US436289A - Railway passenger-ticket - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

R. R. METHEANY.

EAILWAY PASSENGER. TICKET. No. 436,289. Patented Sept. 9, 1890.

Conducor 971.55 435 Maf mi* UNITED STATES PATENT VOEEICE.

RICHARD R. METHEANY, OF GRAND RAPIDS, AMICHIGAN.

RAILWAY PASSENG ER-TICKET.M

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 436,289, dated September 9, 1890. Application filed January 29, 1884. Serial No. 119,155. (No model.) Patented in Cianada July 17, 1888, No. 29,500.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, RICHARD R. METHEANY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Passenger-Tickets, (patented in Canada July 17, 1888, No. 29,500,) of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to that class of railroad passenger-tickets which are provided with figures and perforations so arranged that the ticket may be separated by the conductor into two parts, each of which will indicate definitely the amount paid by the passenger. These tickets are generally used between stations near each other, in consequence of which the conductor is required to proceed very rapidly in the collection, of the fares.

My improvement is intended to overcome certain annoyances and defects attending the tickets heretofore employed, and its aims are particularly to enable the conductorvto separate the ticket in the exact lines required with great rapidity and without that danger which exists in the use of other tickets of effecting a separation on improper or deceptive lines. To this end I construct my ticket with blank spaces at opposite edges, with intermediate lines of gures representing cents, with transverse lines of figures representing dollars, and with perforations extending lengthwise and crosswise in the manner hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a face view of my improved ticket. 2 is a view showing the ticket separated into two parts, as in practice.

My ticket consists of a single iat sheet of card-board, paper, or like material of rectangular form, `provided on one surface with spaces, lines, and characters, essentially as shown in the drawings. At one edge the ticket has a blank surface c', intended to receive the names of the stations between which the ticket is used, the name of the conductor, and any other matters which the conductor may see iit to write thereon at the time the ticket is to be used. This blank space is preferably subdivided and provided with let- Lengthwise of the ticket and between the marginal blanks a and b, I form three or more--`VV lines of perforations CZ, CZ, and d2, and transversely of these lines I extend the perforations d3, thus dividing the surface into a number of small checks orsquares in two parallel columns. In these .squares I print numbers indicating cents in regularly-increasing amounts. In the drawings Ihave shown, and

in practice I use, numbers increasing uniformly by tive and representing amounts from five cents to ninety-iive cents. The arrangement of these two or more columns of numbers representing cents between the marginal blanks is one of the important features of my ticket.

At `the upper end of the ticket, from the longitudinal perforations d2 to the left margin, I extend two lines of perforations e and e', and transversely thereof I provide lines of perforations e2, thus dividing the upper lefthand corner of the ticket into two rows of square spaces, which contain, respectively, numbers indicating dollars-from one toten the fares forwhich these tickets are designed being ordinarily within ten dollars in amount. In each of the squares or spaces containinga number or denomination I also print asubordinate number representing the next lowest denomination occurringV in the next space or square. It is to be observed that the columns representing dollars are located at one end of the'ticket and at right angles to the columns representing cents, and that the arrangement of perforations is such that the ticket may be readily torn on the lines of perforations into two L-shaped parts.

In the use of the ticket it is separated in such manner that the largest number or denomination left on the right-hand portion will represent the amount of the fare paid. This being done, the same amount will be repre- IOO sented by the lowest numbers occurring on the left-hand portion. Thus it is that the two parts of the ticket will constitute each a check upon the other.

I am aware that duplicate tickets bearing numbers to indicate the fare paid have been arranged one over the other, so that they .could be punched in duplicate at one operation and then torn apart; and I am also aware that a ticket has been constructed with two parallel columns of figures, one representing dollars and the other representing cents, and this I do not broadly claim. l

The essence of my invention lies in the fact that the separable parts are provided with blank spaces; that the columns representing dollars are arranged at the end of the ticket and at right angles to the columns representing cents, and that the cent-columns are placed in the middle of the ticket separate from the dollar-column, so that I may employ two or more columns for cents and thus provide for all fractions of a dollar without producing a ticket of excessive length.

It is to be observed that in the use of my ticket no punching is required, and that the separation of the ticket may be effected by tearing through the same in a continuous line and constantly in a forward direction, so that there is no danger of a separation on improper lines, as in the case of tickets which require to be torn in a reverse direction or in a direction toward the starting-point.

Having thus described invention, what I claim is- 1. The railroad-ticket comprising, on a single unfolded sheet, the marginal blanks, the intermediate parallel columns of cent-spaces, the transverse columns of dollar-spaces, and the series of transverse and longitudinal perforations.

2. The railroad-ticket comprising the marginal portions with blank spaces to be filled by the conductor, a plurality of cent-columns extending lengthwise of the ticket between the marginal spaces, the parallel dollar-columns located at one end of the ticket and eX- tending from the cent-columns to one edge, and the series of longitudinal and transverse perforations dividing the columns into spaces, the respective spaces provided with numbers indicating values in regularly-succeeding order, and each space also provided with a secondary number like the main number in an adjoining space.

3. 'A divisible railroad-ticket consisting of the single unfolded sheet having the longitudinal columns of numbers representing fractions of a dollar in regularly-increasing amounts, having also transverse columns of numbers representing dollars in regularlysucceeding amounts, said dollar-columns extending from the cent-columns to one margin of the ticket, and having finally the longitudinal and transverse perforations separating the various numbers, as described, to admit of the ticket being separated into L- shaped parts.

RICHARD R. ME'll-IEANY.

F. A. GORHAM, IV. E. NEAHR.

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