US478197A - Account-book - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

W. LUSBY.

ACCOUNT BOOK.

Patented July 5, 1892.

N A N m c m c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM LUSBY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ACCOUNT-BOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 478,197, dated July 5, 1892. Application filed May 11, 1891. Serial No. 392,400. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM LUsBY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Account-Books, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in account-books, and more especially to improvements in what are known as witnessbooks for use by clerks of courts, all of which will be fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

According to law, in some of the States at least, at the end of every two years the clerk' for and the amounts left unpaid are scatteredthrough the book alphabetically and there is no way by which a mistake or a variation can be detected and corrected without going entirely through the book, and this process must be gone through with every time it is necessary to know the condition of the book whether it be every day or every month. In counties where there is a very great amount of litigation this task of keeping the book correct is enormous and requires hours and days of extra work. With my form of books nearly all of this work is done away with, as the cases are entered up as they come in daily on pages in the witness-book. Each page can then be added up and compared with my cash-book, and each evening the amounts paid out during the day are checked up in their proper place. As each page is thus filled up and compared with the receipts, its accuracyis insured, and the monthlycolumns,bein g footed up and compared with the cash-book,insures their accuracy, and the unpaid bills must necessarily equal the balance of the ledger. In this'way any error is detected at once and easily corrected, as, if an amount is paid out without the proper entry being made, the shortage 1n can be made in the proper place.

Where the cash-book will reveal it as soon as the two are compared at night, when the proper entry With an alphabetically-arranged book, however, such an error would necessitate a search through the entire book of five hundred pages or more.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of an open witness account-book embodying my invention; and Fig. 2, a similar view of the usual cash-book, illustrating the manner in which the proper posting is made therein from the said witness-book and the reference also of each item to its corresponding one in said witness-book.

A represents the customary book backing or cover.

The several pages of my witness-book extend clear across the book'from the outer edge of one leaf to the outer edge of the other and are divided into sections or divisions B and C, division B being on the side to the left of the usual center fold and division C on the side to the right of said fold or, in other Words, division B is on the back of the preceding page, and division 0 forms the fore face of the next succeeding leaf to that on which appears division 13, thus bringing said divisions to face each other or lie contiguous when the book is closed. Division B is ruled to compose vertical columns a, b, c, d, e, and f, with suitable'spaces at the head of each to contain the'following respective captions in the order named: No. Case in column a, Name in (2, Amount (abbreviated) in 0, Date in e, and Signature inf, the space at the upper end of column (Z remaining blank; but, if desired, the word;

Line could be inscribed therein without detriment. In column a appear the respective numbers of the several cases in which the witnesses were called, in column b the names of such witnesses, in column 0 the amount due each witness for attendance, in. column d the numbers of the transverse lines in regular rotation on the page, in column e the several dates on which the witnesses called on the disbursing-officer and were paid the amounts due them, and in column f the individual signature or mark of each witness or that of the party authorized to collect the fee due such witness. In a horizontal line, at l the top of each division 13, appears the name of the place or city where the witness-book is used and the date when the amounts due the witnesses named on the same page were turned over to the disbursing-offieer by the cost collector. The usual parallel, transverse, or horizontal lines 9 are ruled equidistant apart across the entire page and are identified by the figures in column d, as before stated. Division 0 of each page is ruled to compose fifteen vertical columns-viz., 71, t', j, k, l,'m,n, 0,1), q,r, 5, 15,10, and r-with suitable spaces at the head of each to contain the following respective captions or headings: Beginning with column 'zIand ending with column t, inclusive, appear the names of the calendar months of the year in regular order, in columns h and '0 appear the numbers of the several horizontal lines similar to and corresponding with the numerals in column (1 on division B, and in the space at the head of the column it appears the word Unclaimed, (abbreviated) In the several monthly columns of each division 0 on the horizontal lines are written the several amounts paid the witnesses, to correspond with the amounts due them on the accompanying division B on the opposite side of the page. These amounts are recorded or put down at the time each witness is paid and in the proper month only, and when they are carried over or posted in the cash-book, as shown in Fig. 2, a cancellation or check mark 0c of any suitable form (preferably in red ink) is made to the left of each amount so carried on said division 0. At the end of each month the fees paid during that interval are footed up and the sum'total for the month is written at the bottom or foot of such monthly column, as clearly shown for January, February, March, and April on the division U of the page. Thus the footings or sums-total, as well as each item of the respective months, can be very readily seen at a glance, and the labor incident to the posting of the cash, ledger, and other account books from my witness-book at the close of each month is very materially simplified and reduced in comparison with that of the witness-books of the past and in general use, and also reduced to a minimum. The Unclaimed column is used at the close of each calendar year, (or fiscal year, if that is preferred,) and the sum-totalof all the Unclaimed columns indicates the balance or amount in that particular branch of the feefund for the year, to be disposed of as the rules of the oiiice or laws of the community require. It will be seen that each whole page comprehending the divisions B and O, has its proper numberin the upper right-hand corner of division 0, and is so identified and known in the other account-books.

The accompanying cash account book (shown in Fig. 2) is also composed of the usual backing or cover A, and the pages are divided or ruled into vertical columns with parallel transverse lines, the column in having the word Page at its head and the column y the word. Line, which columns are used to receive the numbers indicatingthe page and line in my said witness-book, on which appear the same corresponding transaction. At the head of column Z of the page to the right in my cash-book appears the word lVitness, and in this column are written the amounts of the several fees paid the witnesses named in the witness-book together with cancellation or check marks or (also in red ink) to indicate that each item so marked is correct and properly posted in said witness-book. The pages in the cash-book are numbered consecutivel y, as customary. The other columns on the two pages may contain any desirable mat ter, 01', if preferred, that shown in Fig. 2.

I have shown a few items 011 both the witness and cash books to clearly illustrate the mannerof using mysystem. The check-marks to the left of the amounts in columns l:.,j, k, and Z January, February, March, and April columns) indicate that those amounts have been properly carried into the caslrbook, and the footings show that those months have passed and their columns are closed; but in column m no check-mark appears, so that it is at once seen no posting of the amount has been made in the cash-book and that the month is still open and not yet expired. The June, July, August, September, 0ctober, November, and December columns are of course blank, (as they are to be used in the future,) and indicate that no fees have been paid out during those months, so that when the oificer is glancing over the monthly columns of division 0 he readily concludes that there is no necessity for his attention to said blank columns, and he simply and solely applies it to the other columns in which the several amounts appear. The absence of a signature on line three of the column f indicates that the witness (John Smith) has not received his fee, and the amount due him is therefore not credited on the same line of the monthly footing, (division 0,) thus readily and positively bringing to view the blank spaces which are carried out (in amounts) at the end of the year to the Unclaimed column u.

l The final footings are not made at the bottom of division 13 until the first three columns thereof are full; but convenient footings are i made temporarily in pencil in column 0 (as the matter therein progresses downwardly) at the close of each month.

It is obvious that, instead of the pages of the witness-book being divided into sections B and C at either side the fold, the monthlycolumn division 0 could be made part of the same page on the one leaf with the balance of the columns on division B and the work accomplished equally well. Division B may be termed the debit side of the page and division 0 the credit side, for convenience, as the cash turned over to the disbursing-officer by the cost-collector should be termed debit and the amounts paid out by said disbursing-oificer and appearing on division 0 should be termed credit, as they are properly and really such to cash.

It is my intention that the witness-book herein shown and described shall be closed at the end of each year (just as such books usually and properly are) and such unclaimed fees therein properly carried over into an unclaimed fee-book.

I claim 1. A court witness-book having its pages divided into a debit and a credit side, each of which is provided with successively-arranged vertical columns and with parallel transverse lines, the columns on the debit side being provided with suitable captions and adapted to receive the numbers of the cases, the names of the witnesses entitled to fees in such cases,

the amount due said witnesses, the numbers of the several transverse lines, the dates on which the witnesses are paid their fees, and the signatures of the witnesses, and the columns on the credit side being provided at their upper ends with the names of the calendar months of the year arranged consecutively, and each column being adapted to receive the amount of fees paid out during each month, and each of the columns being provided at its lower end with a space to receive the total amount of fees paid out during that entire month, substantially as set forth.

2. A set of books for court fees, consisting of two books, one of which has its pages divided into a debit and a credit side, each side of which is provided with vertical-columns and transverse parallel lines, the columns on the debit side being provided with suitable captions and adapted to receive the number of the cases, the names of the witnesses, the amounts due said witnesses, the dates on which the witnesses are paid their fees, the signatures of the witnesses, and the number of the lines of the page, and the columns on the credit side being provided with captions for the calendar months of the year and adapted to receive the amounts for each of said months, and the lower end of each column being also provided with a space for the total amounts paid out during that entire month, and a cash-book having its pages provided with vertical columns and transverse lines, a portion of which columns being adapted to recive a record of the same transactions as appear in the witness-book, and another portion of said columns, as w, y, and 2, being adapted to receive, respectively, the corresponding number of the page andthe line thereof of the witness-book, the amount paid each witness, and suitable check-marks on both books to indicate that the proper post- "ing has been done from time to time, substantially as described.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM LUSBY. Witnesses:

JOHN E. J ONES, C. B. DONALDSON.

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