A TRAVELLING PASS
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James William Spurway at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
February 1855.
I, JAMES WILLIAM SPURWAY, of 4, Monmouth Place, New Cross, Deptford,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A TRAVELLING PASS"
to be as follows:-
That the object of the Invention is to supersede the present system of
issuing card and paper tickets chiefly in connection with railway passenger
traffic, by the introduction of a metallic substitute, that whereas the card
ticket serves but for a single or double journey, the medallion will last, if
required, more than fifty years, as exemplified by the currency of the realm;
thus an expenditure immense in the aggregate will be saved to the parties
interested, and at so trifling a cost that it is considered that the expense of card
tickets saved in a fortnight or three weeks would entirely pay for the intro-
duction of the "permanent metallic passes " alluded to in this Specification.
That the applicant proposes to manufacture the "travelling passes" of metal
or a combination of metals, reserving the right to adopt such or any metallic
substance as may result most advantageous to the object herein specified.
The applicant further proposes, in reference to "railway travelling passes,"
to adopt a different shaped medallion for each class in order to facilitate their

page_text: issue, collection, re-arrangement, detection of fraud, &c.; such as for the 1st
class a square, for the second class a pentagon, for the 3rd class an oval,
4th class an octagon, excursion class a triangle; but that the applicant
petitions the right to adopt any shape or figure which the different companies
using the Invention may think desirable for convenience or necessary for
distinction.
That on one side (or each if so desired) of the travelling pass shall be
stamped the places between which it is available for transit; for, be it observed,
that one advantage of the Invention herein specified is, that the tickets serve
either way to proceed over the space between the towns mentioned on them
from either end of the route; thus the outlay of one-half the number of dies
is saved, and the "passes " are always in use; but the petitioner reserves the
right of conforming with the wishes of the railway. interest in developing this
economy. With regard to ornaments on the medallion, such as the "arms of
the company," their initial letters intertwined," the "arms of the cities,"
"locomotive," &c. &c., the applicant reserves the right of arrangement with
the various companies, as also the stamping the number of the class on the
reverse if required.
That with regard to the size of the "travelling pass," it shall be from 4 inches
to 6 inches around the outer edge; but the applicant reserves the right to
adopt such sizes or series of sizes as convenience may require; that the weight
shall be about one ounce, or less, if considered advisable.
That the applicant reserves the right of having a hole through the medallion
if desirable, and of stainping them with consecutive numbers if required.
The article, therefore, desired to be patented, in contradistinction to a card
or paper travelling ticket, is a "travelling pass" of any metal or combination
of metals, of any shape or confusion of shapes, of any size, of any weight,
and with the option of having a hole through each of them if necessary, and
of stamping them with a series of consecutive numbers.