An Improved Mode of Preparing Tramway Tickets and other Printed Documents for the Prevention of Fraud, and Ensuring, when Required, the Preservation of the same against Early Loss or Destruction.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd June, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Mar., 1894-Accepted, 22nd June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by HENRY BARKER, of 341, Calle Maipu,
Buenos Ayres, South America, Gentleman.]
An Improved Mode of Preparing Tramway Tickets and other
Printed Documents for the Prevention of Fraud, and Ensuring,
when Required, the Preservation of the same against Early Loss
or Destruction.
I, HENRY PAUL JOSEPH NEGRETTI of the Firm of Negretti & Zambra, of
Holborn Viaduct in the City of London, Scientific Instrument Makers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The chief object of this invention is to provide a ready means for checking
frauds upon tramway, railway, and other companies, without the employment of a
system of inspection or detection, the working of which is costly, and not always
satisfactory, it having been found, iu practice, difficult to control the issue to the
public of tickets, such as railway, tramway, and other kinds of tickets, and to
prevent, in respect of such issues, the introduction of fraudulent practices, by
which the companies and the public are prejudiced. It is now proposed, for the
purpose of stopping such frauds, and generally for providing an efficient check on
the issue of said tickets, to print or impress, or otherwise produce upon their
surfaces, mottoes, devices, or letters, that shall become visible only after exposure
to the light. This result may be attained in various ways, an obvious method
being the subjecting of the tickets to a chemical preparation composed of gelatine
and nitrate of silver, rendered sluggish to the action of light, the intention being,
that whatever the chemical treatment adopted, the tickets shall shew, within a
longer or shorter period after their issue, the motto, device, or letters which they
carry.
It is proposed to indicate on these tickets, that they possess a personal value to
their recipients, and thus to ensure that, in the case of railway or tramway tickets,
the purchaser shall retain his ticket until (after a due lapse of time) the impression
is developed, shewing to the holder its value. The object is by means of this
invention, to interest the travelling public in retaining possession of all the tickets
issued, thereby avoiding the reissue of those tickets in fraud of the company.
The following is an example of a practical way of carrying out this invention.
1. The tramway tickets to be made of thin flexible cardboard, or any other
suitable material, with such inscriptions, as required; they are to form a con-
tinuous roll, to be numbered consecutively, and to be divided from one another by
perforated lines, as are postage stamps, so that the guard can easily separate
them.
2. This roll, say, for instance, 500 numbers or tickets, is to be handed to the
guard in an appropriate metal, leather, or other case, closed against the admission
of light, and taking the form, for instance, of a tape measure box, or other suitable
design. The case will be locked, and the guard responsible for the value of the
500 tickets, or, when returned, for such proportion of them as he may have
issued.
3. By the movement of a small handle or other device, the tickets will be
successively thrust out, one by one, through a slot in the case; they are to be
separated from the roll by a slight movement of the hand, and then handed by the
guard to the passengers.
4. The essential feature of the tickets is, that they shall be chemically prepared
in such a manner that, on exposure to light, letters, words, or devices may appear.

page_text: 5. All tickets will look alike, when issued, and during the journey, but within a
given time, to be regulated by the preparation to which they have been submitted
(not to exceed twenty four hours), the letters words or designs differentiating the
tickets will appear perfectly clear and legible.
The passenger traffic will thus be left to take care of itself, which means a
saving of all expenses for inspectors.
In adapting the invention to the use of railway companies, it is proposed, in
the preparation of the tickets, to leave a free space, square or round, to receive
the word "Issued," or its equivalent, impressed with a suitably prepared invisible
chemical ink. These tickets, being kept in a dark receptacle, would shew the
space as perfectly white, but soon afterwards, the word "Issued," or other
appropriate inscription, or device, would appear prominently on the surface; the
public would immediately understand its purport, and refuse to take any tickets,
bearing this mark, from the ticket clerk.
Travellers will thus have merely to see that the "check space" (as it may be
called) is perfectly white when the ticket is issued to them, to know that it is
genuine, and, in respect to the railway officials, they will be guided by the checks
in common use, which are ample for the purpose, and will remain unaltered.
In respect to the many other kinds of tickets, also notes and other documents
in circulation, an analogous procedure is to be observed, according to the special
necessities of each case, and the special interests to be served, or matters to be
guarded against in relation thereto.
Dated this 22nd day of June 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Mode of Preparing Tramway Tickets and other
Printed Documents for the Prevention of Fraud, and Ensuring,
when Required, the Preservation of the same against Early Loss
or Destruction.
I, HENRY PAUL JOSEPH NEGRETTI of the Firm of Negretti and Zambra of
Holborn Viaduct in the City of London, Scientific Instrument Makers, 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 :-
The chief object of this invention, as communicated to me from abroad, is to
provide a ready means for checking frauds upon tramway, railway, and other
companies, without the employment of a system of inspection or detection, the
working of which is costly, and not always satisfactory, it having been found, in
practice, difficult to control the issue to the public of tickets, such as railway,
tramway, and other kinds of tickets, and to prevent, in respect of such issues, the
introduction of fraudulent practices, by which the companies and the public are
prejudiced.
It is now proposed, for the purpose of stopping such frauds, and generally for
providing an efficient check on the issue of said tickets, to print or impress, or
otherwise produce upon their surfaces, mottoes, devices, or letters, that shall become
visible only after exposure to the light.
This result may be attained in various ways, an obvious method being the
subjecting of the tickets to a chemical preparation composed of gelatine and nitrate
of silver, rendered sluggish to the action of light, the intention being, that whatever
the chemical treatment adopted, the tickets shall shew, within a longer or shorter
period after their issue, the motto, device, or letters which they carry. It is
proposed to indicate on these tickets, that they possess a personal value to their

page_text: recipients, and thus to ensure that, in the case of railway or tramway tickets, the
purchaser shall retain his ticket until (after a due lapse of time) the impression is
developed, shewing to the holder its value. The object is, by means of this
invention, to interest the travelling. public in retaining possession of all the
tickets issued, thereby avoiding the reissue of those tickets in fraud of the company.
The following is an example of a practical way of carrying out this invention :-
1. The tramway tickets to be made of thin flexible cardboard, or any other
suitable material chemically treated as hereinafter described, and carrying such an
inscription as is required; they will form a continuous roll, to be numbered
consecutively, and to be divided from one another by perforated lines, as are
postage stamps, so that the guard can easily separate them.
2. This roll, say, for instance, 500 numbers or tickets, is to be handed to the
guard in an appropriate metal, leather, or other case, closed against the admission
of light, and taking the form, for instance, of a tape measure box, or other suitable
receptacle.
The case will be locked, and the guard responsible for the value of the
500 tickets, or, when returned, for such proportion of them as he may have issued.
3. By the movement of a small handle or other device, the tickets will be
successively thrust out, one by one, through a curved slot in the case; they are to
be separated from the roll by a slight movement of the hand; and then handed by
the guard to the passengers.
4. The essential feature of the tickets is, that they shall be chemically prepared
in such a manner that, on exposure to light, letters, words, or devices may
appear.
5. All tickets will look alike, when issued, and during the journey, but within a
given time, to be regulated by the preparation to which they have been submitted
(not to exceed twenty-four hours), the letters, words, or designs differentiating
the tickets, will appear perfectly clear and legible.
The passenger traffic will thus be left to take care of itself, which means a
saving of all expenses for inspectors.
In adapting the invention to the use of railway companies, it is proposed, in the
preparation of the tickets, to leave a free space, square or round, to receive the
word "Issued," or its equivalent, impressed with a suitably prepared invisible
chemical ink.
These tickets, being kept in a dark receptacle, would shew the space as perfectly
white, but soon afterwards, the word "Issued," or other appropriate inscription, or
device, would appear prominently on the surface; the public would immediately
understand its purport, and refuse to take any tickets bearing this mark, from the
ticket clerk.
Travellers will thus have merely to see that the "check space" (as it may be
called) is perfectly white when the ticket is issued to them, to know that it is
genuine, and, in respect to the railway officials, they will be guided by the checks
in common use, which are ample for the purpose, and will remain unaltered.
The following is the mode preferred for treating the paper or paste-board from
which the tramway or other tickets are to be formed.
The character of the material to be used need not differ from that which is at
present employed, as it is found that ordinary white, buff, or gray tramway or
railway tickets answer well.
Sheets of these tickets are first printed upon with the necessary matter in the
usual way, and when so printed, the sheets are immersed in a solution composed of
the following constituents, and in or about the proportions given :-
Sodium chloride
1 oz

page_text: NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.