BUTTONS FROM COAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1942, Page 4

BUTTONS FROM COAL

FOR BRITAIN’S UTILITY SUITS

About 1,200 million buttons moulded from plastic materials are wanted for the “utility” suits designed for war time wear in Britain. Before the war most of Britain’s buttons were of vegetable ivory. Now the bulk of them are moulded from the by-products of coal. Although not popular before the war, these plastic buttons are much preferred today, for they do not. break in the mangle and they retain their finish indefinitely. For trousers they are better than tin buttons because they have no sharp edges to cut the thread. One factory where the utility buttons are being made is at present producing them at the rate of something like 100,090,000 buttons a year. By the end of this year their rate will be in the neighbourhood of 300 millions; and this tripled output will be secured with a staff of only 200 workpeople. One machine recently installed turns out 5,760 waistcoat buttons an hour, while battledress buttons, 36 of which are required on each suit, can be made at the rate of 2,880 an hour. In two months’ time this one factory will be producing 864,000 battledress buttons a week —enough for 24,000 soldiers. Soon the brass buttons of the Army and Royal Air Force will also be replaced with moulded buttons to save valuable supplies of brass and copper not to mention time in cleaning .