IMPROVED TICKETS FOR RAILWAY, STEAMBOAT, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR LONG JOURNEYS OVER DIFFERENT RAILWAYS, OR PARTLY BY RAIL AND PARTLY BY WATER
Year: 1875

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, Londou, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED TICKETS FOR RAILWAY, STEAMBOAT, AND
OTHER LIKE PURPOSES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR LONG JOURNEYS OVER DIFFERENT
RAILWAYS, OR PARTLY BY RAIL AND PARTLY BY WATER."—A communication
from abroad by James H. Ross, of Buffalo, New York, United
States of America."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lako
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 28th July 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for " IMPROVED TICKETS FOR RAILWAY,
STEAMBOAT, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR LONG JOURNEYS OVER
DIFFERENT RAILWAYS OR PARTLY BY RAIL AND PARTLY BY WATER,” a communi-
cation, to be as follows.-
-
This Invention relates to that class of tickets known as "through" or
coupon tickets, which extend over two or more different lines of railway

page_text: Coupons are provided, one for each road, containing a certificate or
statement that the particular road designated thereon has carried a
passenger between two specified stations or places for the company
issuing the through ticket, or with a ticket issued by said company,
and also a statement to the effect that the coupon is not good for fare or
cannot be used as a passage ticket. It preferably also contains the
terminal stations from which and to which the "through" ticket extends.
Each coupon is preferably numbered to correspond with the number
on the contract portion of the ticket in the same manner as ordinary
coupon tickets are numbered. The division lines between the different
coupons and the rest of the ticket are perforated in the usual manner to
facilitate the separation of the coupons
My improved ticket is designed to be used as follows:-The conductor
after leaving the station at which the passenger gets on is required to
detach the first coupon of the ticket (the passenger retaining the
remainder) and punch the first and last stations of his section of the
road when the passenger does not intend to stop over at any intermediate
station. If the passenger desires to get off at any particular station the
conductor punches the number designating that station in addition to
the first station, cancelling the ticket to that station. On the passenger
resuming his journey the ticket will be good from the last station
punched, when the same operation of punching is repeated by the
conductor in charge, and the remainder of the coupons are successively
detached as the passenger enters the train of the road covered by such
coupons.
The advantages of this improved ticket over others in use may be
biefly enumerated as follows
First. The passenger is permitted to retain his entire ticket until he
reaches the end of the route, which is a great satisfaction and prevents
unpleasant disputes between passengers and conductors, and especially
in the case of ignorant passengers and foreigners unacquainted with the
usages of railway travelling.
Second. The coupons not being passage tickets or good for fare need
not be punched by the conductor and cannot be resold by him, whereby
the great loss which results from the resale by him of ordinary coupons
is prevented.

page_text: Third. No conductor's checks being required the loss resulting from
the fraudulent use of such checks is prevented.
Fourth The ticket being cancelled to the station where the passenger
stops over prevents the fraudulent use of the ticket for riding over the
same road the second time as with the ordinary coupon ticket, as above
explained.
Fifth. As this improved ticket readily becomes a "stop-over" ticket by
the conductor simply punching the station where the passenger gets off
the inconvenience to the conductor which results from separate "stop-
"checks is avoided.
over
Sixth. The coupons detached by the different conductors being of no
use to them the prompt return of such coupons to the offices of the
respective roads or divisions furnishes such roads with a voucher against
the company issuing the ticket.
Although the said improved ticket is more particularly hercin ]
described as applied to railway purposes it is obvious that it is equally
applicable for steamboat lines and for other like uscs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patert
Office on the 26th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Пer reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVED TICKETS FOR RAILWAY, STEAMBOAT, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES, CHIEFLY
DESIGNED FOR LONG JOURNEYS OVER DIFFERENT RAILWAYS, OR PARTLY BY RAIL AND
PARTLY BY WATER," a communication to me from abroad by James
II. Ross, of Buffalo, New York, United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly 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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification -
This Invention relates to that class of tickets known as "through" or
coupon tickets, which extend over two or more different lines of railway
or divisions thereof. These tickets as now commonly used consist of a
contract and a series of coupons cach forming a ticket good for a passage
over the particular road or division thereof indicated on the coupons,
which the respective conductors of such roads are required to detach and
cancel by punching Each coupon being good for a passage over a
specified portion of the route great losses have resulted to the railway
companies from conductors neglecting to punch or cancel such coupons,
and reselling the same
te
In case a passenger requires to leave the train at any station tho
conductor gives the passenger a stop-over" check, which being issued
by the conductors only enables the latter to fraudently give them to
persons who have not paid their fare, which also has occasioned great
loss to the different railway companies.
Another source of great loss to the companies results from the facility
with which a passenger (if dishonest) can leave the train at a certain
point, and go back several stations on the line, and then resume his
Journey again, riding over the same portion of the road with the same

page_text: ticket or coupon, a certain class of commercial travellers or "drummers"
having frequently been detected in this fraudulent use of the tickets.
The substitution of a conductor's check for the coupon is a source of
great dissatisfaction in the case of ignorant persons and foreigners, and
occasions frequent disputes between them and the conductors
The object of this Invention is to provide a ticket by the use of which
the above mentioned losses and difficulties are avoided.
"
The accompanying Drawing represents one of my improved tickets,
designed as a through" ticket from Boston to Chicago, via Boston and
Albany, New York Central and Hudson River, and Lake Shore, and
Michigan Southran railroads
The portion marked A is a coupon or stub, which is detached and
retained by the agent selling the ticket, this portion does not form an
essential part of the said ticket.
"
The portion B contains the usual contract of " through tickets,
namely, the designation of the railway issuing the ticket, the names of
the places from and to which the ticket extends, the names of the
different railways designating the route over which the ticket extends,
and any other necessary particulars.
The portion C is a strip containing a full list of the stations on the
route, indicated in any suitable manner either by letters or figures or
both combined. In the Drawing the principal stations are represented
by letters, and the intermediate ones by figures.
66
D, D, are coupons, one for cach road, containing a certificate or state-
ment that the particular road designated thereon has carried a passenger
between two specified stations or places for the company issuing the
through" ticket, or with a ticket issued by said company, and also a
statement to the effect that the coupon is not good for fare or cannot bo
used as a passage ticket. It preferably also contains the terminal
stations from and to which the " through" ticket extends, being Boston
to Chicago on the ticket represented in the Drawing.
Each coupon
Dis preferably numbered to correspond with the number
on the contract portion B of the ticket in the same manner as ordinary
coupon tickets are numbered. The division lines between the different
coupons, and the rest of the ticket are perforated in the usual manner to
facilitate the separation of the coupons. The portion or strip C in the

page_text: Drawing is represented as provided with portions E, E, ono for each
coupon, each containing a statement that the ticket is good only from
the last station punched, and other matter, as shown in the Drawing;
the first portion E reads as follows:-" Good only from last station
punched in margin below to Albany over the Boston and Albany
" railroad." The portions E, E, are not how ever essential parts of my
improved ticket.
65
The said improved ticket is designed to be used as follows:-The con-
ductor after leaving the station at which a passenger is taken is required
to detach the first coupon of the ticket (the passenger retaining the
remainder), and punch the first and last stations of his section of the road
when the passenger does not intend to "stop over" at any intermediato
station. If the passenger desires to get off at any particular station the con-
ductor punches the number designating that station in addition to the first
station, cancelling the ticket to that station. On the passenger resuming
his journey the ticket will be good from the last station punched, when
the same operation of punching is repeated by the conductor in charge,
and the remainder of the coupons successively detached as the passenger
enters the carriages of the roads covered by such coupons. The passenger
retains the portions B, C, until after he leaves the station next preceeding
the terminal station of the route, when the ticket is taken by the con-
ductor in the ordinary manner.
The advantages of this improved ticket over others in use may be
briefly enumerated as follows.
First. The passenger is permitted to retain his entire ticket until he
reaches the end of the route, which is a great satisfaction, and prevents
unpleasant disputes between passengers and conductors, and especially
so in the case of ignorant passengers and foreigners unacquainted with
the usages of railway travelling.
-
Second The coupons not being passage tickets or good for fare need
not be punched by the conductor, and cannot be resold by him, whereby
the great loss which results from the resale by him of ordinary coupons
is prevented.
Third. No conductor's checks being required the loss resulting from
5 the fraudulent use of such checks is prevented.
$5
Fourth The cancelling of the ticket to the station where the passenger
'stops over" prevents the fraudulent use of the ticket for riding over the

page_text: same road the second time as has been donc with the ordinary coupon
ticket, as above explained.
Fifth. As my improved ticket readily becomes a "stop-over" ticket by
the conductor simply punching the station where the passenger gets off
the inconvenience to the conductor which results from separate “ stop-
over "checks is avoided
1
Sixth. The coupons detached by the different conductors being of no
use to them the prompt return of such coupons to the offices of the
respective roads or divisions furnishes such roads with a voucher against
the company issuing the ticket.
Although the said improved ticket is more particularly herein described
as applied to railway purposes-it 18- obvious that it is equally-applicable
for steamboat lines alone, or in connection with railways, and for other
like uses.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim, a passage ticket consisting of a
passenger strip containing a continuous list of the stations on the entire
route, and a series of coupons for the different roads or divisions, not
good for fare, but forming a voucher for cach road or division, to be 2
detached by the different conductors, while the passenger portion forms
a continuous ticket and check, as above described and for the purposes
set forth.
In witness whereof I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in 2
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
SIX.
Witness,
JA'. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W*, ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)