AN IMPROVED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CHECKING THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED BY PUBLIC CONVEYANCES, SUCH AS TRAM CARS AND OMNIBUSES, SO AS TO BETTER ENSURE CORRECT RETURNS FROM GUARDS AND MONEY TAKERS."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Donaldson and William Miller
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd July 1880.
JAMES DONALDSON and WILLIAM MILLER, both of the City of Liverpool, 'in
the County of Lancaster. "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CHECKING
THE NUMBER OF PASSENGERS CARRIED BY PUBLIC CONVEYANCES, SUCH AS TRAM
CARS AND OMNIBUSES, SO AS TO BETTER ENSURE CORRECT RETURNS FROM GUARDS
AND MONEY TAKERS."
The primary object of the system, the subject of our Invention, is to induce the
public, or passengers by public conveyances, such as tramcars and omnibuses, to
assist themselves in checking as to the amount and number of fares taken by the
guards or money takers. We effect this by the issue of bonus tickets. These
tickets whilst being a premium to travellers by the conveyance are also a source
of gain to the conveyance company, for they represent the transference to the
public and to the company, or proprictor of the conveyance, of all sums expended
on previous systems for checking purposes, therefore the more particular the public
are in obtaining and retaining their tickets, the greater will be the premium given
in return by the company or proprietors.
The method of operation according to our Invention consists in the following
arrangement-Upon payment of the usual fare the guard, conductor, or money
taker hands to each passenger a numbered ticket projected from a box, to the
interior of which he has no access. The passenger receives and must retain his
ticket for a specified time. The directors of the company or proprietor of the
conveyance nominate periodically the number of the bonus tickets and the day or
days upon which such premium tickets will be advertised, defined, or exhibited in
their buses or elsewhere. The bonus, dividend, or prize will then be paid to the
holders of such numbers upon application at the office of the company. The
character or value of the bonus may consist either of the gift of a free ticket or a
fixed drawback upon a definite number of tickets, or by cash payment upon
presentation of a certain number of tickets, or by the donation of any useful or.
ornamental article, or by any other return by way of bonus or premium over and
above the regular advertised fares set forth and charged by any tramway, omnibus,
or conveyance company. At the same time our Invention does not partake of the

page_text: nature of a lottery, as it does not alter or reduce the fares now charged, but is
merely used to induce the public to assist the company or proprietor in suppressing
fraud.
In the carrying out of our Invention tickets are preferably distributed from a
box, non accessible to the distributor, or they may be distributed by hand from
packages.
In the further carrying out of our Invention and for the better protection
against fraud, the tickets may be printed in sheets with a lithographic design, a
portion of the design upon cach numbered ticket corresponding with the duplicate
sheet retained in the office; or the tickets may be printed with a system of
anecdotes, enigmas, and other like solution questions and answers. Further, tickets
may be arranged so that the bonus, prize, or winning number, or the answer to
the enigma or question, is contained within the ticket, and can only be found and
exhibited by splitting the ticket. Likewise the answer to any enigma or question
can be so concealed.
--By-the-system, the subject of our Invention, we offer to the public an inducement
that will make them desirous of receiving the ticket and thereby-preventing
fraud.
A box for containing bonus tickets may consist of a casing arranged to hold a
certain number of tickets supported by a spring or its equivalent, one over the
other, and arranged so that the uppermost ticket can be discharged through an
aperture by the friction of a thumb piece, or by the friction of the thumb or
finger, through a slot on to the ticket itself. This box may be attached to the
guard's cash bag or otherwise, as convenient.