IMPROVED CHECK TICKETS, AND METHODS OF FORMING PACKAGES OF THE SAME, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE ON RAILWAYS AND STEAM- BOATS.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVED CHECK TICKETS, AND METHODS OF FORMING
PACKAGES OF THE SAME, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE ON RAILWAYS AND STEAM-
BOATS. ."-A communication from abroad by Thomas A. Jebb, of
Buffalo, New York, United States of America.
Scaled the 30th August 1872, and dated the 22nd June 1872.
'PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd June 1872.
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 CHECK TICKETS, AND METHODS OF
FORMING PACKAGES OF THE SAME, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR USE ON RAILWAYS AND
STEAMBOATS," a communication, to be as follows:-
My improved ticket is intended to be used with a punch, and is more
especially designed and adapted for the use of guards or conductors on

page_text: restaurants, saloons, shops, stores, and warehouses in place of the ordinary
checks employed therein.
The aforesaid ticket is a double or duplicate ticket composed of two
thicknesses of paper or other material, folded together, or of a single
thickness of the material made of two layers pressed together so as to be
capable of being readily separated into duplicate parts. The two sides of
the ticket are printed in duplicate as to the general matter thereof, and
are arranged with the corresponding matter directly opposite, so that in
punching or perforating the ticket the same matter, names, figures, or
other symbols in duplicate will be perforated in each side, and so that by
dividing the ticket after it has been so perforated, the two parts or
duplicates will correspond in this respect, one part being retained by the
conductor or other person using said check ticket, while the other
duplicate part is retained by the passenger or other party from whom
the fare or money is received. The two parts serve as a check on the
persons having or receiving the same, and prevent peculation and fraud,
as will be herein-after more fully described. In applying the said
Invention to a railway ticket the matter printed in duplicate consists
of the names of the stations in one column, the amount of the fare in
the adjoining column, and the days of the month in two columns, leaving
a central space in which are printed the number of the ticket and the
name of the railway over which the ticket extends. In this central
space on the passenger portion are printed certain statements as to the
duty of the guard, requiring him to punch the ticket in the presence
of the passenger before dividing it, and to give this portion to the
passenger. This central space in the guard portion contains a state-
ment that this check is of no value except to the guard, specifying
his name, with a direction that he must return it to the office of the
company. In a folded ticket the names of the stations are preferably
placed in the column next to the folded edge. The folded tickets are
numbered consecutively, both duplicates being numbered the same.
These tickets I put up in packages with the folded edges lying in one
direction and forming one edge of the package. To the other edge
opposite the said folded edge, and to one of the ends of the package a
coating of mucilage, paste, or gluc is applied, covered preferably with a
strip of thin paper, which serves to bind these tickets at their edges
together and thus retain the package in proper shape while the free

page_text: folded edge permits the successive separation of the tickets as required,
by engaging the finger or thumb at the free corner, the folded edge
ensuring the separation of both of the duplicate leaves.
Instead of having the tickets put up in packages as above described, a
number of them printed with a margin at one end may be bound in book
form of convenient size. The leaves of each folded ticket may also be
slightly fastened together by lightly gumming the edges opposite the
fold, which fastening will readily yield when the ticket is required to be
separated.
Instead of making my improved ticket by folding two leaves together
as above described, I may use paper composed of two layers or sheets,
pressed together in the manufacture thereof, so as to adhere together in
printing, cutting up into tickets, and in the ordinary handling after-
wards, but which can be readily detached when required after the ticket
has been punched.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th December 1872.
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 grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her 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, adminis-
trators, 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, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED CHECK
TICKETS, AND METHODS OF FORMING PACKAGES OF THE SAME, CHIEFly Designed for
USE ON RAILWAYS AND STEAMBOATS," a communication to me from abroad

page_text: by Thomas A. Jebb, 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 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
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:-
My improved ticket is intended to be used with a punch, and is more
especially designed and adapted for the use of guards or conductors
on railway trains and steamboats; but it is also applicable for use in
restaurants, saloons, shops, stores, and warehouses, in place of the
ordinary checks employed therein.
The aforesaid ticket is a double or duplicate ticket composed of two
thicknesses of paper, or other material, folded together, or of a single |
thickness of the material made of two layers pressed together, so as to
be capable of being readily separated into duplicate parts. The two sides
of the ticket are printed in duplicate as to the general matter thereof,
and are arranged with the corresponding matter directly opposite, so
that in punching or perforating the ticket the same matter, names,
figures, or other symbols in duplicate will be perforated in each side,
and so that by dividing the ticket after it has been so perforated the
two parts or duplicates will correspond in this respect, one part being
retained by the conductor or other person using said check ticket, while
the other duplicate part is retained by the passenger or other party from
whom the fare or money is received. The two parts serve as a check
on the persons having or receiving the same, and prevent peculation
and fraud, as will be herein-after more fully described.

page_text: elongation in the direction shown at d, Figures 1 and 2, it is evident
that the punching of one half the ticket by the insertion of the punch
between the partially-opened leaves at one end of the ticket, must
necessarily lead to detection as the direction of the point or elongation
of the perforation, as shewn at e, Figure 3, would indicate the change of
· position of the punch when making said perforation.
The folded tickets I number consecutively, both duplicates being
numbered the same. These tickets I put up in packages, as shown
in Figure 4, with the folded edges lying in one direction and forming
the edge of the package. To the edge g opposite the folded edge f
and to one of the ends of the package a coating of mucilage, paste,
or glue is applied, covered preferably with a strip of thin paper which
serves to bind these tickets at their edges g, g', together, and thus
retain the package in proper shape, while the free folded edge permits
the successive separation of the tickets as required, by engaging the
finger or thumb at the free corner h, the folded edge ensuring the
separation of both of the duplicate leaves. Instead of having the
tickets put up in packages, as above described, a number of them
printed with a margin at one end may be bound in book form of
convenient size, as represented in Figure 5. The leaves of each
folded ticket may also be slightly fastened together by lightly gumming
the edges opposite the fold, which fastening will readily yield when the
ticket is required to be separated.
-
Instead of making my improved ticket by folding two leaves together,
as above described, I may use paper composed of two layers or sheets
pressed together in the manufacture thereof, so as to adhere together
in printing, in cutting up into tickets, and in the ordinary handling
afterwards, but which can be readily detached when required after the
ticket has been punched. A ticket of this kind is shown in Figure 6
as partially separated into duplicate tickets.
The matter printed on the ticket may of course be varied according
to the taste and requirements of different companies. For instance,
numbers may be used instead of names to designate the different
.stations, which for long routes may sometimes be desirable, as the
numbers can in such case be arranged compactly in several rows of
.columns.

page_text: In using my improved check ticket a certain number of tickets, in
either a package or a book, is given to the guard or other person using
them, who is charged therewith on the books of the company. The
guard will be required to give each passenger from whom he collects a farc
one part of a duplicate ticket; but before doing so he must first, in the
presence of the passenger, punch from the unseparated duplicate ticket
the day of the month, as shown at 4, Figures 1 and 2, and the name
or number representing the station where the passenger entered the
carriage, and that of the station to which he has paid the fare, which
stations in the Drawing are marked "Buffalo" and Byron." The
duplicate portions of the tickets retained by the conductor are returned
by him to the office, where he is charged with the amount which they
show he has received.
By requiring the guard to take up each passenger's ticket at the end
of his route, and return both to the office, it is manifest that if the
duplicate parts of any ticket are both properly punched at the samo
operation the different perforations of the two parts will exactly coincide
when placed together in their original position, while they cannot be
made to so coincide if the parts were punched separately, and conse-
quently any attempt at fraud can be readily and certainly detected. By
posting in each carriage, and giving notice otherwise, that every pas-
senger when he pays a fare must receive in return a half ticket punched
and separated in his presence, as above described, the passengers will
readily understand the system; and any attempt on the part of the
guard to neglect or evade these requirements will be almost certain to
be observed and exposed. This almost certain liability of detection
and exposure will be sufficient to deter all but the most foolhardy
from making any attempt at peculation and fraud, thus rendered so
hazardous.
For restaurants the duplicate printed matter may consist simply of
various sums with or without the date. The waiter will be required, in the
presence of the guest, to punch the ticket opposite the sum representing
the amount of his bill, and then divide and give one part to the guest,
who leaves it when he pays his bill with the cashier. This must corre-
spond with the duplicate in the waiter's hands, and correct returns by
the latter will be thereby insured, while the half checks of the waiter's
must correctly represent the amount received by the cashier, who is
thus held to a strict accountability by the waiter's half checks for the

page_text: money thus received.
The foregoing. instances of the use of this
improved ticket are deemed sufficient to illustrate the variety of purposes
for which it is adapted.
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,-
First. A railway or check ticket consisting of two thicknesses or layers
of paper, or other suitable material, folded or otherwise so lightly
secured together as to be readily separated and printed in duplicate on
two sides thereof, in such manner that in punching the ticket both of
the duplicate printed sides will be perforated at the same relative points,
so that when the ticket is afterwards separated the duplicate parts will
be punched in a corresponding manner, substantially as hercin set
forth.
Second. A package of folded duplicate tickets, which at two of its
adjacent edges is secured together by gum, glue, or paste applied to the
said edges, while the folded edge of the tickets and one adjacent end
thereof are left free, whereby the tickets are retained in place in the
package until successively detached therefrom as they are required for
usc, as herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
εισο
Witness,
JAMES EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)