AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREVENTING THE ALTERATION OF BANK BILLS FROM ONE DENOMINATION TO ANOTHER
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ross, of Falcon Square, in the City of London,
Merchant, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREVENTING THE
ALTERATION OF BANK BILLS FROM ONE DENOMINATION TO ANOTHER."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 20th June 1854, and dated the 5th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ross at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
April 1854.
I, GEORGE Ross, of Falcon Square, in the City of London, Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
PREVENTING THE ALTERATION OF BANK BILLS FROM ONE DENOMINATION TO ANOTHER'
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a mode of imprinting into the body of the paper
the character or words which indicate the denomination of a banker's note or
bill, so that it can only be erased by the total destruction of the paper, and
cannot be replaced or imitated even if it were found possible to erase it. To
this end, during the process of manufacturing the paper, and while it is yet in
a soft pulpy state, characters or letters indicating the denomination of the bill,
"FIVE" for a five pound note, "TEN" for a ten pound note, are imprinted
upon it, and so on, for notes of other denominations. This may be accom-
plished by water-lining in the ordinary way, with wire secured to the velluni,
so arranged as to impress the required characters upon the paper.

page_text: Or the same effect may be produced by means of types slightly raised upon
the surface of a cylinder, which is caused to bear upon the web of paper while
it is still soft and impressible, and thus indent the required characters into the
body of the paper.
To render the characters thus produced more apparent, the soft pulpy paper
is printed upon in colors, and in such a manner as will cause the color to sink
deep into and entirely penetrate the body of the paper.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Ross in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
Ross, of Falcon Square, in the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said George Ross, Her special license that I, the said George Ross,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Ross, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF
PREVENTING THE ALTERATION OF BANK BILLS FROM ONE DENOMINATION TO ANOTHER,'
being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said George Ross, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 George Ross, 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 (that is to say):-
One of the most common methods of counterfeiting bank notes or bills con-
sists in erasing the figures which indicate the denomination of the note, by

page_text: "
rubbing with the hand or otherwise, and reprinting or pasting upon the surface
so. prepared, other figures indicating a higher denomination. Thus, the word
or figure "Five" may be erased, and upon the surface which it occupied
Fifty" or "One hundred" may be printed. Alterations of this description
eisily deceive the public, as, when well executed, they can be detected only by
the initiated, and upon very close examination. To render this species of
alteration impossible, by affording to the uninitiated a ready means of instantly
detecting it if practised, is the object of the present Invention, which consists
in so imprinting into the body of the paper the character or words which indi-
cate the denomination of the note or bill, that it can only be erased by the
total destruction of the paper, and cannot be replaced or imitated even if it
were found possible to erase it. This is accomplished either by a process
analogous to that which is known in the manufacture of paper as "water-
lining," or by printing the paper as it is manufactured with the required
characters or figures by a peculiar process, which causes the color to penetrate
entirely through the body of the bill or note, so that it cannot be removed
without destroying the texture of the paper itself.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the present Invention, I
will proceed to describe the manner in which it is carried out by the Inventor.
During the process of manufacturing the paper, and while yet in a soft
pulpy state, it is imprinted with characters or letters indicating the denomina-
tion of the bill, "FIVE" for a five pound note, "TEN" for a ten pound note,
and so on, for notes of other denominations. This may be accomplished in
various different ways, as follows:
First, by water-lining in the ordinary way, with wire secured to the vellum,
so arranged as to impress the required characters upon the paper; or the same
effect may be produced by means of types, slightly raised upon the surface of a
cylinder, which is caused to bear upon the web of paper while it is still soft
and impressible, and thus indent the required characters into the body of the
paper, the velocity of the surface of the cylinder being exactly equal to that of
the web of paper as it passes through the machine. To render the characters
thus produced more apparent and striking, they may be imprinted upon the soft
pulpy paper in colors, and in such a manner as will ensure the color sinking
deep into and entirely penetrating the body of the paper. This is readily
accomplished by means of a cylinder similar to that above described, having
upon its surface points set close to each other in lines forming the desired
figures, and sufficiently elevated to penetrate the paper whilst it is yet in a soft
pulpy state. These points are charged with ink of the required color, which is
transferred (as the cylinder revolves) to the paper, into the body of which it

page_text: penetrates. The holes made by the points are instantly closed by the pressure
rollers, to which the paper is afterwards subjected, and the coloring is thus
caused to penetrate entirely through the note, and consequently cannot be
removed for the fraudulent purpose before mentioned.
Having thus set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Mode
of Preventing the Alteration of Bank Bills from one Denomination to ano-
ther," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and explained the
manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under
the above in part recited Letters Patent, I do not claim water-lining paper, as
this has been done before; but what I do claim and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is, impressing bank note or bill paper with the denomination of the bill
or note to be printed thereon, by means of water-lining or by printing thereon,
as described, the ink being caused to penetrate and pass through the paper in
the manner and for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ross, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
WM MACKEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
GEO. ROSS. (L.S.)