AN IMPROVED 'APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF KEEPING AND CHECKING ACCOUNTS, CHIEFLY DESIGNED TO PREVENT FRAUD
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Whittingham Margetts and
Henry Jeens Wilkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
28th March 1879.
JOHN WHITTINGHAM MARGETTS, of Margate, in the County of Kent, and HENRY
JEENS WILKINS, of Fitzroy Street, in the County of Middlesex. "AN IMPROVED
'APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF KEEPING AND CHECKING ACCOUNTS, CHIEFLY
DESIGNED TO PREVENT FRAUD,"
Our Invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus for. facilitating
the keeping and checking of accounts, and is chiefly designed to prevent fraud on
the part of agents or others who may have to receive money from or repay money
to depositors in savings and other banks, friendly societies, and similar institutions
or establishments. The said Invention also considerably simplifies the keeping of
the accounts, and entirely obviates the necessity of a separate one for each individual
depositor other than the account which is kept in the deposit and withdrawal book
with which he is supplied. This feature is of considerable importance when it is a
question of keeping a record of the payments and withdrawals effected by many
thousands of depositors, especially with respect to such banks or societies in which
the deposits are chiefly very small amounts, and consequently the cost of main-
taining an accurate record a matter to be very specially considered.
In carrying the said Invention into practice we provide labels or tickets, which
very clearly and unmistakeably indicate on their face one certain amount, from one
penny upwards, that is to say, we make a distinct and separate label or ticket for
each sum, so that each label will represent the amount indicated on its face, and
that amount only.
The apparatus we employ for producing the said labels or tickets is constructed
as follows, that is to say:-
We provide a metal plate, into cavities within which are placed a number of
interchangeable dies designed to produce the required impressions. Another metal
plate is provided, and is furnished with a pressing pad and two lugs or projections,
the latter fitting into corresponding cavities in the said die-plate. Each of the said
plates has a handle or lever extending from it, and these are pivotted together so
that when the handles are operated the two plates are brought tightly together,
and the impressions are produced on the paper to form the labels. The dies may
be replaced by others as often as it may be desired to produce different labels, and
any number of such apparatus may be used according to the requirements.
We prefer to make these labels in such a manner that on their face there will be
an imitation or representation of the actual coin which is to be the value of the
label, but whatever may be the design on the face of the label it is essential for the
purposes of our Invention that the value of the label shall appear on its face in such
a manner that no one could possibly mistake it.
.
It is intended that the said labels shall be made at the chief office of the bank,
or immediately under the supervision of chief officers of the same by means of the
apparatus hereinbefore described, and the issue of the said labels will be under the
control of such officers.
In the case of a bank or society having branches at which deposits are received

page_text: and repayments made the agent or officer in charge of a branch will be supplied
with a certain number of labels of all kinds, and his account will be debited with
the same, that is to say, so many of the value of one penny each, so many of the
value of two pence each, and so on. Each depositor is supplied with a deposit
book especially designed for the purpose of this Invention, into which book the
person who receives a deposit for the bank must gum a label representing clearly
on its face the sum paid in. The fact of this label having then been removed from
his stock clearly shews that he has to account to the bank for the sum represented
thereby, and by reason of the unmistakeable manner in which the value of the
label is shewn on its face the depositor, however unused he may be to accounts, is
provided with means for detecting at a glance any attempt at fraud, such as
entering a smaller amount to his credit than that which he has paid. There are
no money columns where these labels are fastened in the book, and consequently
there is no danger of his being misled by mistaking one column for another, or one
set of columns for another set. The label shews him clearly what amount the
money receiver has given him credit for, and should it be incorrect he detects the
inaccuracy at once. The depositor therefore really assists in checking the action of
the receiver, and considerable security is thus afforded both to depositors and to
the bank.
When a depositor withdraws money the agent or other person who pays him
tears out of the deposit book a label representing the sum withdrawn, and this
label becomes his credit voucher, perforations being provided in the said book to
facilitate the tearing out. In this operation the depositor is protected in precisely
the same manner as he is when depositing money, that is to say, he can see at a
glance whether the label abstracted coincides with the actual amount he has received.
In many savings banks and societies it is the custom to allow interest on deposits
when they amount to one pound, but not upon any fractions of that sum. There-
fore to facilitate the calculation of such interest, and to enable the depositor to
see clearly what interest he is entitled to we provide deposit notes, each representing
clearly the sum of one pound sterling, and we attach to the same (or it may be a
printed thereon) one of the aforesaid labels of that value.
It will be readily seen that by adopting this method no separate ledger accounts
are required to be kept at the bank for individual depositors, as the agent or
clerk who has to receive and pay money to depositors is debited with a certain
number of labels of so much value, and he is credited with the number that he
may have in his possession at any stated times which may be most convenient or
desirable. The labels in his possession can be counted and checked with great facility
at any time by an accountant or other officer, and fraud is rendered almost impossible.
It will be obvious that in adopting the method above described an accurate
record may be kept of all transactions at a cost far less than is necessary when 4
each payment is written down in columns, and when a separate ledger account has
to be kept for each depositor. We find in practice that six forms of account are
all that will be required to be kept at the bank in order to ensure a perfectly
accurate record of any number of transactions, however large, such as herein
referred to, and it will be readily understood by those accustomed to keep accounts 4
of this nature that a considerable saving of time and labor will be effected. In
addition to this advantage our method provides better means for ensuring accuracy
than can be obtained with any methods heretofore in use.
We reserve spaces in the depositors' books for commercial and other advertise-
ments, and as many thousands of such books are issued, and constantly under the 5
eyes of the depositors, a valuable medium for such advertisements is provided.