AN IMPROVED DEVICE FOR PUNCHING AND CLIPPING RAILWAY TICKETS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Flack, of Westbourne Terrace, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED DEVICE
FOR PUNCHING AND CLIPPING RAILWAY TICKETS."
Sealed the 16th February 1872, and dated the 28th October 1871.

page_text: of the same to serve as a check on the receiver of the excess fare. The
apparatus consists of a hand punch somewhat similar to ordinary nippers
formed with dies to produce the desired figure or mark in the ticket,
and with cutting edges by which the portion, say the end of the ticket,
is simultaneously cut off or detached, provision being made to prevent
the part so cut off falling out of the apparatus when the ticket is with-
drawn by the application of pins for transfixing the same, or the cutting
edges may be notched so as to only partially sever the end of the ticket,
which is afterwards entirely detached by hand.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Frederick Flack in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
FLACK, of Westbourne Terrace, 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 October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Flack, Her
special licence that I, the said Frederick Flack, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns; or such others as I, the said Frederick Flack,
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
"AN IMPROVED DEVICE FOR PUNCHING AND CLIPPING RAILWAY TICKETS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Flack, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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

page_text: Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Flack, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 Sheet of Drawings here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thercon (that is to
say) :—
My Invention relates to a means of indicating fraud and checking
excess fares paid when travelling on railways, and consists in an improved
apparatus for punching the ticket and at same time detaching a portion
of the same to serve as a check on the receiver of the excess fare. The
apparatus consists of a hand punch somewhat similar to ordinary nippers
formed with dies or punches to produce the desired figure or mark on
the ticket, and with cutting edges by which the portion, say the end of
the ticket, is simultaneously cut off or detached, or if not desired that it
should be entirely cut off, provision may be made to prevent its falling
by the application of pins for transfixing the same, or the cutting edges
may be notched so as to only partially sever the end of the ticket which
is afterwards entirely detached by hand.
Figure 1 is a side view of a punch or nipper with my improvements
applied; and Figure 2, a cross section of same on line 1-1, Figure 1, in
the act of clipping a ticket.
L
A, A, are the two halves or parts of the instrument jointed together
and working on a pivot b in the usual manner; a, a, are the two jaws,
one of which a is provided with a die or punch c of rectangular or other
suitable shape fixed therein as shown, the opposite jaw a¹ having a
corresponding hole d in which the punch is received when the jaws are
closed together. The one jaw is also provided with a raised cutting edge
which may be formed on a steel plate e screwed to the side of said jaw.
The edge of this plate e works against the opposite edge e¹ of the other
jaw in the manner of a pair of scissors, so as to clip or shear off a
portion of the ticket when presented between the jaws, at the same time

page_text: that the punch cmakes a hole in the same as shown in the adjacent
view of a ticket represented in red lines; f is a broad steel spring with
an opening in it surrounding punch c, to raise the ticket and assist in
detaching it from the same when the nipper is opened after punching
a hole.
Instead of a single broad spring two similar springs may be employed,
one at either side of the punch c. This spring is rendered more
necessary, as the punch c is preferably made broader at its cutting edges
than at the root, being slightly undercut on the side nearest the pivot b
as shown, and to make the cutting edges sharper I also prefer to slightly
hollow or groove the top surface of punch c, the cutting edges being
inclined as shown in Figure 2. The clipping plate e is made shorter
than the width of the ticket, so as not to entirely cut off the piece of the
ticket intended to be detached and retained by the ticket inspector, or
the plate may be notched for the same purposes as at &, Figure 3, the
methods of clipping being illustrated by the three tickets next below
said Figure. As the instrument is chiefly designed to cancel or mark
the ticket of any person travelling by a superior class than that for
which the ticket is granted, this object may be attained by punching
one or two holes in the ticket to indicate to the collector whether a first
or second class excess farc is to be charged. g is a box or receptacle
provided on jaw a' for the pieces punched out of the ticket, if it is
desired to preserve them as an additional check; and to prevent their
being taken or falling out when the punch is opened the hole d may be
closed by a sliding plate & within the box, moved to and fro by the
handle A' to which it is jointed at & so as to close the hole by the action
of opening the instrument, and open the hole on closing the same; but
this particular feature does not necessarily form part of the instrument,
and I lay no claim to it.
0
When two or more punching devices are required in the same nipper
for various purposes, I arrange the same together with cutting edges e
on either side of the fulcrum b, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The same
letters of reference indicate similar parts in all the Figures.
From the annexed views of the tickets it will be seen that punches of
various shapes may be employed. In all the nippers a steel die h,

page_text: number or device, for the purpose of identifying the inspector by whom
the ticket was cancelled.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be
protected by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
combination in a hand nipper of the clip or clips e, e', with the punch
or punches c for simultaneously punching a hole or holes in a railway
ticket, and clipping off or detaching or partially detaching a part of the
ticket, substantially as described and shown in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Flack, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two