over a photograph mounted on a
badge to protect the image from scratches and abrasion. Whitehead had patents for various designs of ornamental badges and
medallions previously, patented as early as 1892. Another patent was issued to Whitehead & Hoag on 21 July 1896 for a "Badge Pin or Button" which used a metal pin anchored to the back of the button to 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. Other improvements and modifications to the basic design were patented in the following years by other inventors. Early pin-back buttons from 1898 were printed with a popular
cartoon character,
The Yellow Kid, and offered as
prizes with chewing gum or tobacco products to increase sales. 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. In 1945, the
Kellogg Company, the pioneer in
cereal box prizes, inserted prizes in the form of pin-back buttons into each box of
Pep Cereal. Pep pins have included U.S. Army squadrons as well as characters from newspaper comics. There were 5 series of comic characters and 18 different buttons in each set, with a total of 90 in the collection. ==Reception==