no other alteration in the machine than the
omission of those parts which have been described as applying to the feeding
and conducting of the Florentine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Tyndall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
THO (L.S.) TYNDALL.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Third day of June, in the ninth
year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fourth, the said Thomas
Tyndall came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
5 and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year
of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-eight.