An Improved Device for Marking Cheques and the like.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Feb., 1895
Complete Specification Left. 18th Nov.. 1895-Accepted, 28th Dec., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Device for Marking Cheques and the like.
We, WALTER HANCORNE PITT and GUSTAV SITTMANN, of No. 253 Adams
Street, Brooklyn, U.S.A., Manufacturing Machinists, do hereby declare the
nature of the invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates especially to devices employed for marking cheques, &c.,
with figures and symbols by cutting, punching, or otherwise removing a portion of
the body of the material, for the purpose of rendering the alteration of the original
amount called for impossible.
The device consists of an outer shell or case. Fixed in the centre of the
base is a standard, provided at its upper extremity with an operating lever, having
a guide lip thereon; at the front of the case is a guide into which said lip may
enter.
Pivoted upon the standard is a rotatable plate, having a notched guide ring
therean, and punches upon its under side. A flexible stripping plate is located below
the punches, and a flexible punch plate beneath it, the paper to he punched passing
between these two flexible plates; the whole of this mechanism may be depressed
by the operating lever.
Suitable mechanism is provided for feeding the paper along as fast as operated
upon by the punches, the position of which is determined by rotating the punch
plate upon the standard.
Dated this 19th day of February 1895.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicants.
An Improved Device for Marking Cheques and the like.
We, WALTER HANCORNE PITT, and GUSTAV SITTMANN, both of No. 253
Adams Street, Brooklyn, U.S.A., Manufacturing Machinists, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention relates especially to devices employed for marking checks, &c.,
with figures and symbols by cutting, punching, or otherwise removing a portion of
the body of material, for the purpose of rendering alteration of the original amount
called for, impossible; and has for its object the provision of a simple, cheap, and
effective device for this purpose.
To attain the desired end, our invention consists in certain novel and useful
combinations or arrangements of parts, and peculiarities of construction and
operation, all of which will be hereinafter first fully described, and then pointed
out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved check protector. Fig. 2 is a front
alevation
J. 1

page_text: g.
is a side elevation or the operating mechanism, a portion of the enclosing
shell being removed.
Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional view at line - of Fig. 1.
Similar numerals of reference wherever they occur indicate corresponding parts
in all the figures.
1 is the outer shell or case, mado of any approved material, and 2 is the bottom,
secured to the shell by screws, as at 3. Fixed in the base 2 is a vertical post or
standard, 4, bearing pivoted to its upper extremity, an operating lever, 5. This
lever 5 is made cam shaped at 6, and has a guiding lip 7. At the front of the
frame 1, is fixed a divided guide, 8, into which the lip 7, of the lever 5 enters when
the device is operated.
Projecting horizontally at the front of the case 1 is a pin, 9, over an opening
in the check-supporting table, 10, forming a portion of the shell 1. This pin 9
bears a plate 11, provided with a thumb-piere, 12 and downwardly projecting,
perforated cars, 13, upon the sides of the plate opposite to the thumb-piece.
Mounted in the perforations in the cars 13, is a shaft 14, bearing a roller 15,
designed to hold the check in contact with a feed roller, to be hereinafter
described. This roller 14 is normally forced downward by a spring, 16, coiled
around the pin 9.
17 is a top plate, having numbers and symbols, 18, thereon, and bearing a
flange 19, cut away opposite to each figure or symbol, for the reception of the guide
lip 7, upon the operating lever 5. The top plate 17 is provided with a hub, 20,
perforated for the passage of the standard 4, said hub being screw-threaded for the
reception of a nut 21. 22 is a washer located below said nut, and 23 is a spring
which bears against said washer, and the base plate 2, for the purpose of normally
throwing the plate 17, and all the parts connected therewith, upward. Above the
plate 17 is a hub, 24 which bears against the cam, 6, of the operating lever 5.
Secured beneath the plate 17, is a ring or plate, 25, bearing punch pins, 26, forming
male punches, arranged to form figures or symbols corresponding to those upon the
top plate, 17, and directly beneath the same.
27 is a stripping plate, having openings 28 therein, for the passage of each set of
punch pins, said stripping plate being secured to the hub 20, and having its rim
turned upwards, as at 29, for facilitating the introduction of the check to be
operated upon. Below the stripping plate 27, is fixed a punch plate, or female die
plate 30, having perforations 31 therein, corresponding to the punches 20 forming
the figures. These perforations 31, are slightly larger than the pins, which do not
fit accurately therein, and therefore expensive, careful adjustment is not necessary.
The plate 30 is quite flexible, and consequently the paper of the check will not be
broken by any of the punches other than the particular set it is desired to bring
into operation for the reason that that particular set only is over the anvil, and the
space beneath the other set is open, giving no support to the plate 30 which will
be depressed by the punches coming in contact with the paper, there not being
sufficient resistance beneath it to cause the punches to penetrate it and said female
die plate is so flexible, that without the yielding anvil fixed there beneath, the
punches would not sever the paper it is desired to, remove.
Plate 30, has a
downwardly projecting edge, 32, corresponding to 29. on the plate 27.
33 is a standard, mounted upon the base 2, having a horizontal finger 34, projecting
beneath the punch plate, and bearing a yielding anxil 35, made of rubber, or
equivalent material.
36 is a standard, projecting upward from the plate 2, near the centre thereof.
37 is a shaft, journaled in the standards 33 and 36, and bearing upon its outer
extremity a feed roller or drum, 38, located beneath the roller 15. The inner face
of the diuin 38 is provided with ratchet teeth 39.
Pivoted upon a standard 40, projecting from the plate 2, is an arm 41, perforated
at 42 for the passage of an operating finger 43, projecting from the washer 22 uppn
the standard 4. The outer extremity of the arm 41 bears a pawl 43, held in
engagement with the ratchet teeth 39 upon the drum 38, by a spring 44.
Fixed in

page_text: the standard 23 is a pin 45, against which the pawl 43 strikes, in case the feed drum
should be inclined to turn more than one notch when given a sudden movement.
46 is a holding bolt, arranged to play in perforations in the standards 33 and 36, the
nose of said bolt entering the ratchet 39, conforming to the shape of the ratchet
teeth, and being forced therein by a spring 47.
When constructed and arranged in accordance with the foregoing description,
the operation of our improved check protector is as follows: The thumb-piece 12
is depressed, raising the roller 15, and the check to be operated upon is placed
between the plates 27 and 30. The top plate 17 is now turned by the hand until
the symbol or figure it is desired to cut in the paper is opposite the opening in the
guide 8. The lever 5 is now depressed, and this movement will force the punchies
through the paper, and punch plate 30, down unto the yielding anvil 35. This
yielding anvil serves a twofold purpose. It holds up the punch plate 30 with
sufficient force to cause the punches to penetrate the paper, and depress the face of
the anvil to cause a complete separation of the pieces punched out from the bly
of the check, although said punches do not fit the holes in the punch plate
accurately, and said yielding anvil also serves to strip the removed particles of
paper from the body of the check, leaving the perforations clear therethrough. As
the hub 20, and connected parts descend, the arm 41 will be forced downward,
dropping the pawl 43 one notch, and when the lever 5 is released, the said arm and
pawl will be thrown upward, by the movement of the parts, raised by the spring 23,
and the check will be fed forward a sufficient distance to present a new surface for
the operation of the punches. As the drum 38 turns, through the medium of these
movements, the holding bolt 46 will be forced inward by the movement of the
ratchet teeth, and will pass to the next notch.
The action of the entire device is clean and accurate, and the moving parts
instantly respond to the operating lever 5, while by reason of the fixed guide 8, and
the guides formed by the notched flange 19, adjustment to the proper spacing and
position is insured.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. In a check protector, a male punch, a female die, and a yielding anvil,
combined and arranged, substantially as shown and described.
2. In a check protector, a male punch, a stripping plate, a female die, and a
yielding anvil, combined and arranged, substantially as shown and described.
3. In a check protector, a rotable hub, mounted upon a vertical standard, said
hub bearing an indicating plate, a stripping plate, and a female die plate, in
combination with means for depressing the hub, and the parts secured thereto, and
a yielding anvil against which the punches are arranged to strike, substantially as
shown and described.
4. In a check protector of the character herein specific, the combination with
the punching mechanism consisting of a male punch, a stripping plate, a female
die plate and an index plate all connected together, and arranged to move in
unison, of a lever arm pivoted upon the main frame at one extremity, connected
near its centre with the depressible punching mechanism and bearing a pawl directly
upon its outer extremity; a feeding drum provided with ratchet teeth which said
pawl enters; a stop pin to limit the throw of the pawl; a holding roller above the
fceding drum, and an actuating spring beneath the punching mechanism, the whole
arranged to operate, substantially as shown and described.
5. In a check protector, the combination with a rotable, depressible plate, carrying
the punching mechanism, and having indicating signs upon the face of said plate, a
guide flange upon said plate, a guide piece upon the shell surrounding said plate,
and a depressing lever, adapted and arranged to enter said guides, substantially as
shown and described.
6. The combination with the depressible punching mechanism mounted upon a

page_text: vertical standard, of the spring beneath said punching mechanisin, the lever pivoted
in the top of the standard, and provided with a cam-face arranged to come in contact
with the hub bearing the punching mechanism, and the guides for the depressing
lever located upon the rotable top plate, and the fixed guide at the side of said plate,
substantially as shown and described.
Dated this 18th day of November 1895.
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
18 Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C.,
Agents to Applicants.