Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
This invention relates to credit card transaction
slips which are arranged in an assembled pack or "formset"
of paper and duplicating carbon components to receive
printed information at defined positions relating to
a commercial transaction, and in particular to an improved
pack of credit card transaction slips for reducing the
possibility of wrongfully obtaining the i.dentificati.on
of a customer's credit card account number.
BACKGROUND OF THE 1 N V~;N'l' I ON
In credit card transactions, which are in extensive
use today, the merchant is provided with an assembled pack
or "Eormset" of transaction slips or components for recording
information relating to the merchant, the customer's credit
card account number, etc. at defined positions on the slips.
The pack may consist for example of a first paper transaction
slip to be retained by the merchant, a second paper trans-
action slip to be given to the customer, and a third paper
transaction slip which is forwarded to the bank or credit
card issuer. One or more paper duplicating slips having
a duplicating medium, commonly known as duplicating carbon
slips, are including in the pack, with at least one duplica-
ting carbon slip sandwiched between two transaction slips.
Hereinafter, the terms "duplicating carbon slip" will
be understood to refer to a duplicating strip having a
duplicating medium and thus is synonymous with a "duplicating
medium slip."
Thus, in normal use, a sales clerk, for instance,
records the transaction information on the top transaction
slip in the pack and may also at the same time imprint
information onto all of the transaction slips as enabled
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by the intermediate duplicating carbon slips. The respec-
tive transaction slip5 are then deleaved or disjoined
from the pack for presentment to the customer, etc. and
the remaining duplicating carbon slips are placed into
a container for later disposal.
It has now been found that in some instances,
certain individuals have obtained the customer's identifying
account number from a used duplicating carbon slip and
have wrongfully utilized this information. Present esti~
mates are that about 100 million dollars are lost nationwide
by credit card issuers due to fraudulent transactions
resulting from the wrongful use of credit card numbers
obtained from used duplicating carbon slips.
Several means are currently utilized or have
been proposed to reduce the possibility of obtaining the
credit card numbers in this manner. As an example, carbon-
less packs or formsets are in current use which incorporate
a duplicating medium coating on the reverse side of one
of the paper transaction slips so that a separa~e duplicat-
ing carbon slip is not needed in the pack~ However, carbon-
less packs are substantially more expensive than packs
with duplicating carbon slip9 . Due to the significantly
large number of credit card transactions, in many instances,
merchants do not believe the extra expenses involved with
carbonless packs are cost justified to reduce the subject
problem. Another proposal has been to instruct the sales
clerks to tear the used duplicating carbon slips into
several pieces before placing them into the container.
In most cases, such instructions are not followed because
the sales clerks do not want to get smudges of the duplica-
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ting material on their hands or clothing. While shredding
machines are available and economically justifiable in
instances where there is only one sales clerk, to provide
a shredding machine at a number of sales clerk positions
would be cost prohibitive.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a pack
of credit card transaction slips with duplica~ing carbons
wherein the possibility of obtaining a customer's account
number from the used carbons is elimina~ed or at least
substantially reduced.
S UMMARY OF THE l r~ v ~ L I ON
An improved pack or formset of credit card trans-
action slips Eor recording information at defined positions
relating to a customer's credit card account identification,
a merchant's identification, etc. is provided. The improved
pack includes at least two paper transaction slips with
a duplicating medium slip or duplicating carbon slip between,
with the paper transaction slips and the carbon slip being
joined together at one end. The duplicating carbon slip
includes a series of perforations in the form of a perfora-
tion strip extending across the face of the carbon slip
and placed on the carbon at a position aligned with the
customer identifying position on the paper transaction
slips.
During normal use, the customer's account identify-
ing number is recorded on the transaction slip5 and will
therefore extend over or beyond and intersect the perfora-
tion strip on the carbon. Thus, when the sales clerk,
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for instance, moves the joined end of the pack away fromthe opposite free end of the carbon slip, the carbon slip
will be split into two sections at the perforation strip~
with each carbon section containing a portion of the charac~
ters identifying the customer~s account number. Placing
several of the split carbon sections into a container
virtually makes it impossible for one to match the correct
carbon sections together to obtain the complete cus~omer's
account number. A short stub section or portion without
any carbon coating or duplicating medium coating may be
provided at the free end of the carbon slip to eliminate
any possibility of the user dirtying their hands with
carbon smudge.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, in
connection with providing three pap2r transaction slips
in an assembled pack joined at one end, a middle transaction
slip is sandwiched between two duplicating carbon slips.
Each of the duplicating carbon slips includes a perforation
strip located on the respective carbon faces to eventually
form two carbon sections, each having a portion of the
customer's account number. The middle transaction slip
is provided wikh a perforation strip at the joined end
of the pack and a relatively stronger perforation at the
free end of the pack. A narrow stub section joins the
middle transaction slip and the two duplicating carbon
slips at the other or free end of the pack.
After the transaction information is recorded
on the pack, the pack is deleaved by grasping the joined
end of the pack with one hand and the stub section at
the free end of the pack with the other hand, and moving
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the two pack ends away from each other. This operation
simultaneously deleaves the middle transaction slip from
the joined end of the pack while also splitting the carbons
into respective sections at the respective perforation
strips so that each carbon section contains a portion
of the customer's identification number. The middle trans-
action slip may then be deleaved from the stub section~
Thereafter, upon disposal of the respective carbon sec~ions
into a container, if there has been mvre than one trans-
action, and certainly if there have been more than a fewtransactions, it will be extremely difficult and highly
unlikely that one could match up the corresponding carbon
sections of one transaction in an attempt to wrongfully
obtain a customer's identification number.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The features of this invention which are believed
to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended
claims. The invention~ together with its objects and
advantages thereo~, may be best understood by reference
to the following description taken in conjunction with
the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals
identify like elements in the several figures and in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an improved
pack o credit card transaction slips in accordance with
the principles of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the pack of
credit card transaction slips shown in Figure 1, with
the upper-most paper transaction slip opened away from
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the pack, and illustrating a carbon provided with perfora-
tions in the form of a perforation strip extending through
the account number,
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the improved
pack of Figure 1, and illustrating the back side of another
carbon slip colltaining a perforation strip extending through
the account number;
Figure 4 i5 a perspective view of the improved
pack of Figure 1 illustrating the two carbon slips and
a middle transaction slip which have been separated from
the pack;
Figure 5 is a ~ragmented sectional view taken
along section lines 5-5 of Figure 1.
DETAIL~ DESCRIPTION
For purposes of illustration, the drawings and
the present description are directed to a preferred embodi-
ment of the invention in which an assembled pack 10 or
~0 formset of credit card transaction slips includes three
paper transaction slips 12, 14 and 16, with a respective
slip being provided for a merchant, a customer and the
credit card issuer. It is to be understood that the pre-
ferred embodiment illustrated and to be described herein
is provided merely to illustrate and describe the principles
of the present invention. Thus, the same principles illus-
trated and described herein may be applied to situations
in which only two paper transaction slips and only one
duplicating carbon slip is utilized. Thus, no limitation
in the appended claims is to be inferred from the present
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illustration and description.
As an example, upper-most paper trans~ction slip
12 may be a merchant copy, middle paper transaction slip
14 may be for the customer, and lower-most paper transaction
slip 16 may be for the hank or credit card issuerO Each
of the paper transaction slips includes a position 18
upon which the sales clerk may enter a series of charac~ers
20 identifying a customer's account. Normally~ the account
information is taken from a credit card issued to the
customer, and in most instances is recorded alony with
the customer's name in an imprinting operation using the
credit card, an imprinter and pack 10.
As shown most clearly in the cross-sectional
view of Figure 5, middle transaction slip 14 is sandwiched
between a pair of duplicating carbon slips 22, 24. Carbon
sli.p 22 permits information placed on transaction slip
12 to be entered simultaneously also onto middle transaction
slip 14, and carbon slip 24 permits this same information
to simultaneously be placed onto lower-most transaction
slip 16. Pack 10 is maintained together at one end 26
hy means of a suitable adhesive 28 joining one end of
each adjacent transaction slip and carbon slip to each
other at pack end 26.
At pack end 30, only the free ends of middle
transaction slip 14 and carbon slips 22, 24 are joined
together such as by means of adhesi~e 32 so as ~o form
a partial stub 34 at pack end 30~ It is to be understood
that the stub portion 34 preferably does not contain any
duplicating material such that if placed between the sales
clerk's ~ingers, the duplicating material will not smudge
the fingers.
With specific reference to Figures 2 and 3, it
can be seen that carbons 22, 24 are provided with a respec-
tive series of perforations in the form of perforation
strips 36, 38 which ~xtend between opposite edges of the
carbons. Furthermore, it can be readily seen that perfora-
tion strips 36, 38 are located between pack end 26 and
pack end 30 so as to extend directly in line with customer
position 18 on the transaction slips. Therefore, when
the sales clerk places characters 20 identifying a customer's
account on the transaction slips, perforations 36, 38
intersect the customerls account number so that a respective
portion of the customer's account number is located on
either side of the carbon perforation strips. Middle
transaction slip 14 includes a series of perforations
40 at pack end 26 and a series of perforations 42 at pack
end 30, with perforations 42 somewhat stronger than perfora-
tions 40O
Accordingly, when the sales clerk deleaves the
pack by holding pack end 26 in one hand and moving that
end of the pack away rom stub portion 34 which is held
by the sales clerk's other hand, carbon slips 22 and 24
will be split along respective perforations 36, 38, split-
ting the customer's account number on either side of carbon
slips 22, 24 Middle transaction slip 14 also will split
along perforations 40 in the normal operation of moving
stub portion 34 away from pack end 26 to deleave the middle
transaction slip from the pack, and perforations 42 then
may be split to remove transaction slip 14 from the two
joined righthand sections of carbon slips 22, 24.
Upon disposal of the ~wo joined righthand sections
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of carbon slips 22, 24, and thereafter removing transaction
slips 12 and 16 along suitable perforations from pack
10 and disposing of the left hand split portions of carbon
slips 22, 24, it will be highly improbable and virtually
impossible for one to attempt to join together the split
carbon portions to form the original correct customer's
account number.
If desired, perfora~ions 40 could be made stronger
than perforations 42, so that transaction slip 14 will
be split along peforations 42 simultaneously with splitting
the carbon slips along perforation strips 36, 38. Alterna-
tively, transaction slip 14 need not be joined at pack
end 30 to the carbon slips, and may be slightly shorter
in length than the carbon slips to enable the righthand
sections of the carbon slips to be readily removed from
the pack by splitting along perforation strips 36~ 38.
The foregoing detailed description has been given
for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary
limitations should be understood therefrom, as modifications
will be obvious to those skilled in the art.
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