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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
e brooch. Shoe-buckles were introduced into England during the reign of Charles II. （1670). These, as well as knee-buckles, were generally made of silver, — sometimes of gold, — adorned with precious stones, but are now disused, except as ceremonial or uniform dresses in some parts of Europe. The principal use of buckles is for fastening the different straps of harness and horse equipments, for which purpose immense numbers are made, forming a considerable branch of trade, of which Birmingham is the metropolis. Much the greater part of harness-buckles are either japanned or plated, the former being used for wagon, cart, and the commoner kinds of harness generally; and the latter for carriage-harness. The plating material is usually brass, though many silver-plated buckles are manufactured. Buckles are also made of bright malleable iron, and of blued iron; the latter are the kind employed in horse equipments for the cavalry in the United States Service. Buckles are <