US461409A

US461409A - Railroad-ticket

Info

Publication number: US461409A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1891-10-13
Anticipated expiration: 1908-10-13

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. D. HEUSNER.

- RAILROAD TIOKET.

No. 461,409. I Patented Oct. 13; 1.891.

(No 11011151. 1 2 Sheets-Sh"eet 2'. L. 1). HEUSNE-R. RAILROAD TIGKET.

No. 461,409. Patented 001-. 13, 1891-.

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Mejia/6 from! 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS D. HEUSNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-TICKET...

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 461,409, dated October 13, 1891.

Application filed February 18, 1891. gerial No. 381,790. (No model.) I

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS D. HEUSNER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad-Tickets, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in railroad-tickets, and more particularly to that class of excursion-tickets sold at reduced rates for the return trip. It is a well-known and common practice among purchasers of these tickets to sell them at the point of destination to scalpers or ticket-brokers, who dispose of them at reduced rates for the return passage, thus defrauding the railroad companies out of large revenues annually.

The object of this invention is to have a railroad-ticket of such a character that it can only be used for return passage by the original purchaser by making it incumbent upon such purchaser to appear at the oiflce of the destination agent and reproduce vhis signature made at the purchasing office and left Fig. 4, a similar View showing the same en-' attached to the ticket, but concealed from view, so that it cannot be counterfeited by any other person. This object isattained by the devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is-a front view of a railroad-ticket embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is-a rear elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a front view of the ticket, showing thelfsame partially folded;

tirely folded; Fig. 5, a rear elevation of the same, showing the ticket folded and sealed;

Fig. 6, a central vertical section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 a transverse horizontal section on the line 7 7 of Fig. 5.

Similarletters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

This ticket is preferably formed in a single blank, but may be composed of two parts, and comprises the main body A at the lower end, the selling agents stub B at the upper end, the identifying-stub 0, having sealing-flaps E extending laterally at each side thereof, and the blank-folders E and F, of substantially the same dimensions as the identifying-stub, the former intervening between the sellingagents stub and the identifying-stub, and the latter intervening between the identif yin g-stub and the main body of the ticket. I

Upon the main body of the ticket is printed the usual matter, showing the destination of the purchaser and the usual form of contract,

and in addition thereto a clause of the contract relating to the conditions under which the purchaser of the ticket must identify himself to the agent at the destination point in order to have the ticket stamped, so as to render it valid for return passage.

Upon the identifying-stub is a line for the signature of the purchaser beneath a printed paragraph explaining the ticket under the terms of the contract on the body of the ticket, as above referred to. When the ticket is sold, the selling agent first stamps it in the usual manner with date, &c., then he tears off the selling agents stub at the line of perforations G and retains the same as a voucher, after which he folds the blank section E at the line H over onto the identification-stub, so as to entirely conceal the same, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Then he again folds the ticket on the line I, bringing into view a notice printed on the back of the identifying-stub to the efiect that if the seal is broken by any one but the destination agent the ticket will be invalid for return passage, after which the sealingflaps D, which are gummed along their edges,

purpose of better indicating to the destination agent if the sealing has been disturbed since stamping. It will thus be seen that the signature of the originalpurchaser is attached to the ticket when delivered to him, but concealed from view, under conditions that would render the ticket invalid for return passage should he or any other person attempt to un seal the ticket for the purpose of seeing the signature thereon.

Immediately above the main body of the ticket, or rather at the extreme upper end of the main body of the ticket, is left a space in which the original purchaser must duplicate his signature in the presence of the agent at the point of destination and before the breakticket for return passage, and it therefore cannot be used for that purpose.

By the employment of railroad-tickets made in accordance with my invention the sale thereof to scalpers or ticket-brokers for return passage will be almost entirely, if not wholly, prevented, because the necessity for duplicating the concealed signature in the presence of the destination agent would deter persons from purchasing them, for very few persons would accept a signature left by some other person and undertake to counterfeit it without having previously seen it for the destination agent, nor would the scalpel-s purchase the tickets on any such uncertainty, While the danger of discovery of surreptitiously unsealing of the ticket would likewise deter any efforts in that direction.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

' 1. The combination of the identificationstub O, a portion E, attached to the top of said I i I stub and adapted to fold down over the face thereof, the portion F, attached to the bottom of said stub and adapted to fold over the free end of the portion E and having a railroadticket attached to its lower end, and a sealing-flap D at each of the side ends of the stub 0, adapted to be sealed to the back of the portion F, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the identificationstub O, a portion E, attached to the top of said stub and adapted to fold down over the face thereof, the portion F, attached to the bottom of said stub and adapted to fold over the free end of the portion E and having a railroad ticket attached to its lower end, and a sealing-flap D at each of the side ends of the stub 0, adapted to be sealed to the back of the portion F, the portion F being longer than the portion E, so as to leave a blank space at its lower end for the duplicate signature, subtantially as set forth.

LOUIS D. HEUSNER.

In presence of Y W. R. OMOHUNDRO, R. O. OMoHUNDRo.