BUTTON. 



167 



iultim- 

 inakiug. 



F. 



in each for the reception of the button. The spin- 

 dle, like D, is pressed forwards by a spring applied 

 to the lever ej\ so as to hold the button fast between 



them, and turn it round while it is filed. When a 

 button is finished, the attendant, without stopping 

 the lathe, pushes the handle g, Fig. 1., which sepa- 

 rates the spindle, and the button drops into the box 

 F beneath ; another is put in, and held fast to be 

 turned round the moment the handle g is released. 

 Some horn buttons have shanks, which are put in be- 

 fore they are pressed, by children, who drill a small 

 hole in the horn, and insert the shank. The mould 

 has, of course, a cavity to receive the shank ; and the 

 pressing closes the horn about it so effectually, that it 

 will not come out. The manner of making these shanks 

 will be soon described. Other buttons, called sailors' 

 buttons, have in place of shanks four holes drilled 

 through them, by presenting them to a lathe, the up- 

 per part of which is shewn Fig. 8. It has four paral- 

 lel spindles fl, , a, a, all turning together by the same 

 foot- wheel, by means of two straps e,f, each of which 

 turns two spindles. At the end of the four spindles, 

 is a hook, uniting them with four other spindles 6, h, 

 which are supported by passing through holes in a 

 metal standard A ; and their points projecting be- 

 yond this, are formed into small drills. The spindles 

 A are necessarily placed at some distance asunder, to 

 admit the pulleys tor the straps ; but the hooks act- 

 ing as universal joints, allow the ends of the drills 6 

 to come very near to each other. The button is pla- 

 ced in a concave rest B, and thrust against the drills 

 by a piece of wood. The standard A can be chan- 

 ged for another with more distant holes, to suit lar- 

 ger buttons ; and the rest B can be elevated or depres- 

 sed for the same purpose. The frame and foot-wheel 

 are similar to Fig. 1. The roughness produced by 

 drilling these holes, is removed by shaking a number 

 of buttons in a flannel bag. In horn buttons the pat- 

 tern is formed by the impression of the moulds ; but 

 some plain horn buttons are very prettily ornamented 

 after pressing, by holding over them a thin plate of 

 brass, which has a pattern cut out in it, then rubbing 

 the button with dry emery powder, the face of the 

 button is scratched to a dead colour where the brass 

 plate is cut out, leaving the figure of the pattern in a 

 fine black polished surface. The horn-presser's 

 chips are sold for manure, for almost the same price 

 as the same quantity of the hoofs costs ; other chips 

 are used to make hartshorn ; and the drill-dust and 

 filings are used by file-makers, in hardening these 

 articles. 



Metal buttons are formed of an inferior kind of 

 brass, pewter, and other metallic compositions : the 

 shanks are made of brass or iron wire, the formation 

 of which is a distinct trade. The buttons are made 

 by casting them round the shank. For this purpose, 

 the workman has a pattern of metal, consisting of a 

 great number of circular buttons, connected together 

 in one plane, by very small bars from one to the next ; 

 and the pattern contains from four to twelve dozen 

 of buttons, of the same size. An impression from 

 this pattern is taken in sand, in the usual manner; and 

 shanks arc pressed into the sand in the centre of each 

 impression, the part which is to enter the metal being 

 left projecting above the surface of the sand. The 



buttons are now cast from a mixture of brass and tin ; Button- 

 sometimes a small proportion of zinc is added, which "taking, 

 is found useful in causing the metal to flow freely in- 

 to the mould, and make a sharp casting. When the 

 buttons are cast, they are cleaned from the sand by 

 brushing ; they are then broken asunder, and carried 

 to a second workman at the lathe, who inserts the 

 shank of a button into a chuck of a proper figure, 

 in which it is retained by the back centre of the 

 lathe being pressed against the button with a spring. 

 The circumference is now, by filing it as it turns 

 round, reduced to a true circle ; and the button is 

 instantly released, by the workman's holding back the 

 back centre, and is replaced by another. A third work- Turning. 

 man now turns the back of the button smooth, in a 

 chuck lathe, and makes the projecting part round the 

 shank true ; and a fourth renders the face of the bat* 

 ton smooth, by placing it in a chuck, and applying 

 the angle of a square bar of steel across its centre. 

 As this tool is used without any rest, much time is 

 saved by the workman not being necessitated to turn 

 the button perfectly flat; as the tool, being only held 

 in the hand, will accommodate itself to a trifling devia- 

 tion from the truth. The sixth operation is polish- Poliihinj. 

 ing the buttons. The shanks are held in a piece of 

 wood, and the face is rubbed on a board covered 

 with leather, and spread with powder of rotten stone 

 and oil, and afterwards with a finer powder. The 

 last polish is now given by applying the button light- 

 ly to the flat surface of a buff or circular board, turn- 

 ed by the lathe ; it is covered with soft leather, and 

 dressed with exceedingly fine powder of rottenstone. 

 These polishings are performed by women, and finish Boiling, 

 the buttons, except that they are to be boiled or ren- 

 dered white. For this purpose, melted tin is poured 

 into cold water, and by this means granulated. A 

 quantity of cream of tartar, diluted with water, is 

 put into a boiler, and the tin added to it ; the boiling 

 causes part of the tin to be dissolved ; and the but- 

 tons being let down into the liquor upon a wire gra- 

 ting, part of the tin attaches itself to the surface of 

 the, buttons, rendering them white, and retaining their 

 former polish. This method of .washing with tin is 

 very good, and the wash remains a long time upon 

 the buttons. 



Gilt Buttons are stamped out from copper, (having Gilt but- 

 sometimes a small alloy of zinc,) laminated in the ton. 

 flatting mill to the proper thickness. The stamp is 

 urged by a fly-press, which cuts them out at one 

 stroke. These circular pieces, called blanks, are an- 

 nealed in a furnace, to soften them ; and the maker's 

 name, &c. is struck on the back by a stamp, which 

 is a machine very similar to a pile engine. The stamp 

 also renders the face very slightly convex, that the 

 buttons may not stick together in the gilding pro- 

 cess. 



The shanks are next to be soldered on. For this Soldering, 

 purpose, each blank is provided with a small spring, 

 similar to a pair of tweezers, which holds a shank 

 down in a proper position upon each ; a small quan- 

 tity of spelter and borax, mixed together with water, 

 is placed round each shank, and ten or twelve dozen 

 in this state are introduced, upon a large iron shovel, 

 or peel, into an oven, heated sufficiently to fuse the 

 solder. When this happens, they arc withdrawn from 



