A NEW METHOD OF PRE- VENTING THE FORGERY OF BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS BY THE USE OF A STAMP, AND A NEW APPARATUS WHEREBY THE ISSUE OF STAMPED DOCUMENTS IS CONTROLLED
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Rudolph Wappenstein, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engraver, for the Invention of "A NEW METHOD OF PRE-
VENTING THE FORGERY OF BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER DOCUMENTS BY THE
USE OF A STAMP, AND A NEW APPARATUS WHEREBY THE ISSUE OF STAMPED
DOCUMENTS IS CONTROLLED."
Sealed the 9th February 1864, and dated the 12th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rudolph Wappenstein at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1863.
I, RUDOLPH WAPPENSTEIN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
METHOD OF PREVENTING THE FORGERY OF BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER DOCU-
MENTS BY THE USE OF A STAMP, AND A NEW APPARATUS WHEREBY THE ISSUE OF
STAMPED DOCUMENTS IS CONTROLLED," to be as follows:—
My Invention consists of two parts, whereby comparative security against
forgery is attained, and is applicable chiefly to bankers' cheques or other such
orders for payment.
According to the first part of my Invention, I make the recognition of a
signature dependent upon its being accompanied by an impressed stamp, the
banker or other such person being made acquainted with the design used by
his client as well as with his signature. These stamps may be simply
embossed or printed in colour, or the two methods may be combined.

page_text: The other part of my Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for effecting
the stamping, and consists in connecting a train of wheels or other such
apparatus, usually called a "count," thereto, by which means the number of
cheques or other documents which are stamped is registered, so as to give
notice to the owner if his stamp has been used for more documents thau he
has authorized.
A stamp propose to use for the above purpose is made in two or more
parts, the one sliding within the other, whereby one part may be supplied
with colour and the other part left to impress white, or two colours may be
adopted.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Rudolph Wappenstein in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RUDOLPH
WAPPENSTEIN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engraver, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ller Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Rudolph Wappenstein, Ier special license that I, the said Rudolph Wap-
penstein, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Rudolph Wappenstein, 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
"A NEW METHOD OF PREVENTING FORGERY. OF BANKERS' CHEQUES AND OTHER
DOCUMENTS BY THE USE OF A STAMP, AND A NEW APPARATUS WHEREBY THE ISSUE
OF STAMPED DOCUMENTS IS CONTROLLED," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Rudolph Wappenstein, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Rudolph Wappenstein, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists, firstly, in preventing the forgery of bankers'
cheques and other documents by the combined use of the usual signature and
a stamp impressed upon the paper. Thus, in the case of bankers' cheques,
the banker is to make himself acquainted with the particular design which
his client uses, and unless he sees that this impressed design accompanies the
signature, he will have reason to believe that a forgery is attempted. The
production of these impressed designs may, so far as this part of my Invention
is concerned, be effected by any ordinary press or other apparatus usually
employed for stamping paper.
In the case of seals as ordinarily affixed to signatures, forgery is com-
paratively easy, as a matrix from a scal may readily be taken, and from this a
die may be produced; but the copying of impressed or embossed patterns is
far more difficult, and this part of my Invention therefore will tend much to
decrease the liability of forgery. As a further precaution, the impressed or
cimbossed device may be in more than one color, whereby the difficulty of
copying it will be much increased.
Another part of my Invention consists in combining with an ordinary
stamping apparatus an index or count, so that the number of times that the
said apparatus has been used is registered, and may at all times be noted.
This arrangement is shewn in the accompanying Drawing, in which Fig. 1
represents a hand stamping machine in side elevation. The hand lever is
shewn at a, mounted upon a shaft b, which carries the usual excentric by
which the die is forced downward. Upon the end of the shaft b is a short
lever c, to which is jointed a driver d, taking into the teeth of a ratchet wheel c.
When the band lever a is turned downward in the act of stamping, the
shaft b, being turned upon its axis, will drag forward the driver d, and thus
effect a partial revolution of the ratchet wheel e, and the axis f thereof being
in connection with any ordinary arrangement of "count," will denote upon
the usual dials how many stampings have been effected. These dials and the
train of wheels connected with them are not shewn in the Drawing, they being
precisely similar to those in ordinary use.
The use of this apparatus may be illustrated by supposing that a tradesman
authorises his cashier to issue a certain number of cheques, each of which
must be impressed with the owner's design. To that extent the cashier
may use the necessary apparatus, but if he apply it to produce an undue

page_text: quantity, then the "count" attached thereto will disclose the fraud. In like
manner, the issue of tickets for waiters at eating houses, or other similar
documents may be checked.
In order to prevent the machine from being used under any circumstances
the following or any similar contrivance may be adopted :-Upon the frame
is a projecting part provided with a hole g; through this a pin shewn at h,
Fig. 2, may be passed, and a padlock adapted to the end thereof, under which
arrangement the hand lever a cannot be used for stamping.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood
that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
and for the purposes above set forth,―
Firstly, the combined use of an embossed or impressed stamp with a
signature.
Secondly, the application of a "count" or index to an embossing or
impressing machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rudolph Wappenstein, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of February, in the. year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
RUDOLPH WAPPENSTEIN. (L.S.)