Wool and woollen cloths must be boiled with one eighth their weight of
alum and sulpho-tartrate of iron (see this article); afterwards washed,
and winced through the madder bath, which dyes the portion of the stuff
imbued with the alum red, and that with the salt of iron black; the tint
depending upon the proportion of each, and the duration of the madder
bath.
A similar brown is produced by boiling every pound of the stuff with two
ounces of alum, and one ounce of common salt, and then dyeing it in a
bath of logwood containing either sulphotartrate, acetate, or sulphate
of iron. Or the stuff may be boiled with alum and tartar, dyed up in a
madder bath, and then run through a black bath of iron mordant and galls
or sumach. Here the black tint is added to the red till the proper hue
be hit. The brown may be produced also by adding some iron liquor to the
madder bath, after the stuff has been dyed up in it with alum and
tartar. A better brown of this kind is obtained by boiling every pound
of wool with 2 ounces of alum, dyeing it up in cochineal, then changing
the crimson thus given into brown, by turning the stuff through the bath
after acetate of iron has been added to it. Instead of the cochineal,
archil or cutbear, with a little galls or sumach, may be used.
Wool or silk may also receive a light blue ground from the indigo vat,
then be mordanted with alum, washed, and turned through a madder bath
till the wished-for brown be brought out. For the deeper shades, galls
or sumach may be added to the paler Brazil-wood, with more or less iron
mordant. Instead of the indigo vat, Saxon blue may be employed to ground
the stuff before dyeing it with madder, or 5 pounds of madder, with 1
pound of alum, a solution of one tenth of a pound of indigo in sulphuric
acid, may be used with the proper quantity of water for 20 pounds of
wool; for dark shades some iron mordant may be added. Or we may combine
a bath of cochineal or cutbear, fustic, and galls, and add to it
sulphate of iron and sulphate of indigo, blunted with a little potash.
If we boil woollen cloth with alum and tartar, then pass it through a
madder bath, and afterwards through one of weld or fustic, containing
more or less iron mordant, we obtain shades variable, according to the
proportions of the materials, from _mordoré_ and cinnamon to chesnut
brown.
After the same manner, bronze colours may be obtained from the union of
olive dyes with red. For 25 pounds of cloth, we take 4 pounds of fustic
chips, boil them for 2 hours, turn the cloth in this bath for an hour,
and drain it; then add to the bath from 4 to 6 ounces of sulphate of
iron, and 1 pound of ordinary madder, or 2 pounds of sandal wood; put
the cloth again in this compound bath, and turn it through, till the
desired shade be obtained. By changing the proportions, and adding an
iron mordant, other tints may be produced.
This mode of dyeing is suitable for silk, but with three different
baths, one of logwood, one of Brazil-wood, and one of fustic. The silk,
after being boiled with soap, is to be alumed, and then dyed up in a
bath compounded of these three decoctions, mixed in the requisite
proportions. By the addition of walnut peels, sulphate of copper, and a
little sulphate of iron, or by passing the silk through a bath of
annotto, a variety of brown shades may be had.
Or the silk may receive an annotto ground, and then be passed through a
bath of logwood or Brazil-wood. For 10 pounds of silk, 6 ounces of
annotto are to be taken, and dissolved with 18 ounces of potashes in
boiling water. The silk must be winced through this solution for 2
hours, then wrung out, dried, next alumed, passed through a bath of
Brazil-wood, and finally through a bath of logwood containing some
sulphate of iron. It is to be wrung out and dried.
Brown of different shades is imparted to cotton and linen, by
impregnating them with a mixed mordant of acetates of alumina and iron,
and then dyeing them up, either with madder alone, or with madder and
fustic. When the aluminous mordant predominates, the madder gives an
amaranth tint. For horse-chesnut brown, the cotton must be galled,
plunged into a black bath, then into a bath of sulphate of copper, next
dyed up in a decoction of fustic, wrung out, passed through a strong
madder bath, then through the sulphate of copper solution, and finished
with a soap boil. Different shades of cinnamon are obtained, when
cottons first dyed up with madder get an olive cast with iron liquor in
a fustic bath.
These cinnamon and mordoré shades are also produced by dyeing them first
in a bath of weld and verdigris, passing them through a solution of
sulphate of iron, wringing and drying them; next putting them through a
bath containing 1 pound of galls for 10 pounds of stuff, again drying,
next aluming, and maddering. They must be brightened by a boil in soap
water.
A superior brown is produced by like means upon cotton goods, which have
undergone the oiling process of the Turkey red dye. Such stuffs must be
galled, mordanted with alum (see MADDER), sulphate of iron, and acetate
of lead (equal to 2/3 of the alum); after washing and drying, dyed in a
madder bath, and cleared with a soap boil. The tint of brown varies with
the proportion of alum and sulphate of iron.
We perceive from these examples, in how many ways the browning of dyes
may be modified, upon what principles they are founded, and how we have
it in our power to turn the shade more or less towards red, black,
yellow, blue, &c.
Brown may be produced by direct dyes. The decoction of oak bark dyes
wool a fast brown of different shades, according to the concentration of
the bath. The colour is more lively with the addition of alum.
The decoction of bastard marjoram (_Origanum vulgare_) dyes cotton and
linen a reddish brown, with acetate of alumina. Wool takes from it a
dark brown.
The bark of the mangrove tree (_Rizophora mangle_) affords to wool
boiled with alum and tartar a fine red brown colour, which, with the
addition of sulphate of iron, passes into a fast chocolate.
The _Bablah_, the pods of the East Indian _Mimosa cineraria_, and the
African _Mimosa nilotica_, gives cotton a brown with acetate or sulphate
of copper.
The root of the white sea rose (_Nymphæa alba_) gives to cotton and wool
beautiful shades of brown. A mordant of sulphate of iron and zinc is
first given, and then the wool is turned through the decoction of the
root, till the wished-for shade is obtained. The cotton must be
mordanted with a mixture of the acetates of iron and zinc.
Walnut peels (_Juglans regia_), when ripe, contain a dark brown dye
stuff, which communicates a permanent colour to wool. The older the
infusion or decoction of the peels, the better dye does it make. The
stuff is dyed in the lukewarm bath, and needs no mordant, though it
becomes brighter with alum. Or this dye may be combined with the madder
or fustic bath, to give varieties of shade. For dyeing silk, this bath
should be hardly lukewarm, for fear of causing inequality of colour.
The peelings of horse-chesnuts may be used for the same purpose. With
muriate of tin they give a bronze colour, and with acetate of lead a
reddish brown.
Catechu gives cotton a permanent brown dye, as also a bronze, and
mordoré, when its solution in hot water is combined with acetate or
sulphate of copper, or when the stuff is previously mordanted with the
acetates of copper and alumina mixed, sometimes with a little iron
liquor, rinsed, dried, and dyed up, the bath being at a boiling heat.
Ferrocyanate of copper gives a yellow brown or a bronze to cotton and
silk.
The brown colour called _carmelite_ by the French is produced by one
pound of catechu to four ounces of verdigris, with five ounces of
muriate of ammonia.--The bronze (_solitaire_) is given by passing the
stuff through a solution of muriate or sulphate of manganese, with a
little tartaric acid, drying, passing through a potash lye at 4° Baumé,
brightening and fixing with solution of chloride of lime.
BRUSHES. (_Brosses_, Fr.; _Bürsten_, Germ.) Mr. T. Mason obtained a
patent in October, 1830, for an improvement in the manufacture of this
article. It consists in a firmer mode of fixing the knots or small
bundles of hair into the stock or the handle of the brush. This is done
by forming grooves in the stocks of the brushes, for the purpose of
receiving the ends of the knots of hair, instead of the holes drilled
into the wood, as in brushes of the common constructions. These grooves
are to be formed like a dovetail, or wider at the bottom than the top;
and when the ends of the knots of hair have been dipped into cement,
they are to be placed in the grooves and compressed into an oval form,
by which the ends of the hair will be pressed outwards into the recess
or wider part of the dovetailed groove, or the grooves may be formed
with threads or teeth on the sides, instead of being dovetailed; and the
cement and hairs being pressed into the teeth or threads, will cause
them to adhere firmly to the stock or handle of the brush.
[Illustration: 182 183 184]
A metal ferrule may be placed on the outside of the stock of the brush,
if necessary, and secured by pins or rivets, or in any other convenient
manner, which ferrule may also form one side of the outer groove. _Fig._
182. is a plan view of the stock of a round brush; _fig._ 183. is a
section of the same; _a a_ are the dovetailed grooves, which are turned
out of the wood; _b_ is the metal ferrule; _c c_ are knots or small
bundles of hair, to form the brush. After a number of the knots of hair
are prepared, the ends are to be dipped into proper cement, and then
placed into the grooves, when their ends are to be squeezed by a pair of
plyers, or other means, which will compress them into the oval shape, as
shown in _fig._ 184., and cause the ends of the hairs to extend outward
under the dovetailed part of the recess.
The knots of hair are to be successively placed in the grooves, and
forced up by a tool against the last knot put in, and so on, until the
grooves are filled; _fig._ 184. is a section taken through a brush with
teeth or threads of a screw formed upon the sides of the groove; into
these teeth or threads the cement and hairs will be forced by the
compression, by which means they will be held firmly in the stock of the
brush.
BUTTER. (_Beurre_, Fr.; _Butter_, Germ.) Milk contains a fatty matter of
more or less consistency, modified very much according to the nature of
the animals which afford it. This substance is butter, held suspended in
the milk by means of the caseous matter and whey, with which it is
intimately blended. Milk is a true emulsion resulting from the mixture
of these three ingredients, owing its opacity and white colour to the
diffusion through it of that butyraceous oil. When any circumstance
dissolves this union, each component becomes insulated, and manifests
its peculiar properties. Milk, even left to itself, at a temperature of
from 50° to 60° F., separates spontaneously into several products. A
layer of a fatter, more consistent, but lighter nature, floats upon its
surface, while the subjacent liquid forms a white magma, which retains
among its curdy flocks all the whey of the milk. The upper layer or
cream contains nearly the whole of the butter; but a portion remains
entangled with the curd and whey below.
It belongs to a work on husbandry or rural economy to treat fully of the
operations of the dairy; one of the principal of which is the extraction
of butter from milk.
The Tartars and French have been long in the habit of preserving butter,
by melting it with a moderate heat, whereby are coagulated the
albuminous and curdy matters remaining in it, which are very
putrescible. This fusion should be made by a heat of a water bath, about
176° F., continued for some time, to effect the more complete
purification of the butter. If in this settled liquified state it be
carefully decanted, strained through a tammy cloth, and slightly salted,
it may be kept for a long time nearly fresh, without becoming in any
degree rancid, more especially if it be put up in small jars closely
covered.
BUTTER OF CACAO. See CACAO and OILS.
BUTTON MANUFACTURE. This art is divided into several branches,
constituting so many distinct trades. Horn, leather, bone, and wood, are
the substances frequently employed for buttons, which are either plain,
or covered with silk, mohair thread, or other ornamental materials. The
most durable and ornamental buttons are made of various metals,
polished, or covered with an exceedingly thin wash, as it is termed, of
some more valuable metal, chiefly tin, silver, and gold.
Those buttons intended to be covered with silk, &c. are termed, in
general, moulds. They are small circles, perforated in the centre, and
made from those refuse chips of bone which are too small for other
purposes. These chips, which, for the large and coarser buttons, are
pieces of hard wood, are sawn into thin flakes, of an equal thickness;
from which, by a machine, the button moulds are cut out at two
operations.
The shavings, sawdust, and more minute fragments, are used by
manufacturers of cutlery and iron toys, in the operations of
case-hardening; so that not the smallest waste takes place.
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 are 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; sometimes a small proportion of zinc is added, which is found
useful in causing the metal to flow freely into 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 centre,
and is replaced by another. A third workman 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 button smooth, by
placing it in a chuck, and applying the edge of a square bar of steel
across its centre.
Gilt buttons are stamped out from copper, (having sometimes a small
alloy of zinc,) laminated in the 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 annealed in a furnace to
soften them; and the maker’s name, &c. is struck on the back by a
monkey, which is a machine very similar to a pile-engine. This stamp
also renders the face very slightly convex, that the buttons may not
stick together in the gilding process. The shanks are next soldered on.
The burnishing is performed by a piece of hematites or blood-stone,
fixed into a handle, and applied to the button as it revolves by the
motion of the lathe.
A great number of the buttons, thus prepared for gilding, are put into
an earthen pan, with the proper quantity of gold to cover them[14],
amalgamated with mercury in the following manner:--The gold is put into
an iron ladle, and a small quantity of mercury added to it; the ladle is
held over the fire, till the gold and mercury are perfectly united. This
amalgam being put into the pan with the buttons, as much aquafortis,
diluted with water, as will wet them all over, is thrown in, and they
are stirred up with a brush, till the acid, by its affinity to the
copper, carries the amalgam to every part of its surface, covering it
with the appearance of silver. When this is perfected, the acid is
washed away with clean water. This process by the workman is called
quicking.
[14] By act of parliament 5 grains of gold are allotted for the
purpose of gilding 144 buttons, though they may be tolerably well gilt
by half that quantity. In this last case, the thickness would be about
the 214,000th part of an inch.
The old process in gilding buttons, called the drying off, was
exceedingly pernicious to the operator, as he inhaled the vapour of the
mercury, which is well known to be a violent poison. In order to obviate
this, the following plan of apparatus has been employed with success.
The vapour, as it rises from the pan of buttons heated by a charcoal
fire, is conducted into an oblong iron flue or gallery, gently sloped
downwards, having at its end a small vertical tube dipping into a water
cistern, for condensing the mercury, and a large vertical pipe for
promoting the draught of the products of the combustion.
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. The shanks 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, care being taken not to
remove any of the silver which is turned over the edge. They are next
dipped in acid, to clean the backs, and boiled in cream of tartar and
silver, to whiten them; 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.
Button shanks are made by hand from brass or iron wire, bent and cut by
the following means:--
The wire is lapped spirally round a piece of steel bar. 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. The
coil of wire thus formed is slipped off, and a wire fork or staple with
parallel legs put into it. It is now laid upon an anvil, and by a punch
the coil of wire is struck down between the two prongs of the fork, so
as to form a figure 8, a little open in the middle. The punch has an
edge which marks the middle of the 8, and the coil being cut open by a
pair of shears along this mark, divides each turn of the coil into two
perfect button shanks or eyes.
[Illustration: 185 186 187 188 189]
Mr. Holmes, of Birmingham, obtained in May, 1833, a patent for an
improved construction of buttons. _Fig._ 185. represents the outside
appearance of one of his improved shanks, as raised or formed out of the
disc of metal which is to constitute the back of the button; _fig._
186. an edge view, looking through the shank or loop; _fig._ 187. is
another edge view, looking at the raised shank or loop endways; _fig._
188. is a section taken through the shank and disc in the direction of
the dotted line A B, in _fig._ 185.; and _fig._ 189. another section
taken in the direction of the dotted line C D, in _fig._ 185. All these
figures of his improved shanks, as well as those hereinafter described,
together with the tools used to form the same, are drawn at about half
the real size, to show the parts more distinctly. It will be seen that
the shanks or loops _a a_ are formed by partially cutting and raising,
or forcing up a portion of the metal disc or back _b_, and are
compressed or formed by the action of the tools, or punches and dies, so
as to have a rounded figure on the inside of the top part of the shank,
as at _c_, the edges of the metal being turned so as to prevent them
cutting the threads by which the button is fastened to the cloth or
garment. It will be observed that, there being but one passage or way
through which the thread can be passed to sew on the button, and that
opening being rounded on all edges, will cause the threads to keep in
the centre of the shanks, the form of the shank allowing a much neater
attachment to the garment, and keeping the threads from the edges of the
metal. The ends of the shank, or portions _e e_, which rise up from the
disc or back _b_, are made nearly circular, in order to avoid presenting
any edges of the metal to the sides of the button-hole; and when the
shank is sewed on the cloth, it forms, in conjunction with the threads,
a round attachment, thereby preventing the shank from cutting or wearing
the button-hole: the threads, when the shank is properly sewed to the
garment, nearly filling up the opening through the shank, and completing
that portion of the circle which has been taken out of the shank by the
dies in forming the crescented parts of the loop. It will be therefore
understood that the intention is, that the inside edges of the shank
should be turned as much as possible away from the threads by which the
button is sewed on the cloth, and that the outside of the shank should
be formed so as to present rounded surfaces to the button-hole, and that
the thread should fill up the opening through the shank, so as to
produce a round attachment to the garment. It should here be observed,
that the backs of the buttons shown in these figures are of the shape
generally used for buttons covered with Florentine or other fabric, or
faced with plates of thin metal, and are intended to have the edges of a
disc, or what is termed a shell, forming the face, to be closed in upon
the inclined or bevelled edges of the backs. Having now described the
peculiar form of the improved shanks which he prefers, for buttons to be
covered with Florentine or other fabric, or shells of thin metal plate,
he proceeds to describe some of the different variations from the same.
[Illustration: 190 191 192 193 194 195 196]
_Fig._ 190. is a representation of a shank, the cut through the disc or
back being effected by a parallel rib on the die, and corresponding
groove in the shaping punch, instead of the semi-circular or crescented
cut shown in _fig._ 185.; _fig._ 191. is a view of another shank, the
separation of the sides of the loop being performed by straight edges in
both punch and die. He prefers finishing this shaped shank (that is,
giving it the rounded form, to prevent its cutting the threads), by
detached punches, and dies, or pincers, as will be hereinafter
described. _Fig._ 192. is a representation of one of the improved
shanks, which has merely portions, _f f_, of the back of the button
connected to its ends. This shank may be used for buttons which have a
metal shell to be closed in upon the bevelled edges of the ends, or the
shank piece may be otherwise connected to the face part of the button.
_Fig._ 193. is a representation of a shank raised out of a small disc of
metal _g g_, intended to be soldered to the disc of metal forming the
button, or it may be otherwise fixed to the back; _fig._ 194. is a
representation of another shank for the same purpose, having only
portions of metal _h h_, for soldering or otherwise attaching it to the
back of the button, as by placing a ring or annular piece over it
forming the back, which shall be confined to the face, as before
described; _fig._ 195. is a representation of a shank raised upon a dish
or bevelled piece of metal, and is intended to be used for buttons made
from pearl-shell, horn, wood, paper, or other substances. The back part
of the button has a dovetailed recess formed in it to receive the
dish-shaped back, which is pressed into the recess, the edges of the
dish being expanded in the dovetailed parts of the recess by the
ordinary means, and thereby firmly fixing it to the button, as shown in
_fig._ 196.
[Illustration: 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204]
Having now explained the peculiar forms of his improved shanks, he
proceeds to describe the tools, or punches and dies, by which he cuts
the disc or back from out of a sheet of metal, and at the same operation
produces and forms the shank complete. _Fig._ 197. is a longitudinal
section taken through a pair of dies and punches when separated; _fig._
198. is a similar section, taken when they are put together, and in the
act of forming a shank after cutting out the disc or back of the button
from a sheet of metal; _fig._ 199. is a face view of the punch; and
_fig._ 200. is a similar representation of the counter die, with the
tools complete, _a_ is the punch or cutter, and _b_ the counter bed, by
the circular edges of which the disc of metal is cut out of the sheet;
_c_ is a die, fixed in the cutter _a_, (upon which the name of the
button-maker may be engraved). _Fig._ 201. is a face view of this die
when removed out of the punch; _d_ is the counter die to the die _c_. It
will be perceived that these dies _c_ and _d_, together with the punch
and bed, compress the disc of metal into the form required for the back
of the button; that shown in the figures, as before stated, is of the
shape used for buttons to be covered with Florentine or thin plate
metal, in a round shell closed in upon the inclined or bevelled edge of
the back; _e_ is the cutting and shaping punch of the shank, which is
fixed within the counter die; this punch cuts through the metal of the
disc, and forms the shank as the dies approach nearer together, by
raising or forcing it up into the recess or opening in the die _c_,
where it is met by the end of another shaping punch _f_, fixed in the
punch _a_, which compresses the upper part of the shank into the recess
_g_, in the end of the punch _e_, thereby giving the shank its rounded
figure, and at the same time forming the other part of the shank into
the required shape, as described at _figs._ 185. to 189. The ends of
these shaping punches fit into and over each other, as will be seen by
the detached figures of the punches designed for forming the shank first
described. _Fig._ 202. is a representation of the punches when apart and
removed out of the dies; _fig._ 203. is a longitudinal section of the
same; _fig._ 204. is another view of the punches as seen on the top. The
sharp edge of the recess _h_, in the punch _e_, comes in contact with
the cutting edges of the projecting rib _i_, of the die _c_, and thereby
cuts through so much of the metal as is required. The edge _k_ of this
die keeps the outside ends of the shank of a spherical figure, as before
explained, while the punches force up the metal, and form the elevated
loop or shank: _u u_ are holes made through the counter die _d_, for the
passage of clearing pins, which force out the shank or back piece from
the counter die when finished; the operation of which will be shown when
describing the machinery hereafter. There are adjusting screws at the
back of the punches and dies, by which they can be regulated and brought
to their proper position one to the other.
[Illustration: 205]
Although he has shown the punches which form his improved shanks, fixed
into and working in conjunction with the punch and dies which cut out
and shape the discs of metal for the back of the button, yet he does not
intend to confine himself to that mode of using them, as flat blanks or
discs for the backs of buttons may be cut out in a separate stamping
press, and afterwards shaped in the same press or in another, and then
brought under the operation of the punches which form his improved
shanks, fixed in any suitable press. This last-mentioned mode of
producing button shanks and backs he prefers when such metals are
employed as require annealing between the operations of shaping the
backs and forming the shank. _Fig._ 205. is a section taken through a
pair of dies, in which the operation only of forming the shank is to be
performed, the backs being previously shaped in another press. In this
instance the punches _e_ and _f_ are mounted in guide-pieces _m_ and
_n_, which keep them in the proper position towards each other, the die
c being mounted in the piece _n_, and acting against the face of the
guide _m_. The blanks or backs of the buttons may be fed into these dies
by hand or any other means; and after the shank is formed, the finished
back can be pushed out of the lower die by clearing rods passed through
the holes _u u_, and removed by hand, or in any convenient manner.
[Illustration: 206 207 208 209]
When his improved shanks are formed out of iron or other metal which is
too brittle to allow of the shank being forced up and finished at one
operation in the dies and punches, he prefers cutting out and shaping
the blank or back of the button first, and after annealing it, to raise
or force up the portion of metal to form the shank into the shape shown
in _fig._ 206., that is, without the edges of the metal being turned to
prevent their cutting the threads, and after again annealing it, to bend
or turn the edges into the shape shown in _fig._ 191. by means of
suitable punches in another press, or by a pair of pincers and punch as
shown in _fig._ 207., which is a side view of a small apparatus to be
used for turning the edges of the shank by hand, with a partly formed
shank seen under operation. _a_, is the upper jaw of a pair of pincers,
this jaw being fixed on to the head of the standard _b_; the under jaw
_c_, is formed by the end of the lever or handle _d_, which has its
fulcrum in the standard _b_. _e_, is a small punch, passed through a
guide hole in the head of the standard, one end projecting into the jaws
of the pincers, the other against a piece _f_, attached by a joint to
the lever _d_, and working through a slot in the head of the standard;
this piece _f_, has an inclined plane on the side next the end of the
punch, which, in its descent, projects the punch forward against the top
of the loop of the shank, (placed at _g_,) as the pincers are closed by
forcing down the lever _d_, and, in conjunction with the jaws of the
pincers, compresses the shank into the required form, as shown at _h_,
and in the enlarged _fig._ 191. A spring, _i_, acts against a pin fixed
into the punch _e_, for the purpose of bringing it back as the jaws open
after forming a shank. _Figs._ 208. and 209. represent the face and
section of the dies mentioned before, for cutting the slits in the
discs, as at _fig._ 190.
[Illustration: 210]
[Illustration: 211]
[Illustration: 212]
[Illustration: 213 214]
Having explained the peculiar forms of his improved metallic shanks for
buttons, and the tools employed in making the same, he proceeds to
describe the machinery or apparatus by which he intends to carry his
invention into effect. He proposes to take a sheet of metal, say about
30 or 40 feet long, and of the proper width and thickness; which thin
sheet is to be wound upon a roller, and placed above the machine, so
that it can be easily drawn down into the machine as required for
feeding the punches and dies. _Fig._ 210. is a plan view of a machine,
intended to work any convenient number of sets of punches and dies
placed in rows. Eleven sets of punches and dies are represented, each
set being constructed as described under _figs._ 197 to 204; _fig._ 211.
is a side view, and _fig._ 212. a longitudinal section, taken through
the machine; _figs._ 213. and 214. are transverse sections taken through
the machine between the punches and counter dies, _fig._ 213.
representing its appearance at the face of the punches, and _fig._ 214.
the opposite view of the counter dies. _a a_, are the punches; _b b_,
the counter dies; each being mounted in rows in the steel plates _c c_,
fixed upon two strong bars _d_ and _e_, by countersunk screws and nuts,
the punches and dies being retained in their proper position by the
plates, which are screwed on to the front of the steel plates, and press
against the collars of the punches and dies. The bars _d_ and _e_ are
both mounted on the guide-pins _g g_, fixed in the heads _h h_ of the
frame, which guide pins pass through the bosses on the ends of the bars.
The bar _d_ is stationary upon the guide pins, being fixed to the heads
_h h_, by nuts and screws passed through ears cast on their bosses. The
bar _e_ slides freely upon the guide pins _g g_, as it is moved
backwards and forwards by the crank _i i_, and connecting-rods _j j_, as
the crank shaft revolves. The sheet of thin iron to be operated upon is
placed, as before stated, above the machine; its end being brought down
as at _a a_, and passed between the guide rod and clearing-plate _k_,
and between the pair of feeding-rollers _l l_, which, by revolving, draw
down a further portion of the sheet of metal between the punches and
dies, after each operation of the punches.
As the counter dies advance towards the punches, they first come in
contact with the sheet of metal to be operated upon; and after having
produced the pressure which cuts out the discs, the perforations of the
sheet are pushed on to the ends of the punches by the counter dies; and
in order that the sheet may be allowed to advance, the carriage which
supports the axles of the feeding-rollers, with the guide rod and
clearing-plate, are made to slide by means of the pin _m_, which works
in a slot in the sliding-piece _n_, bearing the axis of the
feeding-roller _l l_, the slide _n_, being kept in its place on the
frame work by dovetailed guides shown in _fig._ 214.
When the counter dies have advanced near to the sheet of metal, the pin
_m_ comes in contact with that end of the slot in the piece _n_, which
is next to the punches, and forces the carriage with feed-rollers and
clearing-plate, and also the sheet of metal, onwards, as the dies are
advanced by the reaction of the cranks; and after they have cut out the
discs, and raised the shanks, the sheet of metal will remain upon the
punches; and when the bar _e_ returns, the finished backs and shanks are
forced out of the counter dies, by the clearing-pins and rods _o o_,
which project through the bar _e_, and through the holes before
mentioned in the counter dies; these clearing-pins being stationary
between the bars _p p_, mounted upon the standard _q q_, on the cross
bar of the frame, as shown in _figs._ 210., 212., 213. Immediately after
this is done, the pins _m_ come in contact with the other ends of the
slots in the pieces _n_, and draw back the feeding-rollers _l l_,
together with the clearing-plate _k_, and the sheet of metal, away from
the punches into the position represented in the figures.
At this time the feeding of the metal into the machine is effected by a
crank-pin _r_, on the end of the crank-shafts coming in contact with the
bent end of the sliding-bar _s_, supported in standards _t t_; and as
the crank-shaft revolves, this pin _r_ forces the bar _s_ forward, and
causes the tooth or pall _u_, on its reverse end, to drive the
racket-wheel _v_, one or more teeth; and as the racket-wheel _v_ is
fixed on to the end of the axle of one of the rollers _l_, it will cause
that roller to revolve; and by means of the pair of spur-pinions on the
other ends of the axles of the feeding-rollers, they will both revolve
simultaneously, and thereby draw down the sheet of metal into the
machine. It will be perceived that the standards which support the
clearing-plate and guide-bar are carried by the axles of the feeding
rollers, and partake of their sliding motion: also that the
clearing-pins _o_, are made adjustable between the bars _p_, to
correspond with the counter dies. There is an adjustable sliding stop
_x_ upon the bar _s_, which comes in contact with the back standard _t_,
and prevents the bar _s_ sliding back too far, and consequently
regulates the quantity of sheet metal to be fed into the machine by the
pall and ratchet-wheel, in order to suit different sizes of punches and
dies. In case the weight of the bar _c_, carrying the counter dies,
should wear upon its bearings, the guide pins _g g_, have small
friction-rollers _y y_, shown under the bosses of this bar, which
friction-rollers run upon adjustable beds or planes _z z_, by which
means the guide pins may be partially relieved from the weight of the
bar _c_, and the friction consequently diminished.