Improvements in or Appertaining to Cheques, Drafts, Letters of Credit, Receipts for Money, and other Documents where it is Desirable to Guard the Figures Against Fraudulent Alteration.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in or Appertaining to Cheques, Drafts, Letters of
Credit, Receipts for Money, and other Documents where it is
Desirable to Guard the Figures Against Fraudulent Alteration.
I, GEORGE RAE of 11 Devonshire Place Claughton, in the County of Chester,
Banker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is designed to protect from fraudulent enlargement or alteration, the
sum expressed in Figures or in writing, in the body of any cheque drawn upon a Bank
or Banker, or other document as hereafter specified, for any amount from one pound
upwards to any larger amount, and to do this without any complicated system or
complexity of design or execution.
I carry out my invention by means of a scale of fixed and limiting sums, in pounds
sterling engraved, impressed or printed on the face, or on the back of such cheque,
or partly on both, on a plain or prepared surface in printer's ink or any other medium,
and in any color, each limiting sum having preferably a space in line with it to receive
the signature of the drawer of the cheque, whereby he is enabled to indicate and verify
the sum in the scale next in excess of the sum of the cheque, and thus render any
fraudulent enlargement of the actual sum of the cheque impossible in any case beyond
a fraction of ten pounds, without the absolute effacement of such sipnature, and its
insertion by forgery at some other point.
"
In applying my invention to cheques for ordinary banking purposes I prefer to
place on the face of the document next the counterfoil, a column having at top a space
shaded or otherwise for the sum drawn for. Below this, the words "not exceeding
or their equivalent, and below these again the series £3, £10, £20, £50, £120, £150,
with a space for signature preferably on the same line with each sum, and on the back

page_text: I continue the series with similar spaces for signature up to £1020, and I say that
a cheque thus designed will enable the drawer or signatory thereof to protect its
amount from fraudulent alteration in any case beyond a fraction of ten pounds in
the manner above mentioned, provided the cheque is drawn for any amount not being
less than £1, nor more than £1020.
By means of a cheque thus protected the following, amongst other frauds, are
rendered impossible without detection:
Cheques for £3, £4, £5 or other units up to £9 cannot be enlarged to £30, £40,
£50 etcetera.
Cheques for £20, £21, £22 etcetera up to £29 cannot be enlarged to £70, £71,
£72, etcetera.
Cheques for £103, £104, £105 etcetera up to £109 cannot be enlarged to £130,
£140, £150, etcetera.
A cheque for £120 cannot be enlarged to £170.
Cheques for £123, £124, £125 etcetera up to £129 cannot be enlarged to £173,
£174, £175 etcetera.
A cheque for £220 cannot be enlarged to £570.
Cheques for £223, £224, £225 etcetera up to £229 cannot be enlarged to £573,
£574, £575 etcetera; and so forth through the scale of limits up to £1020.
And I say that this special form of fraud is practicable in the case of a large
majority of the cheques drawn, and that no engine turned, or other propared surface
however sensitive, affords any protection against them, inasmuch as the frauds in
question can for the most part be accomplished by the mere addition of a "y" or "ty"
to the written amount of the cheque.
The scale of limiting sums up to £1020 with spaces for attestation, can be endorsed
on any form of cheque in current use without detriment to its negotiability.
For amounts beyond £1020 I propose a special form of cheque, on the same
principle of limitation by re-signature, but with this difference, that such cheque
must be drawn for the net sum of one thousand pounds, or for one of the multiples
of that sum.
By the combined use of these two forms, that is to say, by using the cheque for
sums up to £1020, in supplement to the cheque for an even number of thousands of
pounds, when the sum to be drawn for requires it, any amount, however broken, but
not exceeding in all say £21020, drawn partly on one form, and partly on the other,
may be protected against fraudulent enlargement beyond a fraction of ten pounds,
in any case, in the manner herein above described.
No form of protective cheque thus far registered to the best of my knowledge and
belief involves a forgery of the signature of the drawer as a necessary condition to
the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of the cheque. On the contrary, the usual
signature of the drawer is alone left to verify, and remains to attest the amount of
the cheque although such amount may have been fraudulently altered to any larger
amount, the bona fide signature of the drawer thus becoming a cover for the fraud.
My invention provides that the drawer of a cheque may instead of his signature,
write his initials in the line of the required limiting sum; or may impress on such
line, in printers' or other ink, by means of a stamp, his monogram, trade mark, or
other device; and although these will not afford the same effective protection as his
signature in full would, they will render the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of a
cheque thus safeguarded impossible, without their absolute effacement at one point
and their forgery or fraudulent use at another.
The spaces for re-signature or stamping I distinguish from each other by different
forms of shading, or by a line passing through each space diagonally at different
points, or by both combined; or by forming any picture or diagram so arranged that
no transposition of any two parts could take place without its being at once discernible,
my object being to render impossible without detection the cutting out of the signature,
stamp, or initials, and its or their re-insertion in the line of some other limit.
The principle of the design is applicable, subject to variation in details, to forms
of bills of exchange, drafts after date or on demand, letters of credit, receipts for

page_text: money, bills of lading, or any other documents whereon it is desirable to guard the
figures against fraudulent alteration, and the principle of the design is equally
applicable to cheques payable to order or to bearer. It is also applicable to cheques
or other instruments for less than one pound each, or for more than twenty thousand
pounds each.
The ornamentation space of total sum, or other matter of the protective column can
be made to project or dovetail into the body of the cheque, so that the protective part
could not be removed and the cheque appear complete, by merely adding the amount
at bottom or otherwise.
1
1000
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in or Appertaining to Cheques, Drafts, Letters of
Credit, Receipts for Money, and other Documents where it is
Desirable to Guard the Figures Against Fraudulent Alteration.
I, GEORGE RAE of 11 Devonshire Place, Claughton, in the County of Chester,
Banker, 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
This invention is designed to protect from fraudulent alteration the sum or quantity
expressed in figures or in writing in the body of any cheque drawn upon a Bank or
Banker, or of other document as hereinafter specified, and to do this without complexity
of design, obscurity of method, or difficulty of execution.
In respect of cheques, I carry out my invention by means of a scale of fixed and
limiting sums in Pounds Sterling engraved, impressed or printed on the face or on
the back of the cheque, or partly on both, on a plain or prepared surface, in printer's
ink or any other medium, and in any colour. Each limiting sum has a space in line
with it to receive the signature of the drawer of the cheque, whereby he is enabled
to indicate and verify the sum in the scale which is equivalent to or next in excess of
the sum of the cheque, and thus render any fraudulent enlargement of the actual sum
of the cheque impossible, in any case (beyond the amount hereafter stated) without
the absolute effacement of such signature and its insertion By Forgery at some other
point.
In applying my invention to cheques for ordinary banking purposes, I place on the
face of the document, preferably as shown in the cheque (Form A) in the drawings,
a column having at its top the words "Not exceeding " or their equivalent. Below
these words I place the series of amounts such as £10, £20, £30, £40, and other
limiting sums up to say £340, and on a similar reverse column (also on the face of
the cheque) I place other limiting sums running say from £370 to £999. 19. 11.
A space D for signature is preferably left on the same line with each sum. On the
back of the cheque I place a column of figures, running from say £1000 to £10,000
in consecutive thousands, and followed by one amount for say £20,000 with a similar
space D for signature on the same line with each sum. If found desirable the value
in words of each of these round sums may also be printed as shown in the aforesaid
spaces.
A cheque designed as shown will enable the drawer or signatory thereof to protect
its amount from fraudulent enlargement in any case except to the extent hereafter
stated, provided the cheque be drawn for any amount not exceeding £75999. 19. 11.
It will render impossible amongst others the following class of frauds, which for the
most part can be accomplished by the mere addition of a y or "ty" to the written
amount of a cheque, or by the conversion of "Two" into "Five" " "Twenty" into
"Seventy" etcetera, descriptions of fraud against which no engine-turned or other
prepared surface affords the slightest protection.
" "

page_text: Appercarnung to Cheques, Dragos, Letters of Crean, gc.
I. Cheques for £8, £108, etcetera up to £908, and for £1008, £1108 etcetera,
could not be enlarged to £80, £180 or £980, or to £1080, £1180 etcetera.
II. Cheques for £3, £4, or other units up to £9 could not be enlarged to £30,
£40, or £90.
III. Cheques for £103, £104, or other sums in hundreds or thousands, having
terminal units immediately preceded by a cypher could not be enlarged to £130,
£140, etcetera.
IV. Cheques for £20, £21, £22, etcetera up to £29 could not be enlarged to £70,
£71, £72, £79 etcetera.
V. Cheques for £120, £121, £122, etcetera up to £129 could not be enlarged to
£170, £171, £172, or £179, etcetera.
VI. A cheque for £200 could not be enlarged to one for £500.
VII. Cheques for £220, £221, up to £229 could not be enlarged to £570, £571,
£579 etcetera.
VIII. A Cheque for £2000, could not be enlarged to £5000, and so in respect
of other figures.
The process necessary to protect the bonâ fide figures in my improved form of
cheque against these and other descriptions of fraud is this:
The drawer in addition to his ordinary signature to the cheque, will place his
signature in line with the sum in the scale of limits, which is equivalent to or next
in excess of the sum of the cheque. Thus cheques drawn for say £8 or £100. 6. 8.
or £640 would be protected against enlargement by placing the drawer's signature
in line with the limits £10, £120, and £640 respectively.
Cheques drawn for even amounts in thousands would be verified by his signature
on the back of the cheque in line with the corresponding figures. Thus a cheque for
£5000 would be verified by his signature on the back in line with that sum, or a
cheque for £25000 would be verified by his signature in line with the sums £20000
and £5000.
Cheques for uneven amounts exceeding £1000, would be verified on the back, in
respect of their thousands only, and on the face of the cheque in respect of their other
figures. Thus a cheque for £2225 would be verified and protected by the drawer's
signature in line with the limits £2000 and £240.
It is alleged by some that the written amount, as well as the figures of any cheque
can be absolutely effaced by chemical or other means, and a larger sum inserted
without detection. I believe such a process to be impossible of successful execution
on the form of cheque which is herein set forth, but even if the alleged process were
possible, cheques protected by the aforesaid scale of limiting sums are (except by a
forgery of the drawer's signature) absolutely proof against enlargement by the said
process, or by any other known description of fraud except to the extent as herein
under mentioned, namely:
1. No cheque for any amount not exceeding £100 would be capable of enlargement
beyond a fraction of £10.
2. No cheque for any amount exceeding £100, but not exceeding £340 could be
enlarged beyond a fraction of £20.
3. No cheque for any amount exceeding £340, and under £76,000 could be enlarged
beyond a fraction of £30.
The chief advantages of the Form A regarded as a cheque for general business use
are the following :-
I. Its scale of limiting sums can be impressed on any existing form of
cheque without detriment to the appearance, legibility, crossing or negociability of
the cheque.
II. The act of verification is obvious, easy, and the work of a moment. A cheque
drawn, say for £2,225, could be protected against fraudulent enlargement by the
signature of the drawer being written against the limit £2000 on the back, and £240
on the face of the cheque as above stated, and unless thus guarded, it would be an
easy fraud to enlarge the amount of the cheque to £5575 without even the aid of
chemical process. A fraud of £3350 would thus be rendered impossible at a total

page_text: This form C shows another arrangement of the herein beforementioned forms, but
it has not the advantage of being adaptable to existing cheques. On the other hand,
it would render any tampering with the confirmatory signature more liable to
detection.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, no form of protective cheque thus far
registered involves a forgery of the signature of the drawer, as a necessary condition
to the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of the cheque. On the contrary the usual
signature of the drawer is left by the operator to verify the amount, and remains to
attest it, although such amount may have been fraudulently altered to any larger
amount, the bonâ fide signature of the drawer thus becoming a cover for the fraud.
My invention provides that the drawer of a cheque may, instead of his signature,
write his initials in the line of the required limiting sum, or inay impress on such line,
in printers' or other ink, by means of a stamp, his monogram, trade-mark, or other
device, and although these will not afford the same effective protection as his signature
in full would, they will render the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of a cheque thus
safe guarded impossible, without their absolute effacement at one point, and their
forgery or fraudulent use at another, and what applies to the signature, stamp,
etcetera, of an individual is intended to apply equally to cheques drawn by firms,
companies, corporations or trusts.
The spaces for re-signature or stamping may be distinguished from each other
by different forms of shading, or as shown in Form C by a line or linės passing
through each space diagonally at different points, or by both combined, or by forming
any picture or diagram so arranged that no transposition of any two parts could take
place without its being at once discernible, my object being to render impossible,
without detection, the cutting out of the signature, stamp or initials, and its or their
re-insertion in the line of some other limiting sum.
The principle of my designs is applicable, subject to variation in details, to Letters
of Credit, forms of Bills of Exchange, drafts after date or on demand, receipts for
money, warehouse warrants, bills of lading, or any other documents whereon it is

page_text: desirable to guard the figures, whether relating to money, weights measures, or
quantities, against fraudulent alteration. Also the principle of my designs is equally
applicable to cheques, payable to order or to bearer. It is also applicable to cheques
or other instruments for less than one pound each or for more than seventy five
thousand pounds each.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I make no claim
for anything set forth in Jackson's Patent No. 11,333 of 1886, but that what
I claim is :-
1st. The manufacture and use of bankers' cheques, or other documents on which
there is printed, or otherwise marked, (besides the usual devices or writings common
thereto) one or more scales of fixed and limiting amounts or quantities along the top
or bottom of the cheque, or preferably along top and bottom, each of the said amounts
or quantities having in line therewith, a space (either plain or otherwise) for the
reception of the signature, or its equivalent, of the drawer or signatory thereof, across
the body of the cheque, whereby the drawer, by placing his signature opposite one or
more of these amounts can indicate that the sum drawn for does not exceed the amount,
or collective amounts to which his signature is specially appended, and the signature
being across the main body and writing of the cheque the difficulty of tampering with
both is increased.
2nd. The arrangement of ordinary banker's cheques or other like documents with
an additional series of limiting sums and spaces for signature not interfering with the
ordinary form of the cheque, whereby while the cheque is drawn up and signed
precisely in the same manner as formerly, and is then complete, there is permitted an
additional attestation or attestations indicating approximately and within very narrow
limits the amount drawn for, substantially as described, whereby serious alteration in
such amount is practically rendered impossible, without the absolute effacement of the
drawer's signature at one point and its forgery at another.
3rd. A cheque or other document designed substantially as herein set forth having
a series of spaces such as D for the signature or its equivalent, with a limiting sum or
quantity placed to the left of the signature or read with it, the portion of the cheque
occupied by such signature being printed, designed, or ornamented in such manner
that no cutting out and transposition of the same can be made without disfiguring the
other printed matter of the cheque, involving instant detection and whereby also if or
although two lines of figures be used one space for signature will do for either of them,
whichever be required, substantially as described.
D
1
1
"
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Nov., 1886.
Complete Left, 18th Aug., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 20th Sept., 1887
Improvements in or Appertaining to Cheques, Drafts, Letters of
Credit, Receipts for Money, and other Documents where it is
Desirable to Guard the Figures Against Fraudulent Alteration.
I, GEORGE RAE of 11 Devonshire Place Claughton, in the County of Chester,
Banker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is designed to protect from fraudulent enlargement or alteration, the
sum expressed in Figures or in writing, in the body of any cheque drawn upon a Bank
or Banker, or other document as hereafter specified, for any amount from one pound
upwards to any larger amount, and to do this without any complicated system or
complexity of design or execution.
I carry out my invention by means of a scale of fixed and limiting sums, in pounds
sterling engraved, impressed or printed on the face, or on the back of such cheque,
or partly on both, on a plain or prepared surface in printer's ink or any other medium,
and in any color, each limiting sum having preferably a space in line with it to receive
the signature of the drawer of the cheque, whereby he is enabled to indicate and verify
the sum in the scale next in excess of the sum of the cheque, and thus render any
fraudulent enlargement of the actual sum of the cheque impossible in any case beyond
a fraction of ten pounds, without the absolute effacement of such signature, and its
insertion by forgery at some other point.
"
In applying my invention to cheques for ordinary banking purposes I prefer to
place on the face of the document next the counterfoil, a column having at top a space
shaded or otherwise for the sum drawn for. Below this, the words "not exceeding
or their equivalent, and below these again the series £3, £10, £20, £50, £120, £150,
with a space for signature preferably on the same line with each sum, and on the back

page_text: ·
I continue the series with similar spaces for signature up to £1020, and I say that
a cheque thus designed will enable the drawer or signatory thereof to protect its
amount from fraudulent alteration in any case beyond a fraction of ten pounds in
the manner above mentioned, provided the cheque is drawn for any amount not being
less than £1, nor more than £1020.
By means of a cheque thus protected the following, amongst other frauds, are
rendered impossible without detection :
Cheques for £3, £4, £5 or other units up to £9 cannot be enlarged to £30, £40,
£50 etcetera.
Cheques for £20, £21, £22 etcetera up to £29 cannot he enlarged to £70, £71,
£72, etcetera.
Cheques for £103, £104, £105 etcetera up to £109 cannot be enlarged to £130,
£140, £150, etcetera.
A cheque for £120 cannot be enlarged to £170.
Cheques for £123, £124, £125 etcetera up to £129 cannot be enlarged to £173,
£174, £175 etcetera.
A cheque for £220 cannot be enlarged to £570.
Cheques for £223, £224, £225 etcetera up to £229 cannot be enlarged to £573,
£574, £575 etcetera ; and so forth through the scale of limits up to £1020.
And I say that this special form of fraud is practicable in the case of a large
majority of the cheques drawn, and that no engine turned, or other prepared surface
however sensitive, affords any protection against them, inasmuch as the frauds in
question can for the most part be accomplished by the mere addition of a "y" or "ty"
to the written amount of the cheque.
The scale of limiting sums up to £1020 with spaces for attestation, can be endorsed
on any form of cheque in current use without detriment to its negotiability.
For amounts beyond £1020 I propose a special form of cheque, on the same
principle of limitation by re-signature, but with this difference, that such cheque
must be drawn for the net sum of one thousand pounds, or for one of the multiples
of that sum.
By the combined use of these two forms, that is to say, by using the cheque for
sums up to £1020, in supplement to the cheque for an even number of thousands of
pounds, when the sum to be drawn for requires it, any amount, however broken, but
not exceeding in all say £21020, drawn partly on one form, and partly on the other,
may be protected against fraudulent enlargement beyond a fraction of ten pounds,
in any case, in the manner herein above described.
No form of protective cheque thus far registered to the best of my knowledge and
belief involves a forgery of the signature of the drawer as a necessary condition to
the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of the cheque. On the contrary, the usual
signature of the drawer is alone left to verify, and remains to attest the amount of
the cheque although such amount may have been fraudulently altered to any larger
amount, the bonâ fide signature of the drawer thus becoming a cover for the fraud.
My invention provides that the drawer of a cheque may instead of his signature,
write his initials in the line of the required limiting sum; or may impress on such
line, in printers' or other ink, by means of a stamp, his monogram, trade mark, or
other device; and although these will not afford the same effective protection as his
signature in full would, they will render the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of a
cheque thus safeguarded impossible, without their absolute effacement at one point
and their forgery or fraudulent use at another.
The spaces for re-signature or stamping I distinguish from each other by different
forms of shading, or by a line passing through each space diagonally at different
points, or by both combined; or by forming any picture or diagram so arranged that
no transposition of any two parts could take place without its being at once discernible,
my object being to render impossible without detection the cutting out of the signature,
stamp, or initials, and its or their re-insertion in the line of some other limit.
The principle of the design is applicable, subject to variation in details, to forins
of bills of exchange, drafts after date or on demand, letters of credit, receipts for

page_text: money, bills of lading, or any other documents whereon it is desirable to guard the
figures against fraudulent alteration, and the principle of the design is equally
applicable to cheques payable to order or to bearer. It is also applicable to cheques
or other instruments for less than one pound each, or for more than twenty thousand
pounds each.
The ornamentation space of total sum, or other matter of the protective column can
be made to project or dovetail into the body of the cheque, so that the protective part
could not be removed and the cheque appear complete, by merely adding the amount
at bottom or otherwise.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Patent Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in or Appertaining to Cheques, Drafts, Letters of
Credit, Receipts for Money, and other Documents where it is
Desirable to Guard the Figures Against Fraudulent Alteration.
1, GEORGE RAE of 11 Devonshire Place, Claughton, in the County of Chester,
Banker, 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:
This invention is designed to protect from fraudulent alteration the sum or quantity
expressed in figures or in writing in the body of any cheque drawn upon a Bank or
Banker, or of other document as hereinafter specified, and to do this without complexity
of design, obscurity of method, or difficulty of execution.
In respect of cheques, I carry out my invention by means of a scale of fixed and
limiting sums in Pounds Sterling engraved, impressed or printed on the face or on
the back of the cheque, or partly on both, on a plain or prepared surface, in printer's
ink or any other medium, and in any colour. Each limiting sum has a space in line
with it to receive the signature of the drawer of the cheque, whereby he is enabled
to indicate and verify the sum in the scale which is equivalent to or next in excess of
the sum of the cheque, and thus render any fraudulent enlargement of the actual sum
of the cheque impossible, in any case (beyond the amount hereafter stated) without
the absolute effacement of such signature and its insertion By Forgery at some other
point.
In applying my invention to cheques for ordinary banking purposes, I place on the
face of the document, preferably as shown in the cheque (Form A) in the drawings,
a column having at its top the words "Not exceeding" or their equivalent. Below
these words I place the series of amounts such as £10, £20, £30, £40, and other
limiting sums up to say £340, and on a similar reverse column (also on the face of
the cheque) I place other limiting sums running say from £370 to £999. 19. 11.
A space D for signature is preferably left on the same line with each sum. On the
back of the cheque I place a column of figures, running from say £1000 to £10,000.
in consecutive thousands, and followed by one amount for say £20,000 with a similar
space D for signature on the same line with each sum. If found desirable the value
in words of each of these round sums may also be printed as shown in the aforesaid
spaces.
A cheque designed as shown will enable the drawer or signatory thereof to protect
its amount from fraudulent enlargement in any case except to the extent hereafter
stated, provided the cheque be drawn for any amount not exceeding £75999. 19. 11.
It will render impossible amongst others the following class of frauds, which for the
most part can be accomplished by the mere addition of a "y" or "ty" to the written
amount of a cheque, or by the conversion of "Two" into "Five" "Twenty" into
Seventy" etcetera, descriptions of fraud against which no engine-turned or other
prepared surface affords the slightest protection.
66

page_text: I. Cheques for £8, £108, etcetera up to £908, and for £1008, £1108 etcetera,
could not be enlarged to £80, £180 or £980, or to £1080, £1180 etcetera.
II. Cheques for £3, £4, or other units up to £9 could not be enlarged to £30,
£40, or £90.
III. Cheques for £103, £104, or other sums in hundreds or thousands, having
terminal units immediately preceded by a cypher could not be enlarged to £130,
£140, etcetera.
IV. Cheques for £20, £21, £22, etcetera up to £29 could not be enlarged to £70,
£71, £72, £79 etcetera.
V. Cheques for £120, £121, £122, etcetera up to £129 could not be enlarged to
£170, £171, £172, or £179, etcetera.
VI. A Cheque for £200 could not be enlarged to one for £500.
VII. Cheques for £220, £221, up to £229 could not be enlarged to £570, £571,
£579 etcetera.
VIII. A Cheque for £2000, could not be enlarged to £5000, and so in respect
of other figures.
The process necessary to protect the bonâ fide figures in my improved form of
cheque against these and other descriptions of fraud is this:
The drawer in addition to his ordinary signature to the cheque, will place his
signature in line with the sum in the scale of limits, which is equivalent to or next
in excess of the sum of the cheque. Thus cheques drawn for say £8 or £100. 6. 8.
or £640 would be protected against enlargement by placing the drawer's signature
in line with the limits £10, £120, and £640 respectively.
Cheques drawn for even amounts in thousands would be verified by his signature
on the back of the cheque in line with the corresponding figures. Thus a cheque for
£5000 would be verified by his signature on the back in line with that sum, or a
cheque for £25000 would be verified by his signature in line with the sums £20000
and £5000.
Cheques for uneven amounts exceeding £1000, would be verified on the back, in
respect of their thousands only, and on the face of the cheque in respect of their other
figures. Thus a cheque for £2225 would be verified and protected by the drawer's
signature in line with the limits £2000 and £240.
It is alleged by some that the written amount, as well as the figures of any cheque
can be absolutely effaced by chemical or other means, and a larger sum inserted
without detection. I believe such a process to be impossible of successful execution
on the form of cheque which is herein set forth, but even if the alleged process were
possible, cheques protected by the aforesaid scale of limiting sums are (except by a
forgery of the drawer's signature) absolutely proof against enlargement by the said
process, or by any other known description of frand except to the extent as herein
under mentioned, namely:
1. No cheque for any amount not exceeding £100 would be capable of enlargement
beyond a fraction of £10.
2. No cheque for any amount exceeding £100, but not exceeding £340 could be
enlarged beyond a fraction of £20.
3. No cheque for any amount exceeding £340, and under £76,000 could be enlarged
beyond a fraction of £30.
The chief advantages of the Form A regarded as a cheque for general business use
are the following:
I. Its scale of limiting sums can be impressed on any existing form of
cheque without detriment to the appearance, legibility, crossing or negociability of
the cheque.
II. The act of verification is obvious, easy, and the work of a moment. A cheque
drawn, say for £2,225, could be protected against fraudulent enlargement by the
signature of the drawer being written against the limit £2000 on the back, and £240
on the face of the cheque as above stated, and unless thus guarded, it would be an
easy fraud to enlarge the amount of the cheque to £5575 without even the aid of
chemical process.
A fraud of £3350 would thus be rendered impossible at a total

page_text: expense to the drawer of signing his name twice in addition to his ordinary signature
to the cheque.
III. The range of sums protected by the scale is nominally for any amount from
£1 up to £20,000, which would probably suffice for all practical purposes, but by a
cumulative use of the scale of thousands, sums even up to £75,000 might be covered.
A cheque drawn for example for £32,000 might be verified by the drawer's signature
against the limits of £20,000, £10,000, and £2000, and so in respect of other
amounts. A cheque for £32,000 not thus protected, might easily and without
detection be enlarged to £35,000.
It will thus be seen that my cheque A, whilst it can cover the largest amounts for
which any single cheque is likely to be drawn say from £1 upwards to £75,000 affords
at the same time the maximum amount of protection against fraud which it is possible
to give on the face of any one cheque, combined with the minimum amount of trouble
required to give the act of protection effect.
This form C shows another arrangement of the herein beforementioned forms, but
it has not the advantage of being adaptable to existing cheques. On the other hand,
it would render any tampering with the confirmatory signature more liable to
detection.
To the best of my knowledge and belief, no form of protective cheque thus far
registered involves a forgery of the signature of the drawer, as a necessary condition
to the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of the cheque. On the contrary the usual
signature of the drawer is left by the operator to verify the amount, and remains to
attest it, although such amount may have been fraudulently altered to any larger
amount, the bona fide signature of the drawer thus becoming a cover for the fraud.
My invention provides that the drawer of a cheque may, instead of his signature,
write his initials in the line of the required limiting sum, or may impress on such line,
in printers' or other ink, by means of a stamp, his monogram, trade-mark, or other
device, and although these will not afford the same effective protection as his signature
in full would, they will render the fraudulent enlargement of the sum of a cheque thus
safe guarded impossible, without their absolute effacement at one point, and their
forgery or fraudulent use at another, and what applies to the signature, stamp,
etcetera, of an individual is intended to apply equally to cheques drawn by firms,
companies, corporations or trusts.
The spaces D for re-signature or stamping may be distinguished from each other
by different forms of shading, or as shown in Form C by a line or lines passing
through each space diagonally at different points, or by both combined, or by forming
any picture or diagram so arranged that no transposition of any two parts could take
place without its being at once discernible, my object being to render impossible,
without detection, the cutting out of the signature, stamp or initials, and its or their
re-insertion in the line of some other limiting sum.
The principle of my designs is applicable, subject to variation in details, to Letters
of Credit, forms of Bills of Exchange, drafts after date or on demand, receipts for
money, warehouse warrants, bills of lading, or any other documents whereon it is

page_text: desirable to guard the figures, whether relating to money, weights measures, or
quantities, against fraudulent alteration. Also the principle of my designs is equally
applicable to cheques, payable to order or to bearer. It is also applicable to cheques
or other instruments for less than one pound each or for more than seventy five
thousand pounds each.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The manufacture and use of bankers' cheques, or other documents on which
there is printed, or otherwise marked, (besides the usual devices or writings common
thereto) one or more scales of fixed and limiting amounts or quantities, each of the
said amounts or quantities having in line therewith, a space (either plain or otherwise)
for the reception of the signature, or its equivalent, of the drawer or signatory thereof
whereby the drawer, by placing his signature opposite one or more of these amounts,
can indicate that the sum drawn for does not exceed the amount, or collective amounts
to which his signature is specially appended.
2. The arrangement of bankers' cheques or other like documents, in which the
position of the signature indicates approximately the amount drawn for, whereby
serious alteration in such amount is practically rendered impossible, without the
absolute effacement of the drawers' signature at one point, and its forgery at another.
3. In a cheque or other document designed substantially as herein set forth, a
series of spaces such as D, for the signature, so designed or ornamented that no
transposition of the same could be made without detection, for the purposes described.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.