US1331598A - Banker's booklet - Google Patents

Description

G. W. VTIBBETTS.

BANKERS BOOKLET.

APPLICATLON FILED JUNE 22. |916.

Patented Feb. 24,1920.

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/VIVSFI? 76 SRV/NGS WOOL/IVI' GEORGE WALLACE TIBBETTS, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS.

BANKERS BOOKLET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 24, 1920.

'Application filed June 22, 1916. Serial No. 105,264.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE VALLAGE Trnlin'r'rs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of lVinthrop, in the county of Suffolk and Sta-te of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Bankers Book- IAQ lets, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to booklets for bankers use andin particular to a booklet which may be utilized in administering one of the so-called Christmas clubs wherein there are made periodical deposits of small amount to be returned in a lump sum at some given time as, for example, just before Christmas. The purpose of the invention is to provide such a booklet which will not only make the accounting work of the bank simple and easy but which will stimulate and extend its business.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein I have shown one form of booklet adapted for my purpose and wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of the book open to the first leaf or page; j r

Fig. 2 is the book open to the second page;

Fig. 3 shows the book open to one of the pages ofthe body thereof; and i Fig. 4 shows the last page,

I Will irst briefly describe the vphysical structure of the' booklet shown in 'the accompanying drawings, disregarding for the comparatively stiff card or similar material and is detachable, for exam le, by means of the scored division line 7. his blank is intended to be detached by the bank when the account is opened and the printed lmatter thereon `includes a memorandum of agreement 9 referring to the rules or contract,

which are printed on the inside cover at 3Y and thus brought to the depositors notice.. Blanks 11 are provided for the depositors signature and there is also a blank form 13 which may, if desired, extend on the reverse of the leaf, as shown in Fig. 9., and provides a place whereon the bank can record the various payments or deposits. The records of payments and deposits on this blank are similar to the postings in a ledger and the card with the postings thereonis really a ledger account for the depositor which may be filed away in a card drawer in any suit able manner. The leaf, furthermore, is a signature card identifying the signature of the depositor and a memorandum of the contract which he has entered into with the bank. As shown at 15, the card bears a designating mark such as a serial number which is repeated on all the leaves of the book so that although detached they may be readily classified or brought together again.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the second leaf 17 may constitute a receipt record on which the bank notes the various deposits as they are made. This record 'Vis permanently bound to the book and is retained therewith by the customer. The printing on this leaf may be a suitable form of tabulation as indicator. Referring now to Fig. 3 the remainder of the book includes a number of detachable leaves 19, each of which isa deposit slip or voucher for one of the periodicaldeposits. It is intended that these leaves should be detached from the book at the bank and handed in when the deposit is made. shown at l5, these leaves bear the designating number of the account and bear the relation to the records on the card 5 that journal entries do to ledger entries. The leaves lf) do not require to be written on or treated in any way and consequently there is no delay in handling the deposit at the tellers window. As an example of the letterprcss which may be printed on this leaf there may be beside the account number 15 a number Asv indicating the. particular periodical deposit and a statement of the amount. An important feature of my invention consists in thel fact that on each of the deposit slips or vouchers is printed a clause of the contract between the depositor and the bank which is an order to the bank to apply some of the deposited money to a. restricted account. The importance of this feature will more fully appear hereinafter. As an example of the letterpress that may be used, the following may be given:

It is agreed by the depositor that $5.0() (or the total deposit if less than $5.00) shall that the entire sum due under the contractA or any'part thereof be transferred to a restricted account such as one in the savings department of the bank. g

The utility of my invention is twofold. First, it provides a convenient and ineX- pensive way for administering the accounts of a Christmas club; secondly, it will eX- tend the clientele of the bank and will have the tendency to bring customers 'into its savings department. The so-called Christ- Vmas clubs wherein periodical deposits are made to provide against the heavy expenses of Christmas time have been instituted by banking houses with two primary purposes. The first yis to bring persons to the bank in the hope that they may become profitable customers or clients thereof. The second purpose has been to show by force of example the benefit of regular savings. The importance of the Christmas club accounts in themselves is not great as the amounts are small and there is agood deal of clerical work involved in their administration.V By the use of my invention not only is the primary advantage to the bank of the small accounts increased but the underlying purposes of the scheme are much advanced.

It will have been apparent from the description of the form of the book as used that the method of keeping the accounts is considerably simplied. The card 5 which is filledl out by the customer before or when he comes to the bank serves three purposes.

It is aledger account, it is a signature card and it is a memorandum of the contract betweenthe customer andthe banksigned by the customer. The deposit vouchers 19 are taken in by the teller. across thecounter land by means of the numbers 15 the card or ledger account can be posted from su-ch slips. The receipts for the deposit are entered by the teller in the form providedonthe leaf 17 as he detaches the slip.

A further advantage of the use of the book with the leaf 5 as described is that it lends' itself for distribution to prospective customers. In other words, instead of inducing persons by advertising to Colne to the bank the book feels that he would like to enter the club, he simply signs the deposit card 5 and either hands it over the counter of the bank without waiting, or mails it to the bank. By such means many customers are retained who would change their minds or omit to go to the bank to start the account when it involved .a certain amount of initial inconvenience. It will be noted that the signature to the card is a memorandum of a contract entered into between the customer and the bank the terms of which are brought to the customers attention ,in the same book from which he detaches the slip and preferably by having them printed directly opposite them, as shown in Fig. l. An important feature consists in the manner in which theclub may be administered by the use of my invention. As stated, one of the purposes of these Christmas clubs is to induce persons to become depositors in one of the regular branches of the banking house after they have had an object lesson in the advantage of regular saving. For this purpose prefer to embody as a term of the.

contract an agreement that some part of the accumulated sum on deposit Vshall not be withdrawn at the conclusion of the clubterm just before Christmas, but shall be transferred to the regular savings branch ,of the bank to lie there for aV certainV specified period. By this means an initial; start is made on a regular savings account automatically as it were, and it is probable that the depositar will continue the same and add thereto as he has done in a similar Away in theV Christmas club. For example, if he omits to join the club for another year for any reason and afterward repente of his decision, he will already have an account to which he can add deposits. Furthermore, the limitation of the account is such that it cannot be withdrawn at Christmas time when eXtra spending money is so desirable, but` will becarried over into a later period when the credit, in the popular phrase, will bev just like finding money. Therefore, the customer will probably let the account stand and the bank has the beginnings atleast of a profitable client. Preferably, as-explained, the clause of the contract bearing on this point is printed upon each of the deposit vouchers or slips. This idea is periodically presented to the mind of the holder of the book as a suggestion and by its repetition his mind grows accustomed tothe idea of having'a savings account and the suggestion is reinforced by the considerations of the advantage which he knows will arise therefrom. The result of this systematic suggestion is much more certain thana single or infrequent argument which might in itself be more'striking. Therefore, the tendency is to make more probable the indefinite utilization of the savings account started by a part of the Christmas club fund. To take advantage of any favorable condition in the mind of the holder of the booklet I prefer to bind as a part of the booklet, preferably on paper of some contrasting color, the detachable transfer order 2l, which will transfer the Whole Christmas club fund or a part thereof to a regular savings account. Thus, if at any time the holder of the booklet is momentarily convinced of the advantage that Would come to him through "naving a savings account, it is only necessary for him to remove the slip Which is already appended and hand it or mail it to the bank. There is comparatively little opportunity for him to let the matter slip through neglect or by postponement to a more convenient time.

It is apparent from the above brief description of a few of the typical advantages arising from the use of suoli a booklet as I have described that not only is the atministration of a Christmas club or similar scheme facilitated, but that through the same agency that is utilized for administering the scheme the business of the bank may be built up and extended along substantial and profitable lines. It is, of course. obvious that the particular arrangement of parts and the letterpress utilized in the booklet here shown, are not of the essence of the invention but that they could be Widely varied. What I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A booklet constituting a unitary appliance facilitating the inception and administration of banking transactions involving a plurality of deposits comprising, in combination, a detachable card having a memorandum of contract, a delineated blank space for signature and a blank form to receive a ledger account, a leaf having a similar blank form for the notation of receipts and a plurality of detachable leaves bearing printed matter and constituting deposit slips, the Whole being bound together and all the elements having a common identifying number, the detachable card being adapted for retention by the bank at the inception of the series of transactions and the detachable leaves being adapted to be delivered to the bank on'each deposit and the leaf having a blank form being adapted for retention by the depositor to receive notations of receipt of the several deposits.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

GEORGE WALLACE TIBBETTS.

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