A New and Improved Method of Preventing the Fraudulent Alteration of the Inscribed Amounts on Cheques, Receipt Forms, and other like Documents Filled in to Represent Values or Amounts.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 18th May, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 11th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 16th Feb., 1889
in the Colony of New Zealand, Stationer.]
A New and Improved Method of Preventing the Fraudulent
Alteration of the Inscribed Amounts on Cheques, Receipt Forms,
and other like Documents Filled in to Represent Values or
Amounts.
I FRANCIS MURRAY ROGERS, 21 Finsbury Pavement in the City of London
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED
METHOD OF PREVENTING THE FRAUDULENT ALTERATION OF THE INSCRIBED AMOUNTS
ON CHEQUES RECEIPT FORMS AND OTHER LIKE DOCUMENTS FILLED IN TO REPRESENT
VALUES OR AMOUNTS, to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is to prevent the alteration of bankers cheques and
other like documents from a smaller to a materially larger amount by providing
an unfalsifiable indication of an amount which such documents should not purport
to exceed. Although particularly desirable in the case of cheques this invention is
also beneficial and similarly applicable to receipt forms share certificates bonds,
bills, or other like monetary documents the amount or value of which is determined
by inscription or filling in thereof in the usual manner on any suitable blank or
prepared form.
find that in order to accomplish the said object of preventing fraudulent
alterations in the amounts of cheques and other forms no device will be practically
desirable unless it be very efficient and so simple as to be easily operated and instantly
understood while it should cause no appreciable loss of time and involve a minimum
of alteration of the existing forms and modes of using such documents.
My invention fulfils these conditions in a better manner than heretofore and I will
DOW describe it as applied to ordinary cheques though it may be similarly applied to
the other monetary documents before mentioned, with obvious modifications where
necessary to suit a particular class of document.

page_text: I first prepare the cheque form for use by printing or impressing in addition to the
ordinary wording and design thereof certain expressions indicating limits of value or
amounts and these expressions I' print or impress at the several corners respectively of
each such form.
In this invention I do not use any perforations of the cheque form or place special
notations on any parts but the corners except that I prefer to add on the form the
following directions or others to the same effect namely "When issuing this cheque
tear off the corner denoting the nearest amount that the sum drawn does not exceed."
When the cheque form is prepared it is ready for use by filling in and this last is
done in the usual manner with the addition that a particular corner must be torn off
or removed in accordance with the above directions.
It is very difficult to restore without liability to instant detection a corner part so
torn off while the operation of removing it is exceedingly easy, and free from the
objection that any precise size or shape has to be removed. Hence cheques so prepared
cannot be feasibly altered to represent a greater amount than the limit indicated by
the removed corner.

page_text: A New and Improved Method of Preventing the Fraudulent
Alteration of the Inscribed Amounts on Cheques, Receipt Forms
and other like Documents Filled in to Represent Values or
Amounts.
FRANCIS MURRAY ROGERS 21 Finsbury Pavement in the City of London,
Consulting Engineer a communication from John Inglis Wright of Cargill Street
in Dunedin in the Colony of New Zealand Stationer do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of my invention is to prevent the alteration of bankers cheques and
other like documents from a smaller to a materially larger amount by providing an
unfalsifiable indication of an amount which such documents should not purport to
exceed. Although particularly desirable in the case of cheques this invention is also
beneficial and similarly applicable to receipt forms, share certificates, bonds, bills or
other like monetary documents the amount or value of which is determined by
inscription or filling in thereof in the usual manner on any suitable blank, or prepared
form.
I find that in order to accomplish the said object of preventing fraudulent
alterations in the amounts of cheques and other forms no device will be practically
desirable unless it be very efficient and so simple as to be easily operated and instantly
understood, while it should cause no appreciable loss of time and involve a minimum
of alteration of the existing forms and modes of using such documents.
My invention fulfils these conditions in a better manner than heretofore, and I will
now describe it as applied to ordinary cheques though it may be similarly applied to
the other monetary documents before mentioned with obvious modifications when
necessary to suit a particular class of document.
I first prepare the cheque form for use by printing or impressing in addition to the
ordinary wording and design thereof certain expressions indicating limits of value or
amounts, & these expressions I print or impress at the several corners respectively of
each such form. In this invention I do not use any perforations of the cheque form
or place special notations on any parts but the corners except that I prefer to add on
the form the following directions or others to the same effect, namely "When issuing
this cheque tear off the corner denoting the nearest amount that the sum drawn does
not exceed." When the cheque form is prepared it is ready for use by filling in, and
this last is done in the usual manner with the addition that a particular corner must
be torn off or removed in accordance with the above directions.
It is very difficult to restore without liability to instant detection a corner part so
torn off, while the operation of removing it is exceedingly easy and free from
the objection that any precise size or shape has to be removed, since cheques so
prepared cannot be feasibly altered to represent a greater amount than the limit
indicated by the removed corner.

page_text: To enable my invention to be better understood reference is made to the accom-
panying drawing in which :-
Fig. 1. represents a blank cheque form prepared in accordance therewith.
Fig. 2. represents a cheque form filled up, and one corner removed.
Upon the upper part of the form I print, impress or otherwise make evident the
following or equivalent directions to the drawer." When issuing this cheque tear off
the corner required to denote that the sum drawn does not exceed the amount printed
thercon" and upon each corner of the form I place one or more limiting expressions;
in the drawing one such limiting expression is shewn in each corner as follows:-
In the Top left hand corner £100 and under
"
"
"
"
23
"
""
"Right
Bottom Left
Right
"
£50
.
"
"
دو
22
£5
"
27
£10
"
"
"
دو
each expression being surrounded by an oval boundary line. When more than one
expression is placed in any corner, I prefer to divide such expressions from each other
by a curved or straight line upon the body of the cheque or other form.
As a practical example of the foregoing, if a cheque of the form prescribed above,
having on its successive corners the limiting expressions shewn in the drawing is
drawn for £5 or £4 or any sum under £5, then the corner at which is placed the
limiting expression £5 and under, should be torn off or removed from the cheque
form before it is put into circulation in the manner shewn in Fig. 2. Since that
particular limiting expression is the nearest value that the amount for which the
cheque is drawn does not exceed.
In a similar manner it will be readily understood that if the cheque be drawn for
any sum above £5, but not exceeding £10; then the corner denoting £10 & under
would be removed and so on' for the higher amounts.
It is evident that cheques, receipt forms and similar documents filled. in to represent
value, may, when prepared and treated in the manner described by the drawer, be
easily sorted according to their approximate amounts by reference to their shape,
whenever the same corner is used for the same limiting expression.
Another novel feature and advantage is the facility with which cheques and other
forms signed in blank to be filled in subsequently can be limited, by merely tearing
off any particular corner.
Having now particularly described, and ascertained the nature of the said inven-.
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I a
claim is
1st. The use of a cheque, receipt or other form or equivalent document, filled
in to represent value having imprinted upon it at the several corners one or more
expressions of limitation of the amount inscribed thereon, in order that the particular
corner denoting the nearest value that the document when filled in does not exceed
may be torn off or removed for the purpose indicated herein.
2nd. In a cheque, receipt or other form of document filled in to represent value,
the particular method, arrangement, and imprinted device, whereby the removal of
any one corner has the effect of limiting the value of said document in the manner
d'escribed.
Dated January 11th 1889