BUTTONS. (FR., Bouton ; GER., Knopf.) Buttons may be said to mark the difference between ancient and modern styles of dress. The ancients, like the Easterns of to-day who have not put off old costumes for new, delighted in loose and flowing robes, rather flung around the body than deliberately put on ; but from the time of the Roman toga downwards, there has been a gradual departure from the antiquated dress in the countries of the West, and the fate of loose robes was sealed by the invention of buttons about a century and a half ago. The first end to which buttons were applied was that of ornament, and consequently in their earliest forms they were splendid and costly ; but mon soon recognized their utility as a fastening for garments, which might thue be ruade less incommodious by reason of their fitting the person closely.
It would bo difficult to enumerate all the substances which of late years have been made to con tribute to the manufacture of buttons ; but chief among them may be named gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, steel, brass, pewter, pearl, tortoiseshell, shell, ivory, bone, born, hoof, hair, silk, Florentine (satin), linen, cotton, velvet, c,loth, indiarubber, guttapercha, vukanite, wood, amber, jet, glass, porcelain, enamel, c,lay, precious stones, leather, papier-machd, betel nut, vegetable ivory, or Corozo nut, and Manton's patent mineral earth as a substitute far the last named.
Metal Buttons.—These are made in two ways, either with a metallic shank for attachment to the garment, or perforated to admit the passage of the thread through the button itself. In the former case, they are usually manufactured by punching discs, out of sheet brass containing somewhat less zinc than ordinary brass, trimming the edges to remove the " bur," and planishing the faces under the action of a hammer to form the face of the button. This is embossed at the same moment that the maker's name is stamped on the back by means of cameo and intaglio dies. The shanks axe formed of wire, which is run out by machine and cut off in sections of the proper length by a pair of shears, while a stud descends on the middle of the detached section, and forces it between the jaws of a vice, which give it the form of a staple or loop. It is then levelled by a blow from a small hammer, and dropped into a box. About a hundred of these shanks are taken out at a time and placed in position on the discs for which they are intended, being retained for the moment by a bent strip of flat iron. A scrap of solder is laid at the foot of each shank, and the whole set are then put on an iron plate, aud heated in an oven till the solder melte. On cooling again, it fixes tho shank, and forme a backing to the button. Each button is then turned separately in a lathe specially adapted, and afterwards gilt, electroplated, or tinned, as may be required. When the face only receives a plating, the buttons are known as " tops " ; when the whole is thus treated, they are called " all-overs." Though the gilding is exceedingly thin, it will receive a polish with agate or bloodstone burnisher.
Metal buttons witliout shanks are turned out by stamping simply.
Cast buttons are produced by suspending number of loops of wire—the shanks, with their ends expanded, in inapressions in a mould, and pouring in the hot metal around them. When cold, the buttons axe freed from sand, and chucked and turned in a lathe, when they are ready to receive polish or plating.
Livery buttons are now probably the only oues on which the die-sinker is employed, they being the last remaining trace of the ornamental application of buttons.
Covered Metal Buttons.—These consist of three essential parts—the metal framing, the textile covering, and the stuffing. The metal employed is exceedingly thin sheet iron, k-nown as " taggere," made in plates measuring 14 in. by 10 in. The thickness generally used is No. 36 or 38, and the quality varies with the choice of the manufacturer. This is first scaled, the scales befog removed by acid in order to preserve the tools, and then passed under a special punch. This punch is double, the outer portion cutting a circular blank of proper size, while an inner punch descends and forces the blank on to a die, so that its periphery is turned upwards, or so that the entire blank is rendered hemispherical in shape. These " shells " are next annealed in an ordinary furna,ce, and then conveyed to a horizontal revolving barrel, where they are tumbled with sawdust till thoroughly cleansed from all dust and grease. The under portion of the " shell," known as the " collet," is a somewhat smaller disc than the face, and is stamped out in an almost precisely similar manner, the inner part being punched out, leaving it with an annular shape. As the under side of the button is exposed, one face of the collet is japanned. A circular piece of the textile fabric to be used for covering the button is cut out by a die of the proper dimensions, and a pad or stuffing made of soft paper, silk, and thread (or sometimes of specially prepared paste-board covered with a bit of canvas) is punched into shape and fitted into the vacant space between the two metallic discs—face and collet. The discs, stuffing, and cover are united to make the finished button, by stamping them in a press with concave and con vex dies, the shank of soft material, through which the needle is passed laterally, protruding through the aperture in the collet. The press used in finishing the button is shown in Fig. 430. A is a fixed mandrel, B a sleeve thereon supported by a spring C. On the upper mandrel D, is another sleeve E, sustained by a catch F. The lower face of the mandrel D is hollowed, and a projecting annular portion of the upper sleeve enters a, corresponding portion of the lower one E. In using the machine, a shell is placed over the lower mandrel, and above it is laid the textile covering. The workman then causes the upper mandrel to descend, by which the covering is pressed down around the shell, and, by the return upward movement, both covering and shell are carried up inside the sleeve E. Then is inserted the annular piece G, provided with a cavity suitable for receiving the combined collet, tuft-piece or shank, and stuffing, the last being uppermost. The upper mandrel is again brought dovvn, and the shell is thus forced into the collet with its accessories, the covering being at the same moment turned under. This particular form of button is called " iron-back," aud is shown in its finished state in the figure. In another variety of the same class, known as " silk-back," the face consists ef shell and cover, while the back is composed of four layers :—A concave circular piece of taggers iron somewhat smaller than the shell, a paste board blank, a canvas blank, and outside of all a silk blank. These are put together in the manner already de scribed, and then a nipple for attachment to the garraent is made by a press.