RUT 



1GD 



B U X 



an ash-hole D under the lire-- place. The- il u k square 

 in tin- lii>- [.!.! , i tin- line which 

 tin- smoke kick mid' i tin: he.-.rth into 

 ! . ;-::d 



. ,t, may cither In- in front or at thr end c.t the 

 lic.uth at V, which will prill. i[ 

 the work people. Tin- space between A, and the 

 iron plate C, is covered up with a ;d is , window, 

 coining down so low as only to leave sufficient r> 

 for moving tlu- pan backwards and forw.nds with fa- 

 cility. It the sides were also glass instead of brick- 

 work, it would be still better ; as. the work people 

 would be able to have a full view of their work, 

 without being exposed to the fumes of the mercury, 

 which, when volatilised by heat communicated to 

 the pan by the heated iron plate over the fire-place, 

 ascends into the top A, appropriated for its recep- 

 tion, and descends into the tub G, covered at top, 

 and filled pretty high with water. By this means, 

 the hearth would in fact become a distilling appa- 

 ratus for condensing and recovering the volatilised 

 mercury. In the tub G, the principal part would 

 be recovered ; for, of what may still pass on, a part 

 would be condensed in ascending the tube Hi and 

 fall back, while the remainder would be effectually 

 caught in the tube or cask I, open at the top and 

 partly filled with water. The latter tub should be 

 on the outside of the building, and the descend ng 

 branch of the tube H should go down into it at least 

 18 inches, but not into the water. The chimney or 

 ash-pit should be furnished with a damper to regulate 

 the heat of the fire. 



The water may be occasionally drawn out of the 

 tube by a siphon ; and the mercury, clogged with 

 heterogeneous matter, may be triturated in a piece of 

 flannel till it passes through, or placed in a pan of sheet 

 iron, like a dripping-pan, in a sufficient degree of 

 ht-dt, and having such an inclination, that the mer- 

 cury, as it gets warm, may run down and unite in 

 the lower part of the pan. But the mercury will be 

 most effectually recovered, by exposing the residuum 

 left in the flannel bag to distillation, in a retort made 

 of iron or earthen ware. 



Plated buttons are stamped by the fly press, out 

 of copper plate, covered on one side with silver, at 

 the flatting-mill. The copper side is placed upwards 

 in stamping, and the die or hole through which they 

 are stamped, is rather chamfered at its edge, to make 

 the silver turn over the edge of the button. The 

 backs are stamped in the same manner as the gilt 

 buttons. TJhe ehanks are soldered on with silver 

 solder, and heated one by one in the flame of a lamp, 

 with a blow-pipe, urged by bellows. The edges are 

 now filed smooth in the lathe, cure being taken not to 

 remove any of the silver which is turned over ihe 

 edge. They are next dipped in acid to clean the 

 backs, and boiled in cream of tartar and silver, to 

 whiten the backs ; after which, they are burnished, 

 the backs being first brushed clean by a brush held 

 against them as they revolve in the lathe. The 

 mode of burnishing is the same as for gilt buttons, 

 but- Cup buttons, either plated or gilt, are made of 

 two pieces, viz. a common flat button with a shank, 

 and a small hemisphere fixed on in front. These 

 hemispheres are punched out by the fly-press, and 



VOL. V. PART I. 



^ 



i, turn- 1 in a chuck lathe, U> re 

 tin- 'ie plain ' ade as before de- 



, the edge of thr 



cup to hold it fait. These 



l,i;io., , a- it and burnished in the same 



manner as plain ones. Buttons with a hoop or , 

 j<-ctiiig ring round their edge, are done in the same 



Button shanks arc made from brass or iron wire, Button 

 bent and cut by the following means: The wire is h*nk* 

 lapped spirally round a piece of steel bar A, Fig. 8. 

 the section of which is shewn at a. The steel is 

 turned round by screwing it into the end of the spindle 

 of a lathe, and the wire by this means lapped close 

 round it, till it is covered from one end to the other. 

 The coil of wire B, thus formed, is slipped off, and 

 a wire-fork C put into it. It is now liid upon an 

 anvil, and by a punch the coil of wire is struck 

 down between the two branches of the fork C, so as 

 to be in the state of D. The punch has an edge 

 which marks the middle d, and the coil being cut 

 open by a pair of sheers along this mark, divides each 

 turn of the coil into two perfect button shanks. . 

 method is so simple and expeditious, that an im- 

 provement can scarcely be conceived ; but an inge- 

 nious mechanic at Birmingham, has lately invented a 

 most curious machine to supersede this part of the 

 labour. This machine, by the simple operation of 

 turning a winch, supplies itself with wire from a rcei, 

 and delivers it cut and bent to the proper figure of 

 the shank. Each turn of the winch forms a shank, 

 and the motion is so easy that a boy can drive one 

 machine. The inventor has a very small steam en- 

 gine, which works several machines in the same room, 

 producing shanks in immense quantities, at an in- 

 considerable cxpence in addition to the value of the 

 metal. To attempt any description of this ingeni- 

 ous but complicated little machine, would be ineffec- 

 tual, without numerous figures ; and to give such 

 drawings, would be altogether impossible in a work 

 so limited as ouro. See Encyclopedic Mtt/iodiijuc, 

 Art. IJoutotinier, for an account ot the French me- 

 thod of making button moulds. An account of Clay's 

 patent buttons will be found in the Itcptrtory of 

 Arts, vol. xii. p. 241 ; and an account ot Barnett's 

 patent buttons, in the same work, vol. xiii. p. i>6S. 



(J.F.) 



BUXBAUMIA, a genus of plants of the class 

 Cryptogamia, and order Musci. See CRYPTOX;A- 



M1A. 



BUXTON, a village in Derbyshire, much cele- 

 brated for its mineral waters, lies in a barren valley, 

 surrounded with bleak and uncultivated mountains, 

 about thirty two miles north of Derby. In describing 

 the approach to this, place, a modern writer remarks: 

 " All before us appeared the most forlorn nakedness; 

 and had we not observed some marks of human in- 

 dustry in the stone divisions of the fields, we should 

 have conceived that the country round was one wide 

 extent of hopeless sterility." The handsome ap- 

 pearance ot the tow n, however, and the comfortable 

 accommodation of its inns, in some measure repay its 

 visitors for the dreariness of its vicinity. A magni- 

 ficent range of buildings, in the form of a crescent, 

 has been erected within the last thirty years by the 



