IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOP AND OTHER COUNTERS AND SURFACES ON WHICH MONEY IS PLACED IN PASSING IT PROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Whiting, of No. 9, Maida Hill West, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOP AND
OTHER COUNTERS AND SURFACES ON WHICH MONEY IS PLACED IN PASSING IT
PROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER."
Sealed the 25th August 1865, and dated the 28th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Whiting at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
February 1865.
I, SYDNEY WHITING, of No, 9, Maida Hill West, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHOP AND OTHER COUNTERS AND SURFACES ON WHICH MONEY IS PLACED IN PASSING
IT FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in shop and other counters
and surfaces on which money is placed in passing it from one person to
another.
It is well known that there is difficulty and loss of time in taking up pieces
of money when they have been laid on a smooth horizontal surface such as a
shop or other counter, or on the surface at the pay place of a railway station
whereon money is laid, and also on other smooth surfaces on which money is
ordinarily placed when passing it from one person to another.

page_text: Now my Invention consists. in forming those parts of a shop or other
counter or pay place of a railway station or other surface on which money is
commonly laid with grooves or undulations, in order that the pieces of money
laid thereon may be more or less unsupported at parts, and that the point or
end of a finger may more readily raise a piece of money when it is prevented
by the thumb from sliding on the surface on which it is laid. The forms of
the undulations or grooves of the surface on which money is laid may be
greatly varied, but it is preferred to form such surfaces with intersecting
grooves or undulations, into the hollows of which the point of the finger may
readily enter, whilst the thumb prevents the piece of money from moving
away from the finger. It is not however essential that the grooves or
undulations should intersect or cross each other, as the grooves or undulations
may be parallel or inclined to each other, or proceed in varied directions, so
long as the coins laid thercon shall be caused to assume inclined positions or
be only supported at parts leaving hollow spaces below other parts of such
coins and thus facilitate the end of a finger raising such coins off the surface
as above explained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sydney Whiting in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SYDNEY
WHITING, of No. 9, Maida Hill West, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
ller reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Sydney Whiting, Her special licence that I, the said Sydney
Whiting, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Sydney Whiting, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
SHOP AND OTHER COUNTERS AND SURFACES ON WHICH MONEY IS PLACED IN PASSING
IT FROM ONE PERSON TO ANOTHER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said Sydney Whiting, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention; and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sydney Whiting, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say: -
This Invention has for its object improvements in shop and other counters
and surfaces on which money is placed in passing it from one person to
another.
It is well known that there is difficulty and loss of time in taking up pieces of
money when they have been laid on a smooth horizontal surface, such as a shop
or other counter, or on the surface at the pay place of a railway station whereon
money is laid, and also on other smooth surfaces on which money is ordinarily
placed when passing it from one person to another.
Now my Invention consists in forming those parts of a shop or other
counter or pay place of a railway station or other surface on which money is
commonly laid with grooves or undulations, in order that the pieces of money
laid thereon may be more or less unsupported at parts and that the point or
end of a finger may more readily raise a piece of money when it is prevented
by the thumb from sliding on the surface on which it is laid. The forms of
the undulations or grooves of the surface on which money is laid may be
greatly varied, but it is preferred to form such surfaces with intersecting
grooves or undulations, into the hollows of which the point of the finger may
readily enter, whilst the thumb prevents the piece of money from moving
away from the finger. It is not, however, essential that the grooves or
undulations should intersect or cross each other, as the grooves or undulations
may be parallel or inclined to each other, or proceed in varied directions, so
long as the coins laid thereon shall be caused to assume inclined positions or
be only supported at parts, leaving hollow spaces below other parts of such
coins, and thus facilitate the end of a finger raising such coins off the surface,
as above explained.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 show the general form to which it is usually
preferred to make slabs for shop or other counters, or similar surfaces, but
this can be varied according to circumstances. The slabs are conveniently
made in cast glass, and this, when an ornamental effect is desired, is the

page_text: material I prefer. They can also conveniently be made of cast metal, or of
sheet metal raised to form by stamping between dies, or moulded in porcelain
or common earthenware. The form of the surface of the plate may be much
varied.
Figure 7 is a plan of the surface I prefer full size; and Figures 8 and 9
are sections of the same. Silver salver waiters and other similar surfaces
employed in passing coin, may be similarly formed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sydney Whiting, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
SYDNEY WHITING. (L.S.)