US796524A - Cash-fare receipt-form. - Google Patents

Description

No. 796,524- i PATBNTED AUG. 8, 1905. H. P. MSSEN.

CASH FARE RECEIPT FORM. APPLICATION FILED un. 16, 1905.

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UNITED STATES NPATENT orrrcn.

CASH-FARE RECEIPT-FORM.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented.Aug. 8, 1905.

Application filed March 16, 1905. Serial No. 250,432.

hands in money by passengers who have not` provided themselves with tickets.

The cash-fare receipt-form contemplated by this invention is of that class which comprises an auditors check to be returned by the conductor to the accounting department .of the railroad and a receipt-slip to be handed by him to the passenger, these two portions being each provided with corresponding forms of figures, from which one or more figures will be punched out by the conductor to indicate the amount of the fare collected.

The particular obj ect of the invention is to provide a receipt-form of the character described in which the passengers receipt-slip and the auditors check will be so associated with each other as to render it practically impossible for the conductor or collector to punch the one without simultaneously punching the other in an exactly corresponding manner except by so mutilating the auditors check as to render the trickery apparent or by manipulations which cannot fail to be observed by the passenger and by any inspector who may be watching the operation.

The invention also contemplates a construction capable of being canceled by an ordinary ticket-punch and generally of such a sim le and convenient nature that it can be easi y and expeditiously 'issued Awithout appreciably increasing the effort or time ordinarily required to make such cash-fare collection and properly record the same.

To this end, therefore, the invention consists in making one portion of the ticket in the form of a folded sheet and the other portion of the ticket in the form of an intervening leaf about which the aforesaid sheet will be folded, the edges of the two portions remote from the line of fold being permanently bound together, so as to prevent the sheets from being separated orfrom being separately manipulated until after both sheets have been detached from the stubs formed by their connected edges.

Preferably the folded sheet will constitute the auditors check, which will be returned by the conductor to the accounting department of the railroad, while the intervening leaf, about which the auditors checkis folded, will constitute the receipt-slip which will be handed by the conductor to the passenger making the payment. In any case, however, both portions of the ticket will be provided with forms of figures from which the figures indicating the amount of the fare paid, in dollars and cents, can be punched by the conductor, and these forms will be printed in eX- act register with each other on the two portions. Then owing to the manner in which the auditors check is folded about the receipt-slip the cancellation of the necessary figures can only be accomplished by punching clear through the triplicate sheet formed by the two leaves of the auditors check and the inclosed receipt-slip, with the result that the cancellation of the gures intended will occur simultaneously on both the auditors check and assengers receipt and will involve exactl y the same figures in each case, thus insuring that the return made to the auditor and the receipt given the passenger will indicate the same identical amount.

In practice it is contemplated that the cash-fare receipt-forms constructed in accordance with the present improvement will be placed in the hands of conductors or collectors inthe shape of pads or books, in each of which the several receipt-forms constituting the pad or book will be bound together by staples or the like through the stubs forming the connected edges of the triplicate sheets, said stubs being rendered readily divisible from the body of the sheets by perforated or otherwise weakened lines, along which the pa er can be readily torn. Then after the con uctor or collector has properly punched the triplicate sheet he will tear it off from the pad along the weakened line, leaving the stubs still in place in the pad or binding. This will leave the folded sheet free at one edge and permit itsleaves to be opened apart and the 'passengers receipt withdrawn to be immediately handed to the passenger in whose presence the form will have been canceled, the folded sheet or auditors check being retained by the conductor and subsequentlyturned in with his report to the accounting department of the railroad.

ln the accompanying drawings, illustrative of my invention in one form, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a pad of cash-receipt orms constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view showin the auditors check and passengers receipt as they appear when torn from the pad and partially separated from each other. Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the manner in which the passengers receipt is folded between the leaves of the auditors stub. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken through a pad of cash-fare receipt-forms, from which all but the last form have been torn.

In said drawings, A designates a pad of cash-fare receipt-forms constructed in accordance with the present improvement. This pad is made up of a plurality of separate receipt-forms each consisting of a folded sheet A and an inserted sheet A2, about which the sheet A is folded.

Each sheet A is folded along a line a, eX- tending longitudinally of the sheet midway between its opposite edges, which are then brought together and secured by the staples or other fastenings B of the pad. The inserted sheet A2 is made of a width approximately equal to the width of one of the folded leaves of the sheet A and is inserted between these leaves and secured there at one edge by the same staples B of the pad. The connected edges of the sheets through which the staples B are passed are shown as separated from the body portion of its sheet by a weakened line a, such as a line of perforations, along which the sheet may readily be torn, leaving a stub c2 still attached to the pad to prevent the other forms from becoming loosened from their binding.

The intermediate sheet A2 and at least one of the leaves of the folded sheet A have printed upon their faces identical forms of figures A2, which exactly register with each other. These forms of figures may be of any suitable character capable of being canceled by an ordinary conductors punch and. capable of showing by such cancellation the amount of the cash paid. Three rows of figures are in this instance provided, indicating dimes, dollars, and cents, respectively, each row including figures running from "0 to 9. These figures are herein shown as printed on the face of the upper leaf a2 of the folded sheet A', which folded sheet in this instance and desirably constitutes the auditors check and as also printed on the face of the intermediate sheet A2 in such corresponding location that the respective figures of the two forms register with or lie immediately beneath each other. In connection with these forms of figures also the sheets bear such printed matter as will identify the purpose or which each portion is intended. The two portions of the ticket will also be printed with the name of the railroad company and the auditors check ordinarily with blanks in which the conductor or collector will write the names of the stations between which the passenger is traveling and with a blank which may be punched to indicate half-fare collections.

The manner of using these cash-fare receipts thus described will be readily understood. A pad or book of the forms described will be carried by the conductor or collector ready for use by him as occasion arises. When he receives a cash-fare from any passenger, he will separate the loose edge of the uppermost triplicate form from the remaining forms in the pad far enough to permit of the application of his punch to the edge of the form for the purpose of punching out the figures (dollars, dimes, and cents) indicating the amount of the fare collected. This cancellation will thus necessarily involve a cutting through by the punch of the three leaves of the triplicate sheet and will simultaneously obliterate the same-figures on both the auditors check and the passengers receipt, at the same time leaving punch-marks a4 in the under side or leaf a5 of the auditors check. The conductor will then tear the triplicate sheet thus canceled from the pad and when thus detached the leaves of the outer or folded sheet can readily be opened apart, as shown in Fig. 2, to permit the passengers receipt to be withdrawn from between them, such withdrawal being'desirably facilitated by cutting away the edges of the folded sheet at one end to form a concavity or notch a, through which the edge of the passenfrers receipt will project, so that it may readi y be seized between the fingers. This receipt will then at once be handed to the passenger while the auditors check will be retained by the conductor and returned by him with his report to the auditing department of the railroad.

With this improved construction of cashfare receipt-form it will be obvious that, owing to the fact that the passenger's receipt is completely inclosed by the auditors check, it will be practically impossible for a conductor, even if so inclined, to punch the two portions of the receipt differently. Such procedure would obviously necessitate either a detachment of the triplicate sheet from the pad previous'to its being punched, which operation would be readily detected by the passenger or by any inspector observing the transaction or would necessitate a previous slitting of the folded edge of the auditors check sufficient to expose the passengers receipt to the separate action of the punch, which slitting would prevent the auditors check from being turned in by the conductor in an unsevered condition and with its leaves still attached to each other, as the rules of the company will require. At the same time the construction proposed is of the simplest character, requiring no special punch or other device or mechanism for its manipulation and can be produced in quantities at a minimum of cost.

I claim as my invention- 1. A cash-fare receipt-form, comprising a folded portion having its edges opposite the fold bound together, and a portion inserted between the leaves of the folded portion and having one of its edges secured between-the bound edges of said folded portion, one of said portions bearing matter constituting it a check and the other bearing matter constituting it a receipt, substantially as described.

2. A cash-fare receipt-form, comprising a folded portion, and an intermediate portion inserted between the leaves of the folded portion, the edges of the three portions remote from the line of fold being provided with stubs, and said stubs being permanently bound together so as to prevent the withdrawal of the intermediate portion except by tearing both portions loose from the stubs,

one of said portions bearing matter constituting it an auditors check and the other bearing matter constituting it a passengers receipt, substantially as described.

3. A pad of cash-fare receipt-forms, each consisting of a folded check and of a receipt inserted between the leaves of the folded check, those edges of'thefolded check and intermediate receipt remote from the line of fold being connected to stubs, and said stubs being permanently bound together to form the pad and normally prevent access to the receipt, substantially as described.

4. A cash-fare receipt-form, comprising an inner sheet, and an outer sheet folded around the inner sheet and secured together at its edges, a connection between the sheets serving to normally prevent withdrawal of the inner sheet, and registering forms of figures on the two sheets adapted to be simultaneously canceled by the conductors punch, substantially as described.

5. A pad of cash-fare receipt-forms, each consisting of a folded check and of a receipt inserted between the leaves of the folded check, those edges of the folded check and intermediate receipt remote from the line of fold being connected to stubs and said stubs being permanently bound together to form the pad and normally prevent access to the re'ceipt, and registering forms of figures on the check and receipt adapted to be simultaneously canceled by the conductors punch, substantially as described.

6. A pad of cash-fare receipt-forms, each comprising a folded portion having its edges opposite the fold bound together, and another portion inserted and secured between the leaves of said folded portion, one of the portions bearing matter constituting it a check and the other bearing matter constituting it a receipt, said portions having re istering forms of figures adapted to be simuI- taneously canceled by a punch.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature, in presence of two subscribing Witnesses, this 11th day of March, A. D. 1905.

HARRY PHILIP MSSEN.

Witnesses:

J. BoUGHToN, ROBT. L. THoMAs.

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