AN IMPROVED SYSTEM FOR CONSECUTIVELY NUMBERING CHECKS, AND MAKING UP OR BINDING CHECK BOOKS WHEN SO NUMBERED
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Fraser at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th April
1866.
I, JAMES FRASER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Bookbinder;
Stationer, and Account Book Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SYSTEM FOR CONSECUTIVELY NUMBERING
CHECKS, AND MAKING UP OR BINDING CHECK BOOKS WHEN SO NUMBERED," to be as
follows (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object an improved system for consecutively
numbering checks and check books for the use of shopkeepers and others,
and a ready means of arranging the checks and counterfoils in consecutive
order for "making up" or binding together, to form counter and other
check books.
To apply this Invention to, say, a draper's counter check book, the sheets,
upon which the bill head and the portion of the paper forming the counterfoil
and the seller's check piece are printed and perforated for the convenience of
separation in the ordinary way. Now it has been the practice heretofore to
print with the ordinary types, or by lithography the consecutive numbers on
the front of the customer's bill, the counterfoil and check piece with the
consecutive numbers on the same side as that of the printed heading of the
customer's bill, which has been found exceedingly inconvenient, as by this
arrangement the counterfoil and check piece are numbered on the back, and
which could not be avoided without having the paper printed on both sides,
that is to say, the numbers printed on the back, which involved a double

page_text: amount of press work, and the continual changing of the type figures. Now
to obviate these inconveniences and objections to the present system, it is
proposed to print the bill heading of the check first on paper having two rows
of perforations, for the purpose of separating the customer's bill from the
counterfoil, and the other to separate the counterfoil from the check piece
which is retained in the book. After the required number of headings are
printed on the several sheets of paper, take, say, twenty-five of these pieces,
and "fan" them out on a flat surface, so that they overlap one another, so as
to expose a portion of the top or bottom of each sheet, the printed face being
laid downwards, then the Inventor makes use of a roll or wheel, which has
raised figures engraved or otherwise embossed on the periphery thereof,
commencing at one and running up to, say, twenty-five; this wheel works
on an axle having its bearings between the forked jaws of a short shank or
handle; the operator then inks the surface of the figures on the edge of the
roller in any convenient manner, he then lays the roller so that figure one
comes into contact with the first sheet, and then presses it forward until he has
numbered the whole of the portion of the sheets forming the seller's check
piece, he then moves the roller a little to one side, and repeats the operation
on that portion of the sheets which form the counterfoil, he then removes the
roller again, and again runs it over that portion of the sheets which will form
the customer's bill, which will be marked on the back. Now in using these
counter check books the customer's bill is folded back into the face of the
portion of the sheet which is to form the counterfoil, and a sheet of carbonic
paper is introduced between the back of the customer's bill and the face of
the counterfoil when the bill is written by the seller with a pencil, thus
producing the bill and counterfoil at one operation, but which latter arrange-
ment is no part of this Invention, as that is the ordinary method of making
out shop counter bills and counterfoils. Now it will be observed that the
consecutive numbering of the counterfoil and seller's check piece, which latter
remains in the book are numbered on the front, while the customer's bill
itself is numbered on the back, which is a matter of little consequence, as it
has seldom to be referred to, but the counterfoil and seller's check piece being
numbered on the front may at once be seen, which greatly facilitates the
work of the book-keeper as well as the seller in checking his accounts. The
roller with the raised figures may be used for consecutively numbering checks
of all kinds, as will be readily understood, and when a greater number of
consecutive figures are required than can be conveniently engraved on the
periphery of one roller, consecutive numbers may be apportioned to any
number of rollers that may be required, the first roller, say, numbering from

page_text: one to twenty-five, a second from twenty-six to fifty, a third from fifty-one to
seventy-five, and so on. By this system of numbering no checks with
duplicate numbers are likely to occur, and as the checks are "fanned" out
they are simply gathered up, or "knocked" together, and are in consecutive
order, which greatly facilitates the work of the binder.