Buttons without shanks are of two kinds; the first are simply discs of horn, bone, wood, or other material, with four holes drilled through the face, for the purpose of sewing them to the garment. Horn buttons of this description are made from cow-hoofs by pressing them into heated moulds. The hoofs having been boiled in water until they are soft, are first cut into plates of the requisite thickness, and after into squares of the size of the diameter of the button, and afterwards reduced to an octagonal form by cutting off the corners. They are then dyed black by immersing them in a cauldron of logwood and copperas mixed. A quantity of moulds somewhat resembling bullet moulds, and each furnished with a number of steel dies, are then heated a little above the point of boiling water, and one of the octagonal pieces of horn is placed between each pair of dies, and the mould being shut is compressed in a small screw press, and in a few minutes, the horn becoming softened by the heat, receives the impression of the die, after which the edges are clipped off by shears, and then rounded in a lathe. The holes in buttons of this description are drilled by means of a lathe, represented in the annexed engraving. Four spindles, of which two only a a can be seen, are supported in bearings at b, and by the centre points cc are made to revolve with great velocity by means of two bands d passing over pulleys e e fixed upon each of the spindles, each band driving two spindles, and receiving motion from a wheel worked by a treadle. At the end of each of the spindles a, Is a hook uniting them to four other spindles f f by similar hooks at one end, the other end of the spindles passing through four small holes in the plate g, and the projecting points being formed into small drills. The button is placed in a concave rest h, and pushed forward against the drills by a piece of wood. The standard g can be exchanged for another with holes more or less apart, and the rest h can be set at any height to suit different sized buttons. As the spindle holes in the plate g are nearer together than the holes in the standard b, the spindles f f converge; the hooks in the spindles are therefore necessary to form a universal joint. ihe second descrip don of buttons without shanks consists of thin discs of wood or bone called moulds, covered with silk, cloth, or other similar materials. The bone for the moulds is made from reibse chips of bone sawn into thin flakes, and brought into a circular form by two operations, illustrated by the accompanying engraving. On one end of the spindle a, which revolves in bearings at b b, is screwed a tool c, and on the other are two collars d d, between which a forked lever e embraces the shaft, the fulcrum of which is at f. The spindle a is put in rapid motion by a band g passing over the pulley h, and over a band wheel worked by a treadle; and the workman, holding the material i for the mould In his right hand, against a piece of wood k firmly held down in the iron standard 1 by two screws, by means of the lever held in his left hand, he advances the tool c against the material i of the mould ; the central pin of the tool drills a hole through the centre of the intended mould, whilst the other two points describe a deep circle cutting half through the thickness of the material, and the flat surface is cut smooth by the intermediate parts of the tool. The tool is then
drawn back a little by the lever e, and the material shifted to bring a fresh portion of the surface opposite the tool, and when as many moulds as the plate of the material will afford, are thus half cut through, the other side is presented to the tool, and the central point of it being inserted in the hole made in the first part of the operation, the other two teeth cut another deep circle exactly opposite the former one through the remaining substance of the material, and the mould is left sticking on the tool ; by drawing back the lever e the tool recedes, and the mould, meeting a fixed iron plate, is pushed off the tool, and falls into a small box m.
Covered buttons having come into very general use, various improvements have been introduced in the manufacture of them, and patents for this purpose have been granted to various parties, as Sanders, Needham, Aingworth, Church, and others. The following is Mr. Sanders' method of making covered buttons : a piece of the material with which the mould is to be covered is cut of a circular shape, somewhat larger than the intended button; upon this is placed a disc of card of the exact size of the button, and next a disc of paper coated with an adhesive composition, which will become soft and sticky by heat ; and upon these is laid a button mould i having four holes, through which threads or strings have been passed to form the flexible shank. These circular discs being put together, are then laid over a cylindrical hole in a metal block a; this hole being exactly the size of the intended button, and the covering of the button being larger than the hole, when the discs are pushed down into the bole, the material of the covering will wrinkle up on the edges round the other discs. The tube b b is then introduced into the cylindrical hole, and its lower edge being bevilled inwards, will, as it is pressed down, gather the plates of the cloth on the edge of the button ; towards the centre is a metal ring or collar c, having teeth round its edge; somewhat like a crown saw is now passed down the tube b, and driven with considerable force by the punch d and the block a having been previously heated, the adhesive matter will be softened, and cause the several discs to stick together, which, when taken out and become cold, will be very firm and retain its shape.