US500071A - Method of and means for cash-registering and account-checking - Google Patents

Description

UNIT D STATES.

Y PATENT Orrlcn,

JOHN TYLER mans, or SOMERVIL'LE, MASSACHUSETTS, AssIeno re T e HOTEL snconrrr cnncKmeooMPA-nY, or PORTLAND,MAINE.

mmloo OF AND Mums macaw-RE ISTERING AND ACCOUNT-CHECKING. I

I srncrrIcATIoNim-mi m of Letters Patent No. 560,071, dated June 20,1 93. .hpplication runn 21,1890. sea-11x 359,462. mama.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN TYLER l lloxs, a

citizen tv the United States, residing at Somer-. ville, in the county of .Middlesex and State of;

Massachusetts, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Gash-Registering and Account-Checking; and Ideclare that the following I is. a'tull, clear, and; exact description of the invention, which 'will 611- ro able others skilled in the art to which it apper- I taius temake and use. the'same.

, Heretotore it has been and it nowis extremely important for restaurant and. hotel keepers to be able to ascertain .accurately r 5 whether or not the dilferent articles delivered to the different waiters by the kitchen, bar,

cigar stand andother departments -.-are-all' properlyaccouuted forand paid for to the.

- cashier, and whether or not the cashier-makes zo proper return of the moneys-paid to him by thecustomers. Waiters favor customers by giving'them smaller cheeks 'orehargiug them smaller amounts than they should, eitherin the hope of a gratuity. from the customerf'or z 5 sharing the discount in direct collusion with him, and sometimes, when it is feasible, either carelessly or intentionally permit .custo mers to leave without paying anything whatever.

The. cashier also reports less cash'than 'hehas' received. And wheujthereis no dishonesty, the negligence of waiters andof cashiers,- whieheannot be discovered and therefore cannot be coutrolled, has in like manner caused heavy. losses to their emplog ers. -'lhis evilis 35. so. great that mauy'elaber te systems have been devised to overcome it; but have thus far metfwith imperfect success. Intricate and costly machines have been introduced, which,

though expensive auddiflicult to successfully 3'40 operate, have sold largely, because of the widespread appreciation of the absolute neeessity of some means, which shall enable the hotel and restaurant proprietor toudetect the carelessness or dishonesty of particular indi viduals iuhis employ.

The obj t of my invention is to ac zcurately' check the account 0t .eaeh' individual waiter ,.and of the cashier.;

To carry myiuveutio rinto effect I provide slips of. paper hearing some, price'of the order is entered upon-the same each waiterwith those used by any other-waiter in the. same establishment, and I provide the person in pharge of each department, which fills an or d-er given by waiters, with a sheet or sheets of paper also so marked, that a particular of said waiters and to him only. 'lhese marks may be the name of the waitcigor a number, or. the color ot the paper, or any arbitrary symbol, tlio'ugln'in practice, I havegiven a sheet for each department to be ruled lengthwise into parallel columns, each headed'with a corresponding number, and believe this to the waiter, the slip used by the same waiter, and the sheet or column appropriated to him by each department, v I r Figure 1 of the drawings represents such a sheeta's is-used by the different departments,

as" is used by the waiters, which is marked a. In Fig.1" the slip a is marked waiterNo; 1 indicating that it is used by the waiter designated by that number, and in Fig. 1", the sheetA is prepared for an establishment hav- -iug ,six waiters. When "a customer gives an order, if for instance, for food, the waiter, whoreceiv'esit, goes to the kitchen andropeats the order, passingoue of-hissaid slips, eitherat that time or when the order-is filled, to the chief of thatdepartmeut. \Vhen the order is filled, the plate or tray containiugit is on the plate or tray andt'euters the selling price of t-hesame, in duplicate; on said slip, and on the sheet or column appropriatedto the waiter, and returns the slip to the latter. The slipis then taken by the Waiter to the customer with the order. Each-item of the order may be entered separately on the slip and on the sheet if so desired, but, in practice, .1 I have found it more convenient and usually sufiicieut for the ,purposes'of my invention to enter the whole of anyone order as a; total;- If any subsequent order is giveuby the same -customer, the same process is repeated, to

whatever department the order goes, and the 'ruark'which shall distingnishthe slips from slip and isalso' charged to the samelwailor sheet or columnshall beappropriatod. to each I number to each waiter, and required him to wear a badge showing it, audprovided one be the easiest and simplest way of connecting which is marked A, and Fig.1" such a'slippasses in sight of said chief, who notesywhat on the sheet or column. appropriated to him by-the department which fills the order.

W henthe customer has bought all he wishes he pays the sum of allthe charges on the slip to-the cashier, who takes theslip from him and retains it'till the end of the day. Subsequent orders received by the. same waiter from other customers are entered for each customer. on a separate slip belonging to said Q propriated to said waiter, as already explained- At the close of business,.,orwhcneverdewaiter, but are entered by each" departmentin the same column or on the same sheet apsired, the-su'm ot the gilips' of each waiter in thehands of the cashier can easily be comared with the sum of the items charged to.

im by the departments collectively, and the amount charged to all the waiters-with the sum of all the items of allthese slips in the hands of the cashier and with the cash reported by the latter. If there has been no negligence or dishonesty the accounts will agree; and it there has been. any, so that the accounts do not agree, it is perfectly easy to ascertain the, person who is at fault.

Figs'2. and 2" represent two slips, marked b and 0 respectively waiter No. 6. I

Figs. 2", 2 and 2?.rep'resent three sheets for three departments, namely, D used by the kitchen,E'used by the wine room or bar, and

used by the cigar stand. In the example represented by these sheets and slips and the entries'upon them, a customer is supposed to make two successive, but separate, calls for articles furnished by the kitchen and sold for twenty, and seventy-five cents severally, and next e to order from the wine room or bar, articles costing thirty cents, and to end with an order for a cigar at fifteen cents.- These r'espective sums. are severally marked by the heads of the several departments in the column No. 6 on-the several sheets, and are also simultaneously stamped in duplicate -'upon slip b, Fig. 2", when each order is delivered to the waiter. Another customer then enters and is, served from the bar, kitchen and cigar stand, in the order just'named, and simulta-- neousentries of the value of the articles delivered to the waiter for him are also in'like' manner marked. in duplicate upon the slip 0', Fig. 2? and in column No; 6613 the proper sheet. The slips 1) and c, and the. sheets D,

-- E and F show the appearance of the slips.

when paid and in the hands 0? the cashier, andpf the sheets of the three departments at the end of the day so far as the sales to the respectively, G, H" and 1 posed to be sold by waiters No. 3 and 5,-to successive customers, as will 'be seen by inspection. Should the first customer of a waiter not have finished his order from any particu lar department before a second customer of that waiter begins to order from the same defrom 'the kitchen an article worth fifteen cents, then Mr. B orders from. the same. department something costing fifty cents, and Mr. A afterward further orders from the it is evident that while upon the slip given to MrAand paid byhim th the cashier, the

rectlg-ihecolumn appropriated. to this waiter-on the sheet of the kitchen department will show be order of Mr. B stamped between is'charged to the Writer in his column at the moment of 'ts delivery to him.

among others,- the following results, some of which are accomplished by some of, the machines and, systems now in: use, but all oi. which, it is believed", have neverheenlaccomplishedby any machine or system" prior to this invention.

,First. It enables the proprietor to readily ascertain whether the cash received by him corresponds with Abe aggregate prices of all the articles sold by him during any given 'tain the accuracy, care, and honesty of each waiter separately, and of thefcashier.

ThirdJIt-I'enables the proprietor to ascertain just what each waiter has done, what he energy, and value .to his employer.

ing his bill, it eaables'theproprietdr to ascertain which waiter is at fault.

FifthrItv distinguishes the receipts of the different departments,'as' separate sheets are ascertain what is sold by each department,

or the kitchem This may be further aided by the use of different colored inksin the different'de rtments,'.if'desired.

? Sixth. t promotes a savingin salaries' and expenses of business, as each waiter, being aware that his comparative etiiciency will be good average and retain his position.

Seventh. It protects thecustomer. As each order is charged separately, and at the close of a meal the price of eachorder, though not its nature, entered upon the slip, instead'Qofgasingle check for the whole ,meal being-given to the .ilyto detect any possible errorandzhave it partmeut as for instance, if Mr. A orders.

the two or ers of Mr. A because each order This love tion accomplishes, in practice period; Second. vItl enables the. proprietor to ascer'.

Fourth, It a customer leaves without pay--.

as, for example, by the cigar stand, the b'ar,

"known byhis employer, even if the latter is absent from the room, willinaturaliy try to do as much work as possible, so as to show a is seen to have been separately.

{kitchen something'worth seventy-five cents,

two orders of Mr. A will follow each otherdihasisold, and 'how many customers he has served, and'thusto judge of his efficiency,

kept ineach, and enables the proprietor to I customer, the-latter is enabled the more readrectified. He is also more quickly served by the waiter, whose interest'hasnow become to I serve him speedily, and less likely to be annoyed by his waiters loitering for tips instead of attending to other customers.

Eighth In some hotels and restaurants the employs are allowed to eat from the bill of are at .will, without payment. With. this system is use, requiring that everything shall be charged to the waiter, whether served tea customer, a'u employ, or the proprietor himself, and the further requirement that each.

person permitted to eat without paying shall sign his name on -the slip on which the value of the article consumed by him is entered in order that the same may be deducted from' the-amount for which the waiter is to be held liable, the proprietor will be enabled to see if the privilegc is being abused and by whom and to what extent,

Ninth. Savingfiu expense over other cash registering or account checking systems in done by simply adding up use and the combination in one system of the accurate registration of cash received with the accurate checking of accounts. Tenth. If the system is properly used, it

enables the landlord or restaurant keeper to ascertain if all the slips have been paid by the customers of any waiter, by simply count tag the number of charges made against such waiter; in all the departments, and the number of 'items on such waiters slips in the hands of the cashier. If they agree in numher, it shows that all the slips have been paid. If it is then desired to ascertain the amount of the sales inade by such waiter, this can be the diiferent departments, without adding up the amount shown by the slips. These will prove trial balances of thebnsiness of such waiter, and if extended to the business of all the waiterswill serve as trial balances of the whole business of the establishment, and can be taken by any person who understands figures, .even if wholly'ignorant of bookkeeping. 'lhis,in many cases, will enable the proprietor to avoid the expense of a' trained bookkeeper.-

It is evident that this system can be applied 1 his accounts with not only to restaurants, but also to all places where goods are sold, and whether thereis one department only, or more, and that the dishonesty or carelessness of any employ cannot fail to be detected unless the clerk or waiter, the head of department, and the customer are all in collusion,-which will not often occur.

Having fully described my invention, what.

I claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatcut, is-- 1. The herein-described improved means for securing hotel or restaurant proprietors or others from losses by the peculations' of waiters, cashiers or other employs, which con.- sists of a sheet provided with separate spaces, havingsuitable headings, substantially as described, said headings being designatory of the several waiters to whom the several spaces on the sheet are individually appropriated,-

in conjunction with separate slips, each so marked as to indicate the waiter using it, whereby. the selling price of all the articles sold may be entered in duplicate, once upon the slip of the waiter making the sale, and

once upon his allotted space upon the main ers slips so that there may thus be a dupiiea .tion of the entries, substantially in the man ner and for the purpose specified,

. JOHN 'iFYLl -iit l-liilis. Witnesses:

MARLAND C. Hans-s, E. Invrnc SMITH.

of their slips, and in entering upon said main 9e ,sheet all the amounts marked upon the wait Disclaimer in Letters Patent No. 500,071.

DISCLAIMER.

5 00,07 1.'J0hn Tyler Hicks S omervflle, Mass. METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR CASH- REGISTERING AND ACCOUNT-CHECKING. Patents dated June 20, 1893. Disclaimer filed May v13, 1908, by the assignee, Hotel Secu'rity Cheeking Company.

Entersits disc1aimer- To .the following words, to. wit:

Each item of the order may be entered separately on the slip and on the'sheet if so desired, but,-in practice, I have found it more convenient and usually sufficient for the purposes of my invention to enter the Whole of any one ordaizis a; total.-[ Ofiicial Gazette, May 19, 1908.1"

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