A METHOD OR METHODS OF PREVENTING SUCH LOSSES, AND FOR THE, SECURITY OF REMITTANCES
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
ABREE PICKERING, of Hackney Terrace, Hackney, in the County of Middle-
sex, Gentlemen, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Thomas Abree Pickering, did, by my Petition,
humbly represent to His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Third, that losses of parcels (containing bank notes, bank, post bills, country
bankers' or other notes payable to bearer in London or the country) by
coaches so frequently accurring, I had invented "A METHOD OR METHODS OF
PREVENTING SUCH LOSSES, AND FOR THE, SECURITY OF REMITTANCES;" that I was
the, first, and true Inventor thereof, and that the same had never been practiced
by any other person or persons whomsoever, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, I humbly prayed His said Majesty to grant unto me, my exors,
admiors, and assigns, His Royal Letters Patent under His Great Seal of Great
Britain. for the sole use, benefit, and advantage of my said. Invention, within
that part of His said Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain called England,
His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and His said
Majesty therefore did, by His Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-
first day of May, and in the fifty-fourth year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said Thomas Abree Pickering, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Abree Pickering, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said
Thomas Abree Pickering, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the

page_text: nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties, and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Abree Pickering, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in manner following (that is to say) :-
=
I stamp with an instrument or otherwise, hereafter described, and affix on
the back of each note or bill (payable to bearer, and intended for remittance,
or to be returned into the country after payment in London to be re-issued)
in such a manner as hereafter described, such a notice as may be most suitable
on each species of notes or bills to render them of no value in the hands of
any person excepting the right possessor (that is to say), on Bank of England
notes, and post bills, indorsed to the effect following, "Norwich to London,
21 May, 1814, for Messrs. Robarts, Curtis, & Co., payment is stopped until
due arrival is certified," and on country bank notes to the effect following,
"Further payment of this note suspended till re-issued." And I do declare
that the words and figures here mentioned of such notices are given as illus-
trations only of the import of the notices; and I claim the benefit of varying or
using any other words or figures in such notices as may be found more
adviseable without prejudice to or injuring my Letters Patent; and I do declare
the stamp or instrument to be used is mechanically made either by the letters
and other component parts intended to produce the impression on the back
of each note or bill being cut out of a solid piece of brass or other suitable
metal, or I may use a machine or instrument containing printing types cast by
a letter founder, similar to those well known to be used in marking letters or
other devices on linen or paper, and in either case I use common printers' ink
as the liquid to make the impression; and where the notes or bills are, by wear,
dirt or otherwise, become unfit to receive the impression, I affix by gum water
or paste, or other well-known means on the back of such notes or bills, a piece
of paper of less dimensions than the note or bill, as shown by Drawing A,
annexed and referred unto, in which the outer lines, marked a, a, a, a, signify
the dimensions of the note or bill, and the inner or dotted lines marked b, b, b,
those of the piece of paper affixed; and I apply the stamp or printing types

page_text: and ink on such parts and in manner as exemplified in the Drawing, whereby
the whole notice, and part only of the words "Letters Patent, and of the
Crown, and
or marks, as appear by the said Drawing are impressed
or marked on the slip of paper affixed, and the other part of the words,
"Letters Patent, and of the Crown, and * or marks on the note or bill, which
mode prevents the slip of paper so affixed being taken off or defaced without
leaving such an appearance or suspicion thereof as no person will be induced
to take such note or bill without proper investigation or inquiry; and do also,
in case I shall prefer to use a notice printed by a printer on a slip of paper
instead of part of the contents of the said stamp or types above mentioned, I
declare my mode to be by affixing such printed notice by gum water, paste,
or other well-known means, and I afterwards stamp or imprint the same in
like manner as above described to prevent the same being taken off or defaced
without appearance or suspicion thereof.
And for further carrying into effect my said Invention for security of remit-
tances under the above protection, I shall open an office in London to co-
operate with my Invention, and authorize and constitute country bankers as
agents throughout England; and the plan and conducting of such office, with
further particulars, connecting and forming a complete system of security against
thieves, accomplishers, or receivers, will be made known by a public prospectus.
Although I have laid down a certain way in order to secure remittances, yet I
do not confine myself to it, as it may be varied according to circumstances.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Abree Pickering, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
THOMAS ABREE PICKERING.
(L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1814, the aforesaid Thomas Abrec Pickering came
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowleged the Speci-
ofication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Nineteenth day of November in the year of our I and One

page_text: suitable to each species of Notes