|
| 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.
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:
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
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