Back ] Home ] Up ] Next ]  
Mechanical Check Protectors 1870-1899 ] Mechanical Check Protectors 1900-1925 ] Small Check Protectors ] Check Cancelers ] Revenue Stamp Mutilators ] Check Signing Machines ]

 
Early Check Machines

Antique Check Protectors

Check protectors were used to prevent alteration of the monetary figures on checks and other financial documents. In some cases, early check protectors were also used to prevent alteration of the payee, signature, and date. 

1837_Check_safety_check.jpg (52170 bytes)Prior to the introduction of mechanical check protectors, checks were sometimes protected in other ways. One method was to print dollar amounts along the edge of the check and then cut off the printed amounts that exceeded the value of the check.  An example is provided by the 1837 check to the right. Another form of protection was to print a pattern on the paper that make alterations easier to detect.  Two examples are shown below:

1858_Murphys_Unalterable_Stereographic_Bank_Check.jpg (94787 bytes)         1860s_1878_Check_on_protection_paper.jpg (94119 bytes)

Murphy's Unalterable Stereographic Bank Check, 1858 (left)
Check printed in 1860s and used in 1878 (right)

Max Emanuel Berolzheimer of New York, NY, was awarded a US patent for a check protector in 1869, but we have no evidence that the device he invented was manufactured. Leffingwell reports that "The patent office records show the first form of mechanical protection to have been a 'check puncher,' patented in 1870. Soon the master 'scratchers' discovered that anything which is punched or cut out of pieces of paper can be restored."  While that may have been the case, check punches were the most common form of check protector used in the late 19th century. A perforating machine for checks, which may have been a check protector or a check canceler, was exhibited by John R. Hoole of New York, NY, at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition

"One of the earliest models of check protectors introduced the fundamental principle of forcing into the paper the words representing the amount, making them part of the fiber.  The first machine operating on this principle was fitted together in 1899.  This early model [made by G.W. Todd] embossed the approximate amount of a draft into the paper, using black ink, in the form of a 'Not Over' or limiting line.  The succeeding years, up until 1913, were experimental variations on the 'shredding principles.'  The result was the perfecting of a check-writing machine shredding the amount of checks." 

"In 1914 a figure-writing check writer was placed on the market [by Hedman]. This machine printed the amount line of a check in figures, stamping the imprint through the paper of the check. In 1917 a new model appeared on the market [made by Hedman, with another made by Safe-Guard] which had diagonal writing and perforation over the payee's name.  In 1919 a check protector [made by Checkometer] which printed the amount in numerals and at the same time perforated an uninked design over the payee's name appeared on the market." (W. H. Leffingwell, The Office Appliance Manual, 1926, pp. 185-89.) 

Following the present page, the Early Office Museum's first exhibit covers check punches and perforators from 1870 through 1899. The second exhibit covers check protectors from 1900 to the 1920s. The third exhibit covers simpler check protectors, including handheld devices and ones that embossed fine quilted patterns over the writing on checks. The fourth exhibit covers canceling machines, and the fifth covers revenue stamp mutilators.

Ways in which Check Protectors Attempted to Prevent Alteration of the Amounts on Checks

Specimen Description Check Protector Models


1874_Check_quilted_protection.jpg (46855 bytes)     1883_Check_quilted_pattern_over_signature.jpg (59037 bytes)
We have seen checks dated 1874-83 and 1917 with quilted patterns. The 1874 check above left has the quilted pattern over the dollar figure, which was typical.  The 1883 check above right has the quilted pattern over the signature, which was less common.
Embosses over dollar figure B. B. Hill, Pearl, Grabler, Metallic Art


1873_Check_perforated_numerals.jpg (75037 bytes)     1901_Check_with_perforated_numerals.jpg (54421 bytes)     1875_Check_perforated_PAID_detail.JPG (51575 bytes)
We have seen checks with perforated numerals dated 1873 (above left) and 1889-1908. We have also seen a check dated 1875 that was perforated with the word "PAID" (above right)
Numerals formed by small round perforations Abbott, Chicago, S&P
Perforations are indelibly inked Wesley, Royal

1871_Check_punched_numerals.jpg (21324 bytes)     1892_Check_punched_numerals_good_image.jpg (85106 bytes)
We have seen checks with punched numerals dated 1871 (above left, scanned against red paper) and 1887-1910.  Checks with punched numerals are more common than checks with perforated numerals throughout the years 1887-1910.
Numerals punched
out of paper
Automatic Bank, Lightning, Standard & United States Check Punches


1900_Check_inked_punched_numerals.jpg (19147 bytes)
1900 check with inked numerals
Cuts but does not remove any of the paper & inserts indelible ink into the fibers Beebe

1898_Check_less_than_one_dollar.jpg (32547 bytes)     1912_Check_not_over_fifteen_dollars_15.JPG (22830 bytes)
The 1898 check on the left is protected with "LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR," which may have been written with a hand stamp.  The 1912 check on the right is protected with "NOT MORE THAN FIFTEEN DOLLARS $15."  We have seen protection similar to the latter on checks dated 1909-16.
Printed line setting upper limit Protectograph 
(1896 model),
Baby Defiance,
New Printamount, 
Dimunette


1915_Check_macerated_letters.jpg (38622 bytes)
1915 check with macerated words in black and red ink.  We have seen similar protection on checks dated 1914-24.
Macerates words in check & inserts black & red ink Protectograph (1913 model) (top specimen at left), Peerless Junior (bottom specimen at left)
. New Safety
Macerates words in check & inserts red ink Safe-Guard



1918_Check_macerated_numerals_and_letters.jpg (27148 bytes)
1918 check with macerated words and numerals.  We have seen similar protection on checks from 1918-38.

Combined words & numerals F&E (1914)
Protects payee
& amount
Hedman (1917)
Wright_check_protector_specimen.JPG (11954 bytes) Embosses check Wright

For additional photographs of check protectors, see Michael A. Brown, Antique Check Writers: A Collector's Guide from A to Z, 1998, and Thomas A. Russo, Office Collectibles: 100 Years of Business Technology, Schiffler, 2000.

Buy purchase buying purchasing sell selling antique vintage early victorian old checkwriter check protector punch perforator writer imprinter embosser for sale


All material on the Early Office Museum web site is copyrighted.  All rights are reserved.


First, you must not plagiarize our material.  Plagiarism is the act of passing off as your own the words, photographs, or other work of someone else.  Second, you must not violate our copyright or any one else's copyright, which means you may not use any images or text from the Early Office Museum web site in publications, in direct mailing material, on web sites, in auction listings, or anywhere else without written permission from the Curator (see link on home page).  In some cases, images belong to someone else, and we cannot give permission.  If you make legitimate non-infringing use of information from this web site, you must cite the Early Office Museum and provide our web address (www.officemuseum.com or www.earlyofficemuseum.com) or a link.  "Legitimate non-infringing use" is non-commercial use of no more than two images and 300 words of text, enclosed in quotation marks.  People who use material from this web site without giving proper credit are below green slime on the evolutionary scale.