Pin-back button
A pin-back button or pinback button, pin button, button badge or simply pin-back, is a button or badge that can be temporarily fastened to the surface of a garment using a safety pin, or a pin formed from wire, a clutch or other mechanism. This fastening mechanism is anchored to the back side of a button-shaped metal disk, either flat or concave, which leaves an area on the front of the button to carry an image or printed message. The word is commonly associated with a campaign button used in the United States and abroad during a political campaign. The first design for a pin-back button in the United States was patented in 1896, and contemporary buttons have many of the same design features.
History
Political buttons have been used in the United States since the first presidential inauguration in 1789, when George Washington's supporters wore buttons imprinted with a slogan. These early political buttons were sewn to the lapel of a coat or worn as a pendant on a string.[1] The first campaign buttons with photographs were produced to promote the political platform of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.[1]
Benjamin S. Whitehead patented the first innovation to the design in 1893 by inserting a sheet of transparent film made of celluloid over the artwork in a badge to protect the image from scratches and abrasion.[2] Whitehead has several previous patents for various designs for ornamental badges patented as early as 1892.[3] Another patent was issued to Augustus Phelps on 21 July 1896 for a "Badge Pin or Button" which uses a metal pin anchored to the back fasten the badge.
My present invention has reference to improvements in badges for use as lapel pins or buttons, or other like uses, and has for its primary object to provide ... a novel means for connecting the ornamental shell or button to the bar or pin for securing the badge to the lapel of the coat.[4]
Other improvements to the basic design were patented in the following years by other inventors.[5][6]
Early pin-back buttons from 1898 were printed with a popular cartoon character, The Yellow Kid, and offered with chewing gum or tobacco products to increase sales.[7] These buttons were produced with a concave opening on the back side (which provided space to insert advertising), or with a closed back, filled with metal insert and fastener. These are called "open back" and "closed back" buttons.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b "How the Button was Born: Pinback Button Badge History". Retrieved January 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ U.S. patent 493,003 "Device for Displaying Photographs" by Benjamin S. Whitehead, Patented 7 March 1893
- ^ U.S. patent 476,939 Emblematic Society Badge and Rosette" Benjamin S. Whitehead, issued Jun 14, 1892
- ^ U.S. patent 564,356 "Badge Pin or Button" by George B. Adams Assignor for Whitehead & Hoag Company of New Jersey
- ^ U.S. patent 653,150 "Badge-button and Pin-back Therefor" by Augustus Phelps, Patented 3 July 1900
- ^ U.S. patent 773,419 "Backing for Display Buttons", Patented 25 October 1904 by David Pudlin
- ^ a b Garber, Anne. "A Short History of Pinback Buttons:". evalu8.org. Retrieved January 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)
External Links
