BUTTON. 



fliaken off by jerking tTie whale violently in a kind of eartlien 

 colander made for the purpofe ; and they are then ready for 

 rtcciving the amalgam. 



The "amalgam is made hy heating a quantity of grain 

 gold with meicnry in an iron ladle, by which means the 

 former is foon diffolvcd, and the whole is then poured into 

 a veffcl of cold water. The fuperabundant mercury is 

 |}ron"ly pveffed out through a piece of chamois leather, and 

 the lemaining amalgam, which is of about the confidence of 

 butter, is then tit for a])plication. 



This is performed by ilirring the buttons, whofe furfaces 



are already thinly covered, or wetted with mercury, in an 



eartlien velfel with the rcquifite proportion ot amalgam and 



The former a f nail quantity of diluted nitric acid, by which means the 



iV cem'r^ily'iifed for yellow buttons, and the latter amalgam alfo attaches itielf to their furfaces with a confider- 



fe of white metal. able degree of equality. The neceffary quantity of gold is 



about five grains to a grofs of buttons of an inch in dia- 



very ftir fxceed the limits of a woik like the prcfcnt if we 

 were to ertcr into all the details of fo multifarious a bufintfs 

 89 this : we (hall therefore only trace a few outlines of the 

 proctffes mofl ordinarily in ufe. 



Of the manufaflure of mdji lultons. Tliefe are originally 

 formed in two d.ffcrenl ways ; the blanks are either pierced 

 out of a large ftiect of metal with a punch driven by a fly- 

 prefs, or call in a pair of fla(l<s of moderate fi/e, containing 

 lo or 1^ do7en each. In this latter cafe, the (lianks are 

 prcvioufly fixed in the fand, txaftly in the centre of the im- 

 prtlTion lormed by each pattern, fo as to have their extremi- 

 ties immcrfcd in the uKlled n.etal when poured into the 

 flallt, by which means they arc conrcquci.tly f^n^V^ ''"■^'^ 

 in the button when cooled. See Fousdery. ""' 

 procef; 

 for iho 



We Ihall firll give an intlance of the former mode of pro- 

 cedure as ufed in the manufailure of gilt buttons. The 

 gilding metal is an alloy of copper and zinc, containing a 

 fmaller proportion of the latter than ordinary braf?, and is 

 made cither %y fufing together the copper and zinc, or by 

 fufiiig brafs with the rcquifite additional proportion of cop- 

 per. This metal is firll rolled into (beets of the intended 

 thicknefs of the button, and the blanks are then pierced out 

 as before mentioned. The blanks thus foimed, are, when 

 intended for plain buttons, ufually planiilicd by a fingle 

 ftroke of a plain die driven by the fame engine, the fly- 

 prefs : when for ornamented buttons, the figure is frequently 

 alfo Uruck in like manner by an appropriate die, though 

 there are others which are ornamented by hand. The flianks, 

 which are made with wonderful facility and expedition by 

 means of a very curious engine, are then temporarily attached 

 to the bottom of each bucton by a wire clamp like a pair of 

 fugar-tongs, and a fmall quantity of folder and refin apphed 

 to each. They are in this (late cxpofed to heat on an iron 

 plate containing about a grofs, till the folder runs, and the 

 (hank becomes fixed to the button, after wliich, they are 

 put fingly in a lathe, and their edges turned off fmoothly. 



The iMrface of the metal, wdiich has become in a fmall 

 degree oxidated by the aAion of the heat in foldering, is 



next to be cleaned, which, in this, as in a great vaiiety of ton-maker of Birmingham 



meter. 



The next procefs is the volatilifation of the mercury by 

 heat, which is ufually called by tlie workmen drying off. 

 This is performed by firft heating the buttons in an iron 

 pan, fomewhat hke a large frying pan, till the amalgara 

 with which they are covered becomes fluid, and fecms dif- 

 pofed to run into drops, on which they are thrown into a 

 large felt cap, called a gih.iv.g cap, made of coarfe wool and 

 goat's hair, and iHrred about with a brudi to equalize the 

 covering of the furface by the gold. After this, they are 

 again heated, again thrown into the gilding cap and ftirred, 

 and thefe operations fucccfTively repeated till the whole of 

 the mercury is volatilifed. This part of the procefs, as 

 will readily be conceived, is extremely unwholefome, and has 

 the moil terrible effefts on the conllitution of the workmen, 

 fo that it \\'0uld be no fmall defideratum, (and it does not 

 feem to be difficult), conveniently to effedl this agitation and 

 friclion of the heated buttons in a covered vefTcl ; in which 

 cafe alfo, though of inferior im.portance, the volatilifed mer- 

 cury might be faved. For preventing the walle and injury 

 attending this procefs, an apparatus rcfembling that deline- 

 ated in P/a/f II. Alifcellany, Jig. \.\\2ii bsen partially and 

 fuccefsfully adopted by Mr. Mark Sanders, an eminent but- 



other inftances in the manufadlure of metallic articles, is ef- 

 fefted by the procefs of dipping or piiiii/ig ; that is, forne 

 dozens of them are put into an earthen vellel pierced full of 

 holes like a colander ; the whole dipped into a veffel of di- 

 luted nitric acid ; fulTered to drain for a few feconds ; again 

 dipped fucceffively into four or five other veffels of pure wa- 

 ter, and then dried. 



The next operation is the rough Inirnl/jytng, wliich is per- 

 formed by fixing the buttons in the lathe, and applying a 



'A hearth of the ufual height is to be erefled, in the 

 middle of which a capacity for the fire is to be made ; but 

 inftead of permitting the fmoke to afcend into the top A, 

 made of (heet or call iron, through which the mercury is 

 volatilifed, a flue for that purpofe fhould be condufted back- 

 wards to the chimney B. An iron plate, thick enough to 

 contain heat fuffieient to volatilife the mercury, is to cover 

 the fire-place at the top of the hearth C. There muft be an 

 a(h-hole, D, under the fire-place. The fqiiare fpace E, feea 



burnidier of hard black Hone from Derbylhire : the minute in the fire-place, is the flue, which ferves to carry the fmoke 

 pores occafiontd by the fucceffive aftlon of the heat and the back under the hearth into the chimney B. The door of 

 acid arc thus clofed, and the fvibfequeiit procefs of gilding the fire-place and a(h-pit may either be in front, as repre- 

 confiderably improved, both with regard to economy and fented in the plate, or at the end of the hearth at F, which 

 pcrfedlion. will perhaps Icfs incommode the work people. It would 



The fird (lep towards the gilding of all the alloys of cop- be of great advantage if the fpace between A and the iron 

 per conGlls m covering the furface uniformly with a thin plate C was covered up with a glafs window coming down 

 ftratum of mercury, by which means the amalgam, which fo low as only to leave fuffieient room for moving the pan 

 is afterwards applied, attaches itfelf to it much more rea- backwards and forwards with faclHty. If the fides were 

 dily than it would otherwlfe do. This part of the procefs alfo glafs inftead of brick-work it would be flill better, as 

 is called quiciing, and is cfieAed by flirrlng the buttons the work-people would be able to have a full view of their 

 about with a brudi in a vtffcl containing a quantity of nitric work without being expofed to the fumes of the mercury, 

 *cid fuperfaturated with mercury ; which latter is, ofcourfe, which, when volatilifed by heat communicated to the pan 

 by the fuperior elective attradtion of the copper for the acid, by the heated iron plate over the fire-place, would afcend 

 precipitated in its metaUic ftate on the buttons, whofe fur- into the top A, appropriated for its reception, and defcend 

 faces become uniformly and brilliantly covered with it. The into the tub G, covered at top and filled pretty high with 

 mercury which hangs in loofe drops on the buttons is then water. By this oieans the hearth would, in fat't, become a 



3 diftilling 



