US553251A - Milk-ticket - Google Patents

Description

l(N0 Model.) A

J. MILNES.

` MILK TICKET. No. 553,251. Patented Jan. 21, 1896.

Qmynmmy wat @@f'@ N fe@ m UNITED STATES` PATENT OEEICE.

JOHN C. MILNES, OF CEDAR RAPIDS, IOIVA.

MILK-T ICKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,251 dated January 21, 1896.

Application filed April 16, 1894.

T0 all whom it may concer/o:

Be it known that I, JOHN C, MILNEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of Linn and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Milk Tickets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to tickets such as are issued to the purchasers of commodities for future delivery, and as herein illustrated is specially adapted to the use of dairymen in the deliveryT of milk to their customers.

The object of the invention is to simplify the keeping of accounts, and guard against losses through the carelessness or dishonestyT of employs or customers, as well as to protect such customers against imposition or mistake on the part of the person or persons so furnishing such commodity. The particular means whereby this object is attained are embodied in a ticket of peculiar construction, which will be hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,- in which- Figure l is a front or face view of a ticket embodying my invention and its connected stub. Fig. 2 is a view of the back thereof. Fig. 3 is a collective view of the various checkdisks, front and back, punched from the ticket in use.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

` In the business of furnishing such commodities as milk, bread, coal-oil, or the like it is difcult and troublesome to keep an exact account of what is delivered, the particular persons to whom delivered, the credit and cash items, eine., and it is practically impossible to guard against the carelessness or dishonesty of the person or persons making the deliveries. Ihe common method is to sell the patron a number of tickets for cash or on credit, as the case may be. As this is generally done by the employ who delivers the commodity, the employer is dependent almost entirely upon his carefulness and honesty as to the fact of the price having been paid for the tickets or credit extended, and this uncertainty often leads to disputes between the of perforations CZ.

Serial No. 507,649. (No model.)

dealer and his customers and to losses through surreptitious pilfering. Neither has the dealer any certain way of determining to what customers his commodityhas been delivered, since there is nothing about the tickets to indicate from whom they are returned, and the report of the delivery-man is the only authority the dealer has for making anydaily entry as to his respective customers. It is thus possible forthe delivery-man to cheat or mislead both in selling and delivering, with all the incident-al trouble and loss accompanying thoughtless or unscrupulous service. It is the purpose of this invention to guard against all this annoyance by providing a ticket which acts as a complete check in all transactions as between the dealer, the delivery-man and the customer.

Referring now to the drawings, A designates the ticket-stub, on which are printed the name or other business title of the dealer, the value of the ticket7 with suitable blanks for the name and address of the customer, his particalar number, and the date of sale. This is separated from the ticket C by a line The tickets and stubs are preferably, though not necessarily, bound in suitable books for convenience.

The ticket embraces three general divisionsw-a cash receipt B, a suitable name and address blank C, and a series of deliverycoupons C C" C Cm. The first named is preferably placed next to the breaking-line at the head of the ticket. It is provided with marginal number and cash-spots b b 19 I), corresponding to those in the stub above. These may be of any desired coniguration, circles being herein shown by way of illustration. Each circle contains the number of the ticket, which is the customers registered number, and a given sum--twenty-five cents, for example. There maybe as many or few of these spots as desired, but the number of them should correspond with the number of cashspots on the' stub and the number of coupons on the ticket. For the sake of illustration herein a one-dollar ticket is shown, divided into four parts of twenty-ve cents each. The receipt-blank should also have a suitable space for one or more signatures of the delivery-man or person who receives the cash.

The name and address space C contains for IOO identification the name or style of the dealer,`

with the customers name and address written therein. 4

Below the naine-blank are coupons C' C" 0" 0, separated by break-lines d d d". These coupons each represent an amount of the commodity equal in value to that indicated by each of the cash spots or checks. Thus, in a milk-ticket, each coupon calls for iive quarts of milk, supposing milk to be retailed at i'ive cents per quart. Each coupon may have this descriptive matter printed upon it for the sake of clearness, though so soon as the ticket and system are understood this is not absolutely necessary. The coupons should, however, be divided into spaces representative of the integral parts ot' the whole coupon. In the case of a milk-ticket this would be spaces representing1 a pint of milk each, orten of these spaces c c' to each ticket. It is desirable, also, to avoid unnecessary labor, that the coupons be divided into quartspaces c c. These may be designated by marginal words or abbreviations, as indicated, though their value is otherwise determinable, as will be hereinafter explained. Each one of these spaces should contain the customers number or other symbol or character whereby he is designated, for the double purpose of enabling` the dealer to check off at any time the amount of milk already delivered to him, and to prevent the delivery-man from substituting spurious checks for those in the coupons. In practice the quarts and pints are represented as shown, the quarts by full circles, the pints by partial-intersecting circles, the printed outline of the pintchecks being a crescent. These are arranged in groups of one quart and two pints each, as shown. y

The practical operation of the ticket is as follows: The delivery-man is supposed to sell the ticket, this being usually the case in the retailing of milk. In case a dollars worth is sold and credit given, he simply tears off the ticket at the line d, writes the purchasers name and address in the stub, the same on the ticket, hands the purchaser the ticket and returns the stub to the dealer. The uncanceled stub indicates the exact transaction to the dealer and the ticket shows on its face to the purchaser that no money passed. In case the price of the ticket is paid, the delivery-man or dealer cancels, as by crossing out with his pencil, the cash-spots a a a a in the stub, and with a suitable punch adaptedV to n preserve the disk or check punches out the cash-spots b b b b in the ticket and signs the same by initials or otherwise. In case of a partial payment one or more of the cash-spots in the ticket are punched out, as the case may be, and a corresponding number -of the cash-spots in the stub are canceled.

In'the event of a partial or fractional ticket being sold, the seller tears oif from the ticket coupons to the value of the unsold portion,

punching out a corresponding number of cash-spots in the ticket and correspondingly cancelling the stub. lf cash is paid for such fractional ticket all the cash-spots in the ticket are punched, of course. lf credit is given, the uncanceled part of the ticket and stub indicate to both purchaser and seller the exact condition of the account.

In the delivery of milk the delivery-man for each quart punches out a full circle in the coupon; for each pint, a crescent. In the first instance the circular punch overlaps the pinttickets and cancels them. In the second in- -stance the same punch overlaps the quartticket and cancels it, but does not cancel the pint ticket or check on the opposite side of the quart-check. At the next delivery, or at some subsequent delivery, when a pint is wanted, this remaining check is punched out.

As I intend to make the punch the subject of another application for patent I have deemed it advisable not to illustrate it herein. In order to a full understanding of this invention, however, it may be said that the punch should have a receptacle to catch the checks as punched from the ticket, which receptacle is to be suitably locked or sealed by the employer, so as to prevent any tampering with the contents by the employ.

The face of the checks being all suitably marked there is little difficulty in sorting them as turned in by the delivery-man when properly faced7 As this would take some time it is desirable that the backs of the checks should have a distinguishing-mark, so that they may be sorted without facing.7 A simple device for this purpose is shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Opposite the cash-spots l) l) Z9 b, on the back side, the ticket is printed in solid color, or the like, E E, to distinguish its surface from that of the body of the ticket.

Across the middle of the coupons on the back are printed broad lines F F F F, which leave corresponding Zones across the backs of the quart-checks, as shown in Fig. 3. Thus the pint-checks will be white, or the color of the ticket-paper, the quart-checks banded, and the cash-checks solid color on the back, making it very easy to sort them. Itis to be understood that this method of distinguishing the checks on the back is but illustrative, since the principle admits of unlimited modiication.

It is to be understood that it is not necessary for the delivery-man to cancel anything in the stub, though he may conveniently do so in some cases. The checks and coupons returned by him indicate to the proprietor the conditions of the transaction, and he may cancel the stub to correspond with this data.

The signing of the receipt at the head of the ticket might be dispensed with, since the punching of it has the same effect, but this feature is desirable, as it identiiies the person who received the cash in each case.

IOO

IIO

IZO

To encourage the payment of cash for tickets as sold I provide for the redemption at a designated bank of unused remainders, as shown in Fig. 2.

It is contemplated that the tickets shall be printed in series, the numbers running from one to as high a number as the business may demand. Instead of numbers, letters or cabalistic signs may be used to designate the particular purchasers, though numerals are preferred in practice.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. A ticket to facilitate the keeping of accounts and the transaction of business, comprising-a stub to receive the name and address of the customer, and having a marginal character, and having a series of value spots, a cash receipt having a name and address blank and separated from the stub by a break line, and having a series of value spots each having a character similar to the aforesaid marginal character a-nd corresponding in number With the number of value spots on the stub, and a series of coupons separated from each other by break lines, the number and the value of the coupons corresponding With the number and the value of the said value spots on the stub and the cash receipt, said coupons being subdivided into unit spaces of predetermined value, and said unit spaces being further subdivided by outlined spaces, representing different values, the

greater value being in full outline and the lesser in partial outline and intersecting with and overlapped by the greater, and each outlined space bearing a character corresponding With the marginal character of the stub and the value spaces of the said cash receipt, substantially as set forth.

2. A ticket for the purposes specified, comprising a stub to receive the name and address of the customer, and having a marginal character, and having a series of value spots, a cash receipt having a name and address blank and separated from the stub by a break line, and having a series of value spots each bearing a character similar to the marginal character aforesaid and corresponding in number with the number of value spots on the stub, a series of coupons separated from each other by break lines and corresponding in number and value With the number and the value of the said value spots on the stub and the cash receipt, said coupons being subdivided into unit spaces of predetermined value, and said unit spaces being further subdivided by outlined spaces representing different values, the greater value being in full outline and the lesser in partial outline and intersectingwith and overlapped by the greater, and each outlined space bearing a character similar to the marginal character of the stub and the value spaces of the said cash receipt, and said ticket having on its reverse side or back identifying matter opposite the value spots of the cash receipt and the full outlined spaces of the coupons, the identifying matter of the coupons being different from that of the cash receipt, whereby the said spaces When punched from the body of the ticket can be quickly assorted and assembled either side up, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN C. MILNES.

Witnesses B. M. SUNDE, L. M. MARTINEK.

Images