US1459331A - Means employed in bookkeeping - Google Patents

Description

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E. R. HERING MEANS EMPLOYED IN BOOKKEEPING Filed Aug. 9, 1919 NAME Ann mass DATEPAID Lao time m/mcr ajfqymenupan dueI and 77m;

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Patented June 19, 1923.,

narran .stares EMIL R. martine,` on CLEVELAND, OHIO.

MEANS EMPLOYED IN BOOKKEEPING.

Application filed August 9, 1919.

To all coito/Nal t may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL R. HERING, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Cleveland, in the State of Chio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means Employed in Bookkeeping, ofy which the following is a specimanner easily observed the condition of fication.

'My invention relates particularly to bookkeeping done in banks and other similar institutions lin connection with transactions in which payments are to be made at stated i intervals. In such transactions it is ,desirable and frequently essential to determine after all the payments have been made whether they have been made in due season or whether there has been delay in making some or all of the required payments.

One of the common schemes of this sort is frequently referred to as the Christmas Money Club. In this scheine, to which I will apply my invention as a specific eX- ample, the customer, purchaser or depositor is required to make payments to the bank or vother receiving institution at definite periods during the year. Payments may be made weekly or monthly or at other intervals. The payments may all be of the same amount or each payment may be larger than the preceding payment or they mayvary in other respects. lVhatever character the transactions have their'details are generally delinitely determined at the beginning of the period. For instance one common scheme contemplates the payment into the bank of $1.00 each week forv fifty weeks beginning with the last week in lDecember and running to about Christmas time of the next year when the total of the payments together with interest is'to .be returned to the depositor. Cne purpose of such a scheme is to inculcate in the depositorhabits of regularity in saving and in paying. An-

other reason for requiring the conditions to be exactly met is that the money must be received by the bank at the appointed time in order to warrant the bank paying interest on the amount. To this end it is desirable if not essential that there be provided in thebank means for recording the payment as made in such a way as to indicate whether the payment isf made whenv due irrespective of whether the dateis recorded. Of' course if the'date of eachpayment is recorded by the bank the record may be examined and so the timeliness of the pay- Serial No. 316,283.

ments determined. In a large institution having' many accounts the careful examination of a multiplicity of payment dates at the maturity'of the account is a very considerable inconvenience. One purpose of the present invention is to provide means for readily indicating in afcharacteristic each payment as made as to whether it is made prior to or after its due date. As a` matter of added convenience I may provide means to indicate the actual V ment is made and if it is in arrears to indicate how much time it may be overdue in such a way as to be readily discernible.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown specific embodiments of my invention. Figure 1 shows a record card to be used in a bank in connection with an account which employs one o-f the usual or any preferred form of coupon book. Fig. 2 shows a simplified card to be held at the bank and Fig. 8 shows a card to be employed by the depositor in connectionwith the card of Fig. 2.

lThe card shown in Fig. 1 is adapted for vertical filing in the bookkeeping cabinet at the bank and toA this end has a'tabA projecting above its top on'which may be entered the serial number of the account. The

indicate the class of the account. In the date each paypresent instance the marking $1.00. Class indicates that each payment is to be $151.00.y

Below this are lines D for the name and address of the depositor and below this columns indicatng the number of the payment E, the amount due on that payment F and the total amount including that payment Gf; Between the columnindicating the amount due and the column indicating the total paid is a column II headed Date paid in which is to be stamped the date on which the paymentA is made. To the left of the Date paid77 column are a suitable number of `rulings iive being shown in the present instance. Above the legend Date paid is an arrow I associated With the Words @Weeks past due. The arrow points to and indicates a series of numbers K; l7 being -between the first pair of rulings to the left of the legend Date paid; 2 between the second and third rulings; 3 between the third and fourth rulings.; 4, between the fourth and fth rulings; 5.betw.een the fifth ruling and the edge of the card. In addition the column headed column headed to this at the lower right hand corner of the card is an indication L of the total of the payments made and a blank space M in check should be drawn to settle the account.4

In the drawing I have shown to the left of this an instruction note N reading All dates are posted in column printed Date paid. The payments made when due or before should be posted over to the right, if payment is one week past due post a little to the left so beginning of date comes under Figure 1. Two weeks past due is posted more to the left under column 2 etc. rl`his will show at any time number of payments past due and time. The coupon books held by the depositor indicate the date by which each ofthe various payments should'be made and for the series of accounts this date is well known to the bookkeeper. If the payments are made before the. are overdue the date of theirpayment wil be marked or stamped under the words Date paid and to the right of the rulings. If the payment is not made when due but is delayed for not eX- ceeding one week the date when paid will be similarly marked on the card but instead of being placed under the words Date paid7 it will be placed to the left so as to cover a part of the space between the first and second rulings to the left and so show in 1 to which the llVeeks past due arrow points. Similarly if the payment is two weeks overdue the entry date will appear in the column headed 2; if three weeks overdue it will appear in the 3, if vfour weeks overdue it will appear in the column headed 4; 1f five weeks overdue it will appear in the column headed 5. Anyy suitable number of these columns may be provided and I do not limit myself to asf few as the tive columns here shown nor is it essential that as many as ive be employed.

F'or .purposes of illustration I have made some entries upon the card shown 1n Fig. 1.

' It is assumed that this card is to indicate the payment `24; the sixth payment to be made during the week beginning January 31; and the seventh' payment to be made during the week beginning February 7 and so on throughout the year. In the particulark account recorded on the card the first payment was made on December 28. The 28th of December being within the week beginning December 27 that payment was made when due and consequently the date Dec. 28 as indicated at O is stamped in column I-I` underv the words Date paid and tothe right of the rulings. Although the second payment was due during the week beginning January 3 and the third payment due during the week beginning January 10 those payments were not made until January 18 when $3.00 was paid to cover the second, third and fourth payments. On January 18 the seco-nd payment was two weeksoverdue so that date Jan. 18 is stamped as indicated at P beginning between the rulings under 27 to which the TvVeeks` past due arrow Ipoints. On J anuary 18 overdue and to indicatethis the date Jan.- 18 is so stamped at Q las to show in the column headed; 1 to which the Weeks past due arrow I points. The fourth payment being due during the week beginning J anuary 17 was not pastv due when it was paid on the 18th of January andk consequently the third payment was one week f the date stamp Jan. 18 is placed at lIt under l the words Date paid and to the-right of the ruling. The fifth payment being due during the week of January 24, was seasonably paid on January 24 and consequently the date stamp January 24 is placed at S to the right of the ruling and under the words Date paid. The sixth payment being due during the week of January 31 was one week past due on the '7th of Feb ruary when the payment was ymade consequently the date Feb. 7 is so placed at T as to show between the first and second rulings I to the left and under the figure 1 indicated by the Weeks past due arrow I. On February 9 the seventh payment was made and since this payment was due dur-` ing the week beginning February 7 it was seasonably made asv indicated by the date stamp Feb. 9 at U which was placed to the right of the ruling and under the words Date paid. An inspection ofthis card without reference to a calendar and without reference to the specific dates of the various payments and without reference to specific dates when the various payments were due shows that one payment was made when two weeks past due; two payments were made when o-ne week past due and four payments were made when due.' This information is obtained readily andl promptly by observing that therev is one ydate mark, namely January 18 at P, which encroachesv upon the colunm headed 2 and two dates namely Jan. 18 at Q, and Feb. 7 at T which encroach upon the column headed l to which the Weeks vpast due arrow leads. The four dates, namely Dec. 28 at O, Jan. 18 at R, Jan. 24 at S and Feb. 9 at U which do not encroach upon the rulings to the left indicate that the four payments represented by them were made when they were not past due.

In Figures 2 and 3 I. have shown another application of my invention. In this scheme I provide two cards, o-ne shown in Fig. 2 marked Bank card B1' to be held in the bank as its record. The card B2 shown in Fig. 3 isi given to the depositor and represents his receipts for payments.4 In this scheme the two cards are identical in every respect except that one has printed 0n `it the two words Bank card. The two cards may be superposed one on the other and the printing or' marking on one will exactly overlie the corresponding marking or printing on the other. The operation olf this scheme requires the depositor to present this card at the bank when he makes a payment and in order to record the payment the depositors card is placed over the bank card and then the two are simultaneously punched preferably in a characteristic way in the proper place toindicate the payment. The particular scheme to which the specific cards of Figs. 2 and 3 relate calls lfor payment of two dollars each week. The c-ard at the bottom and in the center bears the name or imprint of the bank at V and immediately above that are lines D for the name and address of the dcpositor above which may be printed the amount and class of the account. At the extreme top of the card a serial number W is placed forpurpose of identification. The card carries a column X headed Due week of in which are the various dates to indicate when the payments are due. Another column G headed Total paid carries a series o-f numbers each $2.00 larger than the one next above it to indicate the total amount due or paid in on any date. Between these I have provided two columns over which at Y is the general legend Paid. One of thesey two columns Z has a sub-title Past due and the other AA a sub-title When due. For co-nvenienve I have placed $2.00 at each date in one column to indicate the amount due at that time and the -other column contains merely a series of dots. Of course both columns might have numbers in them or both' might have dots in them or both might be left blank although the arrangement shown is a preferred and convenient arrangement.

In Figs. 2 and 3 I have indicated payments made on the same dates as those in Fig. 1. The present card does not provide for indicating the actual date on which the payment was made but does indicate whether the payment was made when due or when past due. It is frequently suiiicient to indicate that the payment is past clue without indicating whether it is one, two, three or four weeks past due. a payment is made before it is past due the two cards after being superposed are simultaneously marked, preferably by a characteristic punch of the bank, lin the column When AA marked When due 'and on a line -corresponding to the date on Vwhich the payment is made. When the payment is past due at the time it is made the cards will be similarly punched but in the column Z marked Past due. `The speciiic cards Shown in Figs. 2and 3 indicate in column X thatthe first payment is due during the week beginning December 27; the second payment during the week beginning J anuary 3; the third payment during the week beginning January 10;y thefourth payment during the week beginning January 17, the fifth payment during the week beginning January 24, the sixth payment during the week beginning J anuaryl, and the seventh payment during the week beginning F ebru-l ary 7. As indicated in Fig. 1 the iirst seven payments were made on the following dates respectively: December 28, Januaryy 18, January 18, January 18, January 24, February 7 and February 9. When the first payment was made the bank clerk having the y cards of Figs. 2 `and 3 before him observed that it was due during the week of-'December 2 7. Being only December 28 then he properly punched the-first 2.00 under the column AA markedVVhen due at BB. When the second, third and fourth payments were made on January 18 the bank clerk observed that the second and third payments were overdue since they were due respectively in the weeks beginning January 3 and 10. He accordingly punched the cards of Figs 2 and 3 at GC and DD under the column Z marked Past due to indicate the second and third payments but the fourth payment being made within the week beginning January 17 was indicated by a punch EE under the columnA AA marked I/Jhen due. In like manner the fifth payment due January 24.- was punched at FF in the column AA marked When due,\the sixth payment being made on February 7 which is after the week beginning J anuaryv 31, is represented by a punch GG in the column Z headed Past due, and the seventh payment made two days later but within the week beginning February 7 Vis indicated by a punch HH under the column AA marked When due.

An inspection of the bank card of F ig.v 2 (or of the depositors card of Fig. 3) therefore quitereadily shows in column G that $14.00 has been paid made up of four timely payments indicated by punches BB, EE, FF, and HH in the column AA marked When due and three tardy payments indicated by punches CG, DD and GG in the column Z marked Past due. Payments will proceed throughout the fifty weeks or other period before the maturity'of the scheme, in each instance the ltimeliness or tardiness of the payment being indicated by a punch in the appropriate column. An inspection of the card at the end of the period Will readily and conclusively shovv by the punch mark in the Past due column Z the number of tardy payments so that the clerk preparing to pay the bank obligation at maturity may readily determine whether the depositor has earned interest or Whether the number of tardy payments has beenso greatas` to deprive him of some or all of `the interest generally paid. n

My invention is not limited to the specific details illustrated in the drawings or described in this specification and the -i'olloW- ing claim is to be read With this understandclaim as my invention: ,A creditcard, an appropriately designated column thereon to receive a mark to indicate a timely payment, a. plurality of columns Aadjacent thereto each appropriately designated to receive a portion of the mark to indicate a tardy payment and its degree l of tardiness.

- EMIL R. HERNG.

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