Improvements in Safety Bank Checks, Drafts, and similar Commercial Documents.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb., 1896-Accepted, 4th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Safety Bank Checks, Drafts, and similar Commercial
Documents.
I MARION LEVENTRITT, of No. 4 Sutter Street, City and County of San Francisco,
State of California, United States of America, Capitalist, 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 has for its object to provide for the use of banks and for commercial
purposes generally a standard system of check or draft blanks which, when filled out
and issued for a given sum, cannot by any means be altered or raised to any
considerable sum in excess of the original or true value of the instrument, without
the fraud being detected.
To such end and object my invention consists essentially in a check or draft
blank having a body-portion of a fixed and standard length for all sums below a
predetermined figure, as, for example, one thousand dollars; and a regular increase
in such length of body-portion for checks and drafts to be used or issued for all sums
in excess of the aforesaid limit and below a given higher denomination, as for
example ten thousand dollars, combined with one or more coupons of a predetermined
width and integral with the body-portion of the said blank and on one end thereof;
the length of said blank being increased in a regular proportion by each coupon
issued therewith, and the width of each coupon so added to the length of the body-
portion and forming a part of such blank when filled up and issued indicating the
greatest sum for which the filled blank will be honored.
This invention includes, also, a blank check draft or other like instrument
combining in its structure the three elements of a standard length of body-portion,
a standard width of coupon directly attached to and integral with such body-portion
and a standard tint or color for all checks or other. instruments issued below a
predetermined sum or denomination.
The nature of my said invention and the manner in which I proceed to carry out,
apply and produce the same will be fully understood from the following description,
in which reference is had to the accompanying drawing:-
The said drawing represents a set of three blank checks embodying my said
invention;
Figure 1 being a blank to be used for sums not exceeding ten thousand dollars;
Figure 2, a blank for sums greater than ten thousand, and not exceeding twenty
thousand dollars; and Figure 3, a blank for sums above twenty thousand, and below
thirty thousand dollars.
A A' A' indicate the tody-portions of such blanks, and B B the coupon-portions
on one end of each blank:
In carrying out and applying my improvement, I select and fix upon a certain
length for the body-portion of the blank in inches, or other units of linear
measurement, as the standard of length for a blank that shall be used. for all checks
issued below a predetermined sum, as for example one hundred dollars, and by means
of the coupons B of a uniform width also selected and fixed upon at the time of
making the blanks, I increase by fractions of an inch, or other units, the value of the
standard length of the body-portion by one thousand dollars for each fraction so
added to the length of said blank by every coupon left on and made a part of the
blank at the time it is filled up and issued. Thus, for illustration, the body-portion
of the blank-Figure 1 is made the standard length of six and inches, the

page_text: coupons B B on the stub-side or left-hand end of the body are made the uniform
width of one-quarter of an inch. The value of each coupon when attached to and
issued with the body-portion as an integral part thereof is expressed in words and
figures across its face as shown in the said drawing.
Such form of blank is capable of being used for checks or drafts in large sums
only by increasing the number of coupons on the end which, in the case of sums
exceeding ten thousand dollars, for example, would be impracticable because of the
excessive length of the paper, a feature that would render the general employment
of such blanks for large sums objectionable and unsafe, chiefly because of the
liability of the end-coupons to become torn or mutilated by handling and thereby
destroying the value or the safeguard. Therefore for sums above ten thousand dollars,
taking that limit for purpose of illu-tration only, and not desiring to be understood
as restricting or confining the structure of the blank Figure 1 to that figure as the
value of the highest coupon, I increase the length of the body-portion by one half
an inch for the standard length of the body of a second blank A' (Figure 2), to be
filled up and used for sums above ten thousand dollars, and then by means of the
coupons B B' of uniform width on the stub-side of such blank and integral with it.
I increase the value of the standard length of seven inches for the body by
one quarter of an inch for each one thousand dollars in excess of ten thousand.
In like manner 1 provide the blank A' of the set represented in the said drawing
to be used for all sums above the amount indicated by the last coupon of the
number on the form represented by the before mentioned blank A' (Figure 2) taking
as the standard of length for the body-portion of this third blank the length of the
second blank increased by one half an inch.
The value of this third blank is then increased in the manner as before described
in the case of the other two blanks by adding to the end thereof the coupons B
having a uniform width of one quarter of an inch. This set of three blanks thus
having their body-portions regularly increased in length one over the other, and
having coupons of uniform-width on the ends which increase the length of the blank,
as before described, will serve for all transfers of money and other transactions carried
on by checks or drafts where the amount of a check or draft will not exceed thirty
thousand dollars. This system is capable of extension, however, to include an
additional blank or several blanks in the set or series by taking another standard of
length for the body portion of each additional blank, thereby increasing the length
of the body-portion of such blank over that of the lower blank in the series and
adding to its end a set of coupons of uniform width.
From the above description it will be seen that the prime feature of my blank
consists of the two eleir ents of a standard length in inches or other unit of linear
measurement and fractions thereof for the body-portion of the blank, and coupons of
a uniform and standard width on the stub-side of the blank aud integral therewith
that is to say not perforated, or indented, or otherwise made detachable from the body
and from one another.
In addition to these elementary and principal features, I employ and include as a
part of my invention the element of a distinguishing color or tint for each blank or
form where a set or series of the same is provided for use as before described. As
for example I make the first blank (Figure 1) of a pink tint or color, the second
blank (Figure 2) of white and the third blank of a blue tint.
The object of this additional element is principally to furnish the teller or clerk
who may handle or cash the paper a ready means of determining at a glance the
particular number of units of length that its body-portion should contain, and whether
the blank used was of the first, or second, or third standard of length.
Thus knowing from the length and color of the check the highest sum for which
it would be originally filled up and used, the teller or clerk paying the check is
informed of the value of the same. A check for one thousand dollars issued by
means of the proper blank of this series could not by any means be raised or
altered to ten thousand dollars for example, without the same being detected by
the teller acquainted with this system of blanks.

page_text: claim is
-
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
nd ascertained the nature of my said inven-
1. A blank check draft or similar instrument having a body-portion of a
standard length in inches or other units of linear measurement, the number of
said units determining the highest limit of the sum expressed in the body of the
instrument; combined with coupons of a fixed and standard width which is a
fraction of the unit of measurement attached to and integral with the said body--
portion, each fraction of unit so added to the length of the body-portion by a
coupon and made to form a part thereof being arranged to raise the limit
expressed by the length of the body-portion alone by a predetermined amount,
as shown and described.
2. A blank check draft or other instrument comprising in its structure the
three elements of a standard length of body-portion, a standard width of coupon
on the end of such body-portion and integral therewith, said measurements being
predetermined units of linear measurements and fractions thereof, and a standard
tint or color for the body-portion and coupons as shown and described.
Dated this 20th day of February 1896.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, W.C., Agents for the A