BUTTON. 
metal is first rolled into sheets of the in- 
tended thickness of tlie button, and the 
blanks are then pierced out as before men- 
tioned. The blanks thus formed are, when 
intended for plain buttons, usually planish- 
ed by a single stroke of a plain die driven 
by the same engine, the fly-press : when 
for ornamented buttons, the figure is fre- 
quently also struck in like manner by an 
appropriate die, though there are others 
which are ornamented by hand. The shanks, 
which are made with wonderful facility and 
expedition by means of a very curious engine, 
are than temporarily attached to the bot- 
tom of each button by a wire clamp like a 
pair of sugar-tongs, and a small quantity of 
solder and resin applied to each. They are 
in this state exposed to heat on an iron 
plate containing about a gross, till the sol- 
der runs, and the shank becomes fixed to 
the button, after which they are put singly 
in a lathe, and their edges turned off 
smoothly. The surface of the metal, which 
has become in a small degree oxydated by 
the action of the heat in soldering, is next 
to be cleaned, wlf ch in this, as in a great va- 
riety of other instances in the manufacture 
of metallic articles, is effected by the pro- 
cess of dipping or pickling ; that is, some 
dozens of them are put into an earthen ves- 
vsel, pierced full of holes like a cullender ; 
the whole dipped into a vessel of diluted 
nitric acid ; suffered to drain for a few se- 
conds, again dipped successively into four 
or five other vessels of pure water, and 
then dried. 
The next operation is the rough burnish- 
ing, which is performed by fixing the but- 
tons in the lathe, and applying a burnisher 
of hard black stone from Derbyshire : the 
minute pores occasioned by the successive 
action of the heat and the acid are thus 
closed, and the subsequent process of gild- 
ing considerably improved, both with re- 
gard to economy and perfection. The 
first step towards the gilding of all the al- 
loys of copper consists in covering the sur- 
face uniformly with a thin stratum of mer- 
cury, by which means the amalgam, which 
is afterwards applied, attaches itself to it 
much more readily than it would otherwise 
do. This part of the process is called 
qiiicking, and is effected by stirring the 
buttons about with a brush, in a vessel con- 
taining a quantity of nitric acid supersa- 
turated with mercury, which latter is, of 
course, by the superior elective attraction 
of the copper for the acid, precipitated in 
its metallic state on the buttons, whose 
surfaces become uniformly and brilliantly 
covered with it. The mercury, which 
hangs in loose drops on the buttons, is then 
shaken off, by jerking the whole violently 
in a kind of eartlien cullender made for the 
purpose, and they are then ready for re- 
ceiving the amalgam. The amalgam is 
made by heating a quantity of grain gold 
with mercury in an iron ladle, by which 
means the former is soon dissolved, and the 
whole is then poured into a vessel of cold 
water. The superabundant mercury is 
strongly pressed out through a piece of 
chamois leather, and the remaining amal- 
gam, which is of about the consistencepf but- 
ter, is tlien fit for application. This is per- 
formed by stirring the buttons, v/hose sur- 
faces are already thinly covered or wetted 
with mercury, in an earthen vessel, with 
the requisite proportion of amalgam and a 
small quantity of diluted nitric acid, by which 
means the amalgam also attaches itself to 
their surfaces with a considerable degree of 
equality. The necessary quantity of gold 
is about five grains to a gross of buttons of 
an inch in diameter. 
The next process is the volatilization of 
the mercury by heat, which is usually called 
by the workmen drying off. This is per- 
formed by first heating the buttons in an 
iron pan, somewhat like a large frying-pan, 
till the amalgam with which they are co- 
vered becomes fluid, and seems disposed to 
run into drops, on which they are thrown 
into a large felt cap, called a gilding cap, 
made of coarse wool and goats’ hair, and 
stirred about with a brush to equalize the 
covering of the surface by the gold. After 
this they are again heated, again thrown 
into the gilding cap, and stirred, and these 
operations successively repeated till the 
whole of the mercury is volatilized. When 
the mercury is volatilized from the buttons, 
or, as the workmen denominate it, when 
the buttons are dried off, they are finally 
burnislied, and are then finished and lit for 
carding. 
The white metal buttons, which are 
composed of brass, alloyed with different 
proportions of tin, after having been cast as 
before mentioned, are polished by turning 
them in a lathe, and applying successively 
pieces of buffalo skin glued on wood, 
charged with powdered grindstone and oil, 
rotten stone, and crocus martis. They are 
tlien white-boiled, that is, boiled with a 
quantity of grain tin in a solution of crude 
red tartar, or argol, and, lastly, finished 
with a buff with finely prepared crocus.^ ■ 
