AN APPARATUS FOR KEEPING AN INACCESSIBLE RECORD OF WRITINGS OR IMPRESSIONS AND OF THE ISSUE OF STAMPS, TICKETS, AND SIMILAR DOCUMENTS TO PREVENT FRAUD."
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Thomas Bond, of Gloucester, in the County of
Gloucester, Doctor of Medicine, for an Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR
KEEPING AN INACCESSIBLE RECORD OF WRITINGS OR IMPRESSIONS AND OF THE
ISSUE OF STAMPS, TICKETS, AND SIMILAR DOCUMENTS TO PREVENT FRAUD."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Thomas Bond at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 3rd March 1880.
FRANCIS THOMAS BOND, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester, Doctor of
Medicine. "AN APPARATUS FOR KEEPING AN INACCESSIBLE RECORD OF WRITINGS
OR IMPRESSIONS AND OF THE ISSUE OF STAMPS, TICKETS, AND SIMILAR DOCUMENTS
TO PREVENT FRAUD."
The object of this Invention is to provide a check upon fraud or carelessness in
the issue of receipt, postage, or other stamps, bills, or other similar documents of
such a nature that the writer of any written matter that may require to be
impressed thereon shall at the time of writing the same produce a fac-simile copy
thereof, which he shall be able to see but to which he shall not have access by
reason of the same being retained within a receptacle which is locked or otherwise
protected from being opened without discovery.
The appliances which I use for the purposes of this Invention are of two kinds.
The first kind consists of a combination of ordinary writing and tracing papers.
In effecting this combination I take a strip of any paper suitable for writing on,
of such length and width as may be convenient for the particular application of
this Invention which may be in view. I then double it in the middle lengthwise,
so as to form two leaves lapping the one over the other after the manner of a book.
The line of junction of these two leaves I perforate with holes, as postage stamps
and-other-documents are perforated to facilitate their separation from one another.
These leaves may be left blank, or they may be filled up with any printed or other
matter which it may be desired to place on them. Between these two leaves of
ordinary paper I place a piece of tracing paper, such as the ordinary carbonised
paper which is employed commonly for this purpose, inserting it in the manner
hereinafter described, so that anything which is written upon the outer surface
of one of these leaves, provided the writing instrument be applied with sufficient
force, will be re-produced in fac-simile on the corresponding surface of the other
leaf through the medium of the tracing paper.

page_text: The second appliance which I use for the purposes of my Invention consists of a
box with a lid attached thereto by means of a hinge and fastened by a lock, which
may be made of wood, metal, or any other suitable material. This box may be of
any size, provided its width be not less than that of the width adopted for the
leaves of the before mentioned slip; but it will be found generally convenient to
make its width about double that of the leaves, and its length from the hinge to
the lock proportionate to that of the segments into which it may be proposed
to divide one of the leaves of the slip for purposes of issue, as hereinafter described.
In the lid of this box, on a line drawn through its middle from the hinge margin
to the opposite one on which the lock is to be placed, I make two apertures,
preferably, though not necessarily, of a rectangular form, one of which, viz., that
which is nearest to the hinge margin, must be narrower from side to side than the
width of the leaves of the beforementioned slip, but may have any length from
before backwards that is convenient, according to the amount of surface of the slip
which it is desired to expose to view at a time. The other aperture, which must be
on the same line with the first, but nearer the lock margin of the lid, may be of the
same or any other convenient size or shape. Beneath this latter aperture I fix a
piece of glass, talc, or other transparent material, so that any written matter
conveyed beneath it will be legible through it, and beneath the first aperture I fix
a thin piece of wood, metal, or other suitable material, slightly broader and longer
than the aperture itself, so that on looking at it from above it forms a floor for the
aperture slightly depressed below the level of the lid. This floor piece may be
attached by its sides to the under surface of the lid, but must be free at its anterior
and posterior margins, and must be so fixed to the lid that its upper surface shall
be at a sufficient distance from the under surface of the lid to allow of the slip
above described with a piece of carbonised paper between the leaves being easily
passed along between the two from the hinge to the lock margin of the lid.
Between these two apertures, which must be at a sufficient distance from one
another for this purpose, I make a third aperture of the same width as the leaves
of the slip before mentioned, and just broad enough from before backwards to allow
of two pieces of ordinary paper being drawn through it together. On one side of
this aperture I fix a piece of metal with a cutting edge directed obliquely outwards,
for the purpose of dividing the leaves of the slip from one another at their per-
forated line of junction. To the under surface of the lid, between the aperture
beneath which the glass is fixed and the lock, I attach breadthwise of the lid a
cylinder with a ratchet wheel connected with one end thereof, and a catch acting
on the teeth of the wheel in such a way that the cylinder can only be turned in
one direction unless the catch be released. This cylinder may be turned by
adapting the end of the spindle on which it works to be moved either directly by
a handle or indirectly through a detachable key. The surface of the cylinder has
short pins projecting therefrom, somewhat after the manner of the barrel of a
musical box, which this part of the arrangement somewhat resembles, except that
the diameter of the cylinder need not be nearly so large proportionately nor the
teeth so numerous.
To apply the apparatus so constructed for the purposes of this Invention I open
the lid of the box, and then take the slip of paper folded so as to form two leaves,
as above described, and first dividing the connection between the two leaves at
their perforated line of junction for a short distance from one end I introduce the
slip beneath the first aperture, passing it over the floor of the aperture from the
hinge side of the lid towards the lock until the ends of the leaves come beneath the
narrow slit between the two larger apertures, taking care that the perforated
junction of the leaves is on the side of the slit on which the cutting metallic edge
above described is fixed. I then draw the end of the leaf which is nearest to the
lid through the narrow slit, so that it shall be outside the box, and the end of the
other leaf I draw forwards beneath the lid to the cylinder, to which I attach it by
means of the projecting pins above described, which hold it on the cylinder when
the latter is turned so as to draw the leaf forwards towards it. If the lid be now

page_text: replaced on the box and the cylinder be rotated as abové directed so as to wind the
lower leaf on it, the upper leaf of the slip will by reason of its attachment to the
lower one be drawn outwards through the narrow slit at the same rate as the lower
leaf is wound on to the cylinder. As the perforated line of junction of the two
leaves comes in contact with the cutting metallic edge at the side of the slit the
narrow bridges between the perforations will be severed, and the two leaves will
thus be detached from one another. When the instrument has been thus adjusted
a piece of carbonised or other suitable transfer paper is to be introduced through
the narrow slit under the upper leaf of the combined slip protruding therefrom,
and between it and that part of the lower leaf which is resting on the floor of the
open aperture. Any writing which is then inscribed on the upper surface of the
upper leaf over this transfer paper will, if sufficient pressure be applied to the
writing point, be reproduced in fac-simile on the upper surface of the lower leaf
by means of the transfer paper interposed between the two. If the cylinder be
then rotated the upper leaf with the writing on it will be drawn out through the
slit along with the transfer paper, and the portion written on may be detached
from that which remains in the box. The lower leaf, with the fac-simile writing
on it, will at the same time be drawn towards the cylinder, passing in its course
beneath the transparent plate of the second aperture, where it can be read by the
person who has written it, who cannot however have access to it if the box have
been previously locked or otherwise protected against being opened without
discovery. A fresh portion of the slip will at the same time make its appearance
on the floor of the first aperture ready for a fresh inscription. In this way
successive portions of the slip can be drawn forwards, the upper leaf of which can
be written on and detached in segments, whilst the under leaf bearing a fac simile
record of such writing will be wound on to the cylinder, and will be there found
whenever the box may be opened. It will be seen that nothing can be written on
any portion of the upper leaf of the slip so long as it is inside the box, without
being reproduced on the lower leaf, and that no portion of the upper leaf can be
detached until the corresponding portion of the lower leaf has been wound
underneath the transparent plate. If the cylinder be turned without any-
thing being written on the upper leaf or without the transfer paper being
interposed between the two leaves, or without sufficient pressure being applied to
the writing instrument, a. blank will be found on the corresponding portion of the
lower leaf. Hence if the upper slip be arranged in sections with spaces for such
details as names of payer and payee, date, amount, &c., to be inserted in writing,
all such details should be found recorded in fac-simile on the under leaf, and
any blanks in the space which may be found in the fac-simile copy will indicate
that these details have not been written in before the corresponding section of the
upper leaf was withdrawn from the box, and will thus give evidence either of
negligence or fraud, which can in this way be brought home directly to the person
to whom the box is entrusted. In this way the Invention may be used as a check
register of receipt stamps, postage stamps, vouchers of all kinds, tickets of admission
to public entertainments, bills and documents of any kind on which written or
imprinted details have to be impressed, such documents being printed in a con-
secutive series on one of the leaves of a slip of paper folded bookwise, with the
line of folding perforated and inclosed in a box constructed so that they can be
written on, drawn out of the box, and detached in segments precisely in the way
hereinbefore described, a fac simile of any written matter that may be impressed
upon the uppermost of the two leaves being retained within the box, which thus
becomes a register of such writing, by means of which the Invention serves as a
check upon negligence or fraud, in as much as no portion of the leaf that has been
written on can be detached without such detachment being recognisable by the
person who has the key of the box whenever he may choose to examine the leaf
that is retained inside it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Francis Thomas Bond in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd
September 1880.
FRANCIS THOMAS BOND, of Gloucester, in the County of Gloucester, Doctor of
Medicine. "AN APPARATUS FOR KEEPING AN INACCESSIBLE RECORD OF WRITINGS
OR IMPRESSIONS AND OF THE ISSUE OF STAMPS, TICKETS, AND SIMILAR DOCUMENTS
TO PREVENT FRAUD."
The object of this Invention is to provide a check upon fraud in the issue of
receipt, postage, or other stamps, bills or other similar documents, of such a nature
that the writer of any written matter that may require to be impressed thereon
shall at the time of writing the same produce a fac simile copy of the whole or of
any part thereof which he shall be able to see, but to which he shall not have access
by reason of the same being retained witin a receptacle which is locked or other-
wise protected from being opened without discovery.
The appliances which I use for the purpose of this Invention are of two kinds.
The first of these consists of a combination of ordinary writing and tracing or so
called "carbonised" papers. In effecting this combination I take a strip of any
paper suitable for writing on, and of such length and width as may be convenient
for the particular application of this Invention in view. I then double this strip
in the middle lengthwise so as to form two leaves, lapping the one over the other
the other after the manner of a book. The line of junction of these two leaves I
perforate with holes, as postage stamps and other documents are perforated, to
facilitate their separation from one another. These leaves may be left blank, or
they may be filled up with any printed or other matter which it may be desired to
place on them. Between these leaves of ordinary paper I place a piece of tracing
paper, such as the carbonised paper employed commonly for this purpose, inserting
it in the manner hereinafter described, so that anything which is written upon the
upper surface of one of these leaves, provided the writing instrument be applied
with sufficient force, will be reproduced in fac simile on the corresponding surface
of the other leaf through the medium of the tracing paper.
The second appliance which I use for the purposes of my Invention consists of a
box with a lid attached thereto by means of a hinge, and fastened by a lock, which
box may be made of wood, metal, or other suitable material, and may be of any
size provided that its width be not less than that adopted for the leaves of the
paper slip before mentioned, but it will be found generally convenient to make its
width about double that of the leaves of the slip, and its length from the binge to
the lock proportionate to that of the segments into which it may be proposed to
divide one of the leaves of the slip for the purpose of issue, in the manner herein-
after described.
For the purpose of more fully describing the nature of this portion of my Inven-
tion I have appended to this Specification Drawings of the same, of which Figure 1
is an isometrical view of the box when closed; Figure 2 is a view of the interior
of the same; and Figure 3 a vertical section of Figure 1 in the line a, a. The
same initial letters of reference in the various Figures indicate similar parts in the
apparatus, and in all of them the folded slip of paper described above as forming
the first part of my Invention is represented as inserted in the position in which it
is to be used.
In the lid A of this box, on a line drawn through its middle from the hinge
margin to the opposite one on which the lock is to be placed, I make two apertures,
preferably, though not necessarily, of a rectangular form, one of which, B, which is
nearest to the hinge margin of the lid, must be narrower from side to side than the
width of the leaves of the before mentioned slip, but may have any length from
before backwards that is convenient, according to the amount of surface of the slip

page_text: which it is desired to expose to view at a time. The other aperture, C, which
must be on the same line with the first but nearer to the lock margin of the lid,
should be of the same size or shape. Beneath this latter aperture I fix a piece of
glass, talc, or other transparent material D, so that any written matter conveyed
beneath it shall be legible through it; and beneath the first aperture B I fix a
piece of wood, metal, or other suitable material, slightly broader and longer than
the aperture itself, so that on looking at it from above it forms a floor for the
aperture, slightly depressed below the level of the lid. This floor piece may be
attached by its sides to the under surface of the lid, but it must be free at its
anterior and posterior margins, and must be so fixed to the lid that its upper
surface shall be at a sufficient distance from the under surface of the lid to allow
of the slip of paper above described, with a piece of carbonised paper between its
leaves, being easily passed along between the two from the hinge to the lock margin
of the lid. The most convenient way of attaching the floor-piece to the lid of the
box is by hinging it thereto either at its anterior or posterior margin, and fixing it
in position by a button or other suitable arrangement.
Between these two apertures, which must be at a sufficient distance from one
another for this purpose, I make a third aperture or slit F of the same width as
the slip before mentioned, and just broad enough from before backwards to allow
of two pieces of paper of ordinary thickness being drawn through it together. On
one side of this aperture I fix a piece of metal G with a cutting edge directed
obliquely outwards for the purpose of dividing the leaves of the slip from one
another at their perforated line of junction. To the under surface of the lid,
between the aperture beneath which the glass is fixed and the lock, I attach
breadthwise of the lid a cylinder H with a ratchet wheel I connected with one
end thereof, and a catch acting on the teeth of the wheel in such a way that the
cylinder can be only turned in one direction unless the catch be released. This
cylinder may be turned by adapting the end of the spindle on which it works to
be moved either directly by a handle or indirectly by a detachable key K. The
surface of the cylinder has two or more short pins projecting therefrom, somewhat
after the manner of the barrel of a musical box, which this part of the arrangement
somewhat resembles, except that the diameter of the cylinder need not be nearly
so large proportionately, nor the teeth so numerous.
To apply the apparatus so constructed for the purposes of this Invention, I open
the lid of the box, and then take the slip of paper folded so as to form two leaves,
as above described, and first dividing the connection between the leaves at their
perforated line of junction for a short distance from one end, I introduce the slip
beneath the first aperture, passing it over the floor of the aperture from the hinge
side of the lid towards the lock until the ends of the leaves come beneath the
narrow slit F between the two larger apertures, taking care that the perforated
junction of the leaves is on the side of the slit on which the cutting metallic edge
above described is fixed. I then draw the end of the leaf which is nearest to the
lid through the narrow slit so that it shall be outside the box, as at O, and the
end of the other leaf M I draw forward beneath the lid to the cylinder, to which
I attach it by means of the projecting pins above described which hold it on the
cylinder when the latter is turned so as to draw the leaf forwards towards it. If
the lid be now replaced on the box, and the cylinder be rotated as above described
so as to wind the lower leaf on it, the upper leaf of the slip will, by reason of its
attachment to the lower one, be drawn outwards through the narrow slit F at the
same rate as the lower leaf is wound_on_to_the_cylinder. As-the-perforated-line-of-
junction of the two leaves comes in contact with the cutting metallic edge of G
at the side of the slit, the narrow bridges between the perforations of the paper
will be severed, and the two leaves will thus be detached from one another.
When the instrument has been thus adjusted a piece of carbonised or other
suitable transfer paper P is to be introduced from the outside through the narrow
slit F underneath the upper leaf of the combined slip protruding therefrom, and
between it and that part of the lower leaf which is resting on the floor piece of

page_text: the open aperture B. Any writing which is then inscribed on the upper surface
of the upper leaf.will then, if sufficient pressure be applied to the writing point, be
reproduced in fac-simile on the upper surface of the lower slip by means of the
transfer paper interposed between the two. If the cylinder be now rotated the
upper leaf with the writing on it will be drawn out through the slit along with
the transfer paper, and the portion of this leaf which has been written on may be
detached from that which remains in the box. The lower leaf with the fac-simile
writing on it will at the same time be drawn towards the cylinder, passing in
its course beneath the transparent plate of the aperture C, where it can be read by
the person who has written it, who cannot however have access to it if the box
have been previously locked or otherwise protected against being opened without
discovery. A fresh portion of the upper leaf of the slip will at the same time make
its appearance on the floor of the aperture B ready for a fresh inscription. In this
way successive portions of the slip can be drawn forwards, the upper leaf of which
can be written on and detached in segments, whilst the under leaf bearing a
fac-simile record of such writing will be wound on to the cylinder, and will be
there found whenever the box may be opened. It will be seen that nothing can be
written on any portion of the upper leaf of the slip, so long as it is inside the box,
and the transfer paper is in position between the two leaves, without being
reproduced on the lower leaf, and that no portion of the upper leaf can be drawn
outside the box by means of the winder, without the corresponding portion of the
lower leaf being at the same time wound beneath the transparent plate. If the
cylinder.be turned without anything being written on the upper leaf, or without
the transfer paper being interposed between the two leaves, or without sufficient
pressure being applied to the writing instrument, a blank will be found on the
corresponding portion of the lower leaf. Hence, if the upper slip be arranged in
sections with spaces for such details as names of payer and payee, amount, date,
&c., all such details if impressed on the upper leaf as above described, should be
found recorded in fac-simile on the lower leaf, and any blanks in the spaces which
may be found in the fac simile copy will indicate that the details have not been
written in before the corresponding section of the upper leaf was withdrawn from
the box, and will thus give evidence either of negligence or fraud, which can in this
way be brought home directly to the person to whom the box is entrusted. In
this way the Invention may be used as a check register of receipt forms, stamps,
vouchers of all kinds, tickets of admission to public entertainments, bills, and
documents of all kinds on which written or imprinted details have to be impressed,
such documents being printed in a consecutive series on one of the leaves of a slip
of paper folded book-wise, with the line of folding perforated, and inclosed in a box
constructed so that they can be written on, drawn out of the box and detached in
segments, precisely in the way hereinbefore described, a fac simile of any written
matter that may be impressed upon the uppermost of the two leaves being retained
within the box, which thus becomes a register of such writing, by means of which
the Invention serves as a check upon negligence or fraud on the part of the person
issuing such document in cases where a duplicate thereof is required to be kept,
inasmuch as no portion of the leaf that is written on can be detached without such
detachment being recognisable by the person who has the key of the box whenever
he may choose to examine the leaf that is retained inside it.
For the purpose of giving further efficiency to this my Invention, especially in
cases in which it is employed in the issue of forms of receipt for moneys paid, I
adopt in connection therewith a fancy device, such as a border to the form of
receipt having a special pattern, or an ornamental arrangement of the printed
details of the receipt, or a figure or other distinguishing mark, which device I
print or impress in a consecutive series on the upper surface of the upper of the two
leaves of the paper strip, each segment so impressed serving as a single form of
receipt, the special details of which are to be filled up by writing and impressed
upon the under leaf by means of transfer paper, as described above. The device
adopted for this purpose may be of any kind, and may be varied to any extent. To

page_text: insure that the receipt forms bearing this device and issued from the register in the
way above described shall be alone used by the person to whom the register is
entrusted, I print on all bills, invoices, &c., containing the accounts to which the
special form of receipt is intended to be applied, a fac simile copy of such form of
receipt with the device which may have been adopted in each case, either in full or
reduced size, accompanied with a notification to the effect that no discharge of such
bill, invoice, &c., will be valid, except on a form of receipt of the pattern exhibited
thereon. By this means the person who pays such bill, invoice, &c., will have
indicated to him on the face of the document the form in which alone a receipt
will be valid, and the possibility will thereby be obviated of the person entrusted
with the duty of giving the receipt doing so in any other form than on that
provided for his use.
.
I wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself to the use of carbon paper
as the means of transferring the writing or impression from the upper to the under
leaf of the paper slip, as I avail myself of any other convenient process for the
reproduction of such impression, including pricking, which is especially suitable for
filling in such details in printed forms as are of particular importance, such as the
amount of moneys received, from its giving a ready and perfect fac simile repro-
duction of such impression in a way which is less open to falsification or defect than
any other.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which it is
to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as new is, the
construction of the apparatus or box, substantially after the manner hereinbefore
described, to be used in connection with a slip of paper consisting of two leaves
folded in the middle lengthwise, with their line of folding perforated, for the
purposes and in the manner hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Thomas Bond, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
FRANCIS THOMAS BOND.
(L.S.)