Buttons and a universal assembly machine for manufacturing same

A universal assembly machine for manufacturing buttons and button medallions from a flexible sheet, a shell, and a back comprising:

• a. a box frame comprising a base, first and second columns upstanding from the base, and a crown attached to the columns;
• b. a die table rotatably indexable about the frame first column;
• c. a ram comprising:
• i. a ram plate defining at least one hole therein and including at least one roller;
• ii. means for guiding the ram plate to reciprocate along a vertical axis;
• iii. a ram inner plug fastened to the ram plate;
• iv. a ram outer ring slidable and rotatable over the ram inner plug;
• v. at least one pin pressed in the ram outer ring parallel to the vertical axis and extending toward the ram plate;
• and
• vi. first and second spaced apart fingers on the ram outer ring;
• d. a handle pivotally connected to the crown and contactable with said at least one ram plate roller, the ram reciprocating along the vertical axis in response to pivoting the handle due to a force exerted thereon between a ready position and a working position;
• e. a pickup die and a crimp die each mounted to the die table, a selected one of the pickup die and the crimp die being placeable under the ram in response to indexing the die table;
• and
• f. a shifter post on the die table, the shifter post traveling in an arcuate path around the frame first column in response to indexing the die table to place the pickup die or the crimp die, respectively, under the ram, the shifter post contacting the first finger on the ram outer ring and rotating the ram outer ring to a pickup mode in response to indexing the die table to place the pickup die under the ram, the shifter post contacting the ram outer ring second finger and rotating the ram outer ring to a crimp mode in response to indexing the die table to place the crimp die under the ram.