US163732A - Improvement in tickets - Google Patents

Description

BRUSH.

Ticket.

Patented May 25,1875.

UNITED S'rnrns PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS BRUSH, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO THOMAS AA. JEBB, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN TICKETS.

Speciiication'forming part of Letters Patent No. 163,732, dated May 25, 1875,' application filed April l, 1875.l

To. all whom it may concerny Be it known that I, Louis BRUSH, of the city of Buifalo, in the county of Erie and State of N ew York, have invented certain Improvements in Tickets, of which the following is a specification:

My improvement relates to that class of tickets known as through or coupon tickets which extend over two or more different lines of roads, or divisions thereof. These tickets, as now commonly used, consist of a contract, and a series of coupons, each forming a ticket good for a passage over the particular road or division thereof indicated thereon, which the respective conductors of such roads are required to detach and cancel by punching. Each coupon being good for a passage over a speciiied portion ofthe route, great losses have resulted to the railroad companies from conductors neglecting to punch or cancel such coupons, and reselling the same. In case a passenger requires to stop over at any station,

the conductor gives the passenger a stop-over check, which, being issued by the conductors only, enables the latter to fraudulently give them to persons who have not paidtheir fare, which, also, has occasioned great loss to the different railroad companies. Another source of great loss to the railroad companies results from the facility with which a passenger, if dishonest, can leave the train at a certain point, and go back several stations on the line, and then resume his journey again, riding over the same portion of the road on the same ticket or coupon, a certain class of commercial travelers, or drummers having frequently been detected in this'fraudulent use of the ticket. The substitution of a conductor-s check for the coupon is a source of great dissatisfaction in the case of ignorant persons and foreigners, and occasions frequent disputes between them and the conductors.

The object of my invention is to provide a ticket, by the use of which the above-mentioned losses and difficulties are avoided.

The accompanying drawing represents one of my improved tickets, designed as a through- 1=eket from Boston to Chicago, via Boston 85 Albany, New York Central 85 Hudson River,

and Lake Shore 85 Michigan Southern railroads.

, The portion marked by letter of reference A is a coupon or stub, which is detached and retained by the agent selling the ticket, which, however, does not form an essential part of the ticket. The portion B contains the usual contract of through tickets, viz., the name of the road issuing the ticket, the names of the places from which and to which the ticket extends, the names of the different roads designating the route over which the ticket extends, Src. The portion C is a strip containing a full list of the stations on the route, indicated in any suitable manner, either by letters or iigures, or both combined. In the drawing the principal stations are represented by letters, and the intermediate ones by figures. D l) are coupons, one for each road, containing a certificate or statement that the particular road designated thereon has carried a passenger between two speciiied stations or places for the company issuing the through-ticket, or on a ticket issued by said company, and also a statement to the effect that the coupon is not good for fare, or cannot be used as a passage ticket. It, preferably, also contains the terminal stations from which and to which the through-ticket extends, being Boston to Ohicago in the ticket represented in the drawing. Each coupon D is, preferably, numbered to correspond with the number on the contract portion B of the ticket, in the same manner as ordinary coupon tickets are numbered. The divison-lines between the different coupons and the rest of the ticket are perforated in the usual manner, to facilitate the separation of the coupons. The portion or strip O in the drawing is represented as provided with portions E E, one for each coupon, each containing a statement that the ticket is good only from the last station punched, Src., as shown in the drawing, the rst portion E Which reads as follows: Good only from the last station punched in margin below to Albany, over the Boston & Albany Railroad.7 The portions E E are not, however, essential parts of my iinproved ticket.

My improved ticket is designed to be used as follows: The conductor, after leaving the station at which the passenger gets on, is required to detach the first coupon of the ticket, the passenger retaining the remainder, and punch the rst and last stations of his section of the road, when the passenger does not intend to stop over at any intermediate station. It' the passenger desires to get off at any particular station, the conductor punches the number designating that station, in addition to the rst station, canceling the ticket to that station. On the passenger resuming his journey, the ticket will be good from the last station punched, when the same operation of punching is repeated by the conductor in charge, and the remainder of the coupons successively detached as the passenger enters the cars of the roads covered by such coupons, the passenger retaining the portions B G until after he leaves the station next preceding the terminal station of the route, when the ticket is lifted by the conductor in the ordinary manner.I

The advantages of my improved ticket over others in use may be briefly enumerated as follows: First, the passenger is permitted to retain his entire ticket until he reaches the end of the route, which is a great satisfaction, and prevents unpleasant disputes between passengers and conductors, and especially so in the case of ignorant passengers and foreigners unacquainted with the usages of railroad travel; second, the coupons, not being passage-tickets, or good for fare, need not be punched by the conductor, and cannot be resold by him, whereby the great loss which results from the resale by him of ordinary coupons is prevented; third, no conductors checks being required, the loss resulting fromthe fraudulent use of such checks is prevented fourth, the ticket being canceled to the station where the passenger stops over prevents the fraudulent use of the ticket for riding over the same road the second time, as has been done With the ordinary coupon-tickets, as above explained; fth, as my improved ticket readily becomes a stop-over ticket by the conductor simply punching the station Where the passeuger gets oft', the inconvenience to the conductor which results from separate stop-over checks is avoided; sixth, the coupons detached by the different conductors being of no use to them, the prompt return of such coupons to the offices of the respective roads or divisions furnishes ,such roads with a voucher against the company issuing the ticket.

Although my improved ticket is described as applied to railroads, it is obvious that it is equally applicable for steamboatlines, or steamboats and railroads combined.

What I claim as my invention is- A passage-ticket extending over two or more lines of railroad, or divisions thereof, consisting of a contract-stub and passenger-strip, containing a continuous list of the stations on the entire route, permanently connected, and a series of coupons for the different roads or divisions, not good for fare, but forming a voucher for each road, or division, adapted to be detached from the other portions of the ticket by the conductor, While the passenger portions forms a continuous ticket and stopover check, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

LOUIS BRUSH.

Witnesses:

JNo. J. BoNNER, EDWARD WILHELM.

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