US705254A - Control-sheet. - Google Patents

Description

No. 705.254. Patentqd July 22,, (902. M. KUHN. H

CONTROL SHEET.

(Application filed Nov. 22, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

'MAX KUHN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

CONTROL-SHEET.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 705,254, dated July 22, 1902.

Application filed November 22, 1901. Serial No. 83,387. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, MAX K UHN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in' Control-Sheets, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, referencesheets. As explained in the specification of' my Letters Pattent No. 674,7 7 7 ,of May 21,1901, the waiter after obtaining the articles called for in guests order brings them to the checkers table, presenting at the same time to the checker the guests pay-check. The checker after ascertaining whether the articles on waiters tray are those called for by the guests order and nothing more writes or stamps upon the order-check the price of each article and simultaneously enters upon his tallysheet in the column designated by the nun'1- ber of the waiter the same amounts as entered by him upon the guests pay-check, or themtal amount of the order. The cashier when receiving the money from the waiter stamps the guests pay-check paid and enters the amount thereof in his tally-sheet in a column bearing the number corresponding with that of the waiter. After the close of the days business the control and guests pay-checks and the checkers and cashiers tally-sheets are delivered at the control department, where the entries are tabulated and compared.

In large establishments Where a great num ber of waiters are employed the practice is to employ several checkers, dividing the waiters among them. This does not relieve the crowding and ensuing delay in the service sufliciently and is productive of confusion. As remedy for this condition I have devised the tally-sheets, a specimen whereof is shown in the accompanying drawing in plan view.

Each tally-sheet consists of a main body A and a stub B, the connection between the two being by means of a perforated line c.

The tally-sheets are consecutively numbered (129) and provided with the individual designations of the checkers printedon the main body A of the sheet and also on the stub. The body A of the tally-sheets is divided by vertical lines a and by horizontal lines I), the total number of vertical columns in each horizontal row being preferably ten. The columns may be subdivided by lines (1 into a series of spaces'for entries of items for different classes of articles, like food, wine, cigars, &c.

Each tally-sheet must contain at least as many columns as there are waiters detailed for service in the particular department, and preferably more. The columns are consecutively numbered, their numbers corresponding with the numbers of waiters employed in that department. Below the last horizontal row of columns a strip 0 is left on the-body A of the tally-sheet to enable the checkers or controllers to add up at the close of business all figures printed in the vertical columns and to make therefrom the total amount of all saleschecked on the tally-sheet and the total amounts of sales ot' the different groups of articles,as food, wine, cigars, fiowers,sun-

dries, and the like. These totals aretrans ferred to stub B, whereon areprinted on'successive lines the names of groups of articles which are served in the department wherein the tally-sheet is used, with spaces for entering the amounts of the totals.

When my improved tally-sheets are used, all checkers in any one department are provided with tally-sheets having the same numbers and the same numbers of columns. Each checker has one or more sets of checking-dies and one or more ink-pads of different colors. Every checker uses ink of a difierent shade or color from the others in each department. Any Waiter of the department may have his order checked off by any checker. The systematic arrangement of the columns (divided into groups of ten) enables the checker to rapidly locate the column belonging to any waiter. No shifting of tally-sheets is necessary, and possibility of delay is reduced to a minimum.

If any error is made by the checker, either by stamping the amount of the order into a wrong column of the tally-sheet or upon a wrong control or pay check, this error is readily discovered and corrected, because the entry on the control or pay check indicates by the color of the ink which checker made it, and the number of the waiter printed on the check indicates where to look for the corresponding entry. The only questions then arising are whether the entry is or is not in the column corresponding in number with the number of the waiterandwhether the amounts of the entries are the same.

If the checker should happen to stamp a wrong amount in the control or pay check or in the column of the tally-sheet, the entries will not correspond. If he should happen to stamp the right amount in a wrong column or upon a wrong control or pay check, one entry will be missing; and, again, the correctness of the entries on tally-sheets is readily verified by checking off the corresponding figures entered on the control or pay checks. In fact, much more readily than when a number of waiters are divided among several checkers and each checker checking only the checks of waiters assigned to him. There is also less occasion for error. The greatest advantage of the system of tally-sheets is, however, that no matter how rapidly the guests change in the department or Whether all guests congregate in one part assigned to, say, for instance, half a dozen waiters, or whether they are distributed all over the department, so as to employ the service of all the waiters, there can never be any delay on account of the checking system, because every checker can rapidly and conveniently attend to any waiter.

The totals made up on strip 0 from the entries upon the sheet are entered in the corresponding columns of the statement on the stub B of the tally-sheet. The object of this arrangement is to enable the control department to check off roughly immediately at the close of business the totals of receipts and of the entries of charges in the cashiers and bookkeeping department, respectively, to ascertain whether the totals of all tally-sheets correspond with the totals of cashiers receipts and charges to bookkeeping department. If the totals of moneys received and charges made should agree with the grand total of checkers tally-sheets when tabulated in the control department, this would be proof that all checked transactions and all checks were paid or accounted for. \Vhether all transactions were checked and whether they were checked correctly must be ascertained by a system of revision, which is also facilitated by the devising of my improved tally-sheet. An absolute immunity from error is an ideal to which all checking and controlling systems aspire, which, however, is not yet realized in practice, nor is it expected to be realized. The vast multitude of figures and the rapidity with which the entries must be made precludes, almost, the possibility of absolutely avoiding errors. The practical value, however, of a checking and controlling system is that it enables one to rapidly and safely trace and locate the errors by a process of elimination.

My system here explained, assisted by the use of the herein-described tally-sheets, enables a larger number of controllers to work on revising the entries Without interfering with each other. Each controller after checking ofi all entries in a set of tally-sheets and on the checks and marking such errors as may be found revises totals made by the checkers on their tally-sheets. Then the totals are tabulated and compared with the totals of the main tally-sheets of the cashiers department. If then those totals agree, it is not necessary to revise the detail entries and the totals made on the checks. If a discrepancy is found, the error must have occurred in the adding up of the totals of one or more checks, and the work of locating it can again be distributed among a large number of controllers.

I claim as my invention 1. A tally-sheet for hotels, restaurants, and the like establishments, comprising a sheet divided into two parts each part bearing the same number, and the designation of the checker using the tally-sheet; one part being divided by longitudinal and transverse lines into columns designated by numbers of the waiters employed in the department, where the tally-sheet is used, and subdivided into spaces for the entry of items of sales of different groups or classes of articles; and the other part being provided with a statement of names of the different groups and classes of articles corresponding to the subdivisions of the columns of the other part, and with a space thereunder for entering the total of all items of sales entered in the tally-sheet.

2. A tally-sheet for hotels, restaurants, and the like establishments, comprising a body A and a stub B each having printed thereon the same number, and the designation of the checker using the tally-sheet; the body of the tally-sheet being divided by longitudinal and transverse lines into columns designated by the numbers of the waiters employed in the department where the tally-sheet is used, and subdivided into spaces for the entry of items of sales of different groups or classes of articles; and the stub being provided with a statement of names of the different groups and classes of articles corresponding to the subdivisions of the columns of the body of the tally-sheet, and with a space thereunder for entering the total of all items of sales entered in the tally-sheet.

MAX KUHN.

\Vitnesses:

WALTER MANN, JOHN B. TRAINOR.

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