According to another plan, the button consists of two parts, a head and a shank, held together by a spring of indiarubber or other material. The head pieee is provided with a slot in the centre passing quite through the head, and a cross slot passing not quite through. Thc shank consists of a foot-plate, with an upright stem and cross-piece. When the button is to be attached, tbe cross piece is put through the slot till it presses on the spring ; it is then given a quarter-turn, and falls into the other slot where the spring bolds it. By reversing the operation, it can be taken out.
Sometirnes one or more spiral metallic springs are used to effect the same purpose.
To obviate the button-hole from cutting through the thread which fastens the button on, the button is sometimes made as shown in Fig. 458: a a is the base of contact of the button with the material ; the annular surfaee to receive the button-hole ; o, a flange to retain the button in the button-hole ; d, a circular projection to prevent rubbing the thread. Holes are made through the bottom for fastening, as usual. The button may be of any material, and either naked or covered.
An improved linen button consists of a metallic blank having two holes for sewing on to the dress, which is laid in a recessed die or bed having a corresponding recess for the linen disc ; a sheet with an interior flange is then laid on the linen, and finally the baok is put on the interior of the shell, and the whole is " closed up." The button is more durable than the ordinary form, and the cotton or thread, lying beneath the surface, is prevented from cutting in the wear.
A form of solid leather button designed to strengthen the shanks and prevent their getting loose and coming out, consists of a fixed metallic plate or collar on the underside of the button, which plate is provided with a slot or hole in the centre through which the bow is passed. In the aot of fixing the plate or collar on the underside of the button, the button is provided with a recess round the shank, into which the collar is dropped 8,nd firmly held by the pressure employed in the construction of the button. A substitute for shanks is composed of metallic prongs of round wire, or cut from sheet metal, secured to the head of the button in the same way as the shank, and varying in number. If preferred, a metallic collar may be used in combination with the prongs and placed outside them. The latter are then put through the collar in the act of fastening the button on the material, and the prongs are turned down within the collar aud firmly driven in, as shown in Fig. 459, A and B.
A proposal for doing away with the stiffness in fastening buttons is to have a ball and socket joint, the end of the shank being spherical, and moving in a hemispherical hollow, giving it a certain amount of flexibility.
The last button that will be noticed is that shown in Fig. 460. It is formed as usual, except that the.underside is made with a projecting neck, having a hole in the centre. On each side of the neck, is a slot in which slides a catch consisting of a slotted slide piece. The fastener is composed of a stem of metal with a flange or collet at the lower end, the other end being pointed or coned and shaped with a groove at a short distance from the end. The figure shows the under
side of the button with the catch ; a, the underside of the button ; b, projecting neck ; c, hole in the centre of neck ; c, slotted catch sliding in the slots in the neck. The slot e' is enlarged at one end, f corresponding with the hole c. The diameter of the stem of the fastener allows it to pass freely, but without shake, through c and f.
Seat of the Industry. —The principal button factories are distributed, in about the following pro portions, in and around the towns named :—London, 58; Birmingham, 161; Paris, 140 ; Brussels, 5 ; Vienna, metallic 15, porcelain 5, shirt 6, silk 11 ; Prague, several ; 49 ; Barmen, 29 ; Liidenschied, 14; Elberfeld, 9 ; Hamburg, 5; Stuttgart, 6 ; Darmstadt, 3 ; Offenbach on Main, 3 ; Lubeck, 2 ; Breslau, 2 ; United States, 55, principally in New York (19)8,nd Philadelphia (13). There are also several factories at Lyons, and oue at Milan.
As regards the home manufacture, Birmingham turns out principally metallic buttons, and exports large quantities of linen shirt-buttons to France, though unable to compete with her in some other classes. It produces also some few glass buttons, and consumes about 15 to 20 tons of Corozo nut a week, for making vegetable ivory buttons. For pear] button-makiag, it uses about 2 tons weekly of the best shells, and perhaps 20 tons of the inferior sorts. France manufactures far more buttons than we do. She exports immense quantities of wooden button moulds to this country, and is kmown for bone, pearl, vegetable ivory, and glass varieties, the chief factories being concentrated in some three or four towns distant 40 to 60 miles north of Paris. A few years since, France enjoyed almost a monopoly for porcelain buttons ; but bince the destruotion of Orleans by the Germans the trade has gone Rhinewards. Germany (including Austria) exports more buttons than France and England combined, supplying the markets of America, as well as those of northern, eastern, and southern Europe. She excels in cheap articles with a good outward appearance. Vienna is known for pearl buttons, eclipsing Birmingham in that branch, and several German towns have taken up the porcelain button-making, which does not seem to have made its way across the Atlantic as yet. Prague is now the great emporium for porc,elain buttons. One works there possesses fourteen machines, costing only about 25L each, which turn out individually an average of 1600 buttons a minute. The great bulk of the glass buttons, t,00, are made in Bohemia, where the cheapness of labour and raw material enables them to produce a good article at an absurdly low figure—about 11d. per 20,000, it is said.
Imports and Exports.—The values of the imports of all kinds of buttons, excepting metallic buttons, for the year 1878 were, from Holland, 405,210/. ; France, 192,236/. ; Germany, 32,309/.; other countries, 3551/. The value of all buttons (save metallic) exported from the United Kingdom to all countries, in 1878, was 7222/.
(See Bone; Celluloid ; Glass; Ivory ; Nuts; Pearl and Coral ; Pottery.)