Protection System For Computerized Negotiable Document Printouts

Abstract

A system to protect negotiable documents from illegal alteration such as amount or signature particularly computer printout documents comprising preprinting a "VOID" pattern over the amount and/or signature area of the document in solvent insoluble ink. Printing one surface of a half mil Mylar film with a VOID camouflage pattern, overcoating the camouflage pattern with a highly aggressive, pressure-sensitive adhesive coating. Coating the opposite surface of the Mylar film with a curable silicone resin. Thereafter adhering the Mylar film to the document to be protected over the amount and/or signature area with cold pressure.

Description

Prior art techniques, for the most part, have been based upon the utilization of competing chemical formulations which are or may be employed as either an overlay on the top surface of the document to be protected or as an overprinted area on such document or in some instances as a chemical wash or bath into which the entire paper stock is emersed and from which the document is thereafter pre-printed. None of the known techniques has direct application to computerized document protection nor are any of the known prior art systems readily adaptable to document protection of computer printouts as hereinafter described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, which is an improvement over copending U. S. application Ser. No. 287,837, entitled CONTINUOUS FORM COMPUTER PRINT-OUT DOCUMENT PROTECTION SYSTEM, filed Sept. 11, 1972, comprises a document protection system for use with high speed data processing equipment such, for example, as high speed printers which produce visibly legible records from a computer.

Since the general quality of printing by such high speed computer printouts is usually fairly poor, it is a relatively easy matter for the document forger or check alterer to raise, change or remove and add the amount and/or signature at will. The same is generally true for the average typewritten document, check, etc. The printing on these materials is generally so inferior that alteration by hand of the amount or signature is accomplished with ease and efficiency by the individual.

In the system contemplated herein a high tensile strength, transparent material is pre-cut in the form of a tape which is or may be produced in a relatively large roll. The transparent material is required to have a friction coefficient sufficient to avoid marking by known means such, for example, as ball point pens, crayons, wax pencils, and the like. The tape is provided with a lightly colored camouflage pattern on one surface which is overcoated with a highly aggressive, pressure-sensitive, adhesive coating. The opposite surface of the transparent tape is coated with a curable colorless silicone resin. The document to which the pressure sensitized tape is to be applied is or may be provided with a lightly colored, so-called VOID pattern of repeating symbology such, for example, as the word "void," "fraud," "cancelled" or some similar designation. Thereafter the tape with the camouflage protective coating is adhesively secured over the area containing the void pattern, thus masking the "void" pattern from the eye while permitting any more darkly colored, printed indicia such, for example, as the number amount in the case of a check or the signature of the payor of the document to be visibly discernible through the tape. The document thus protected cannot be written upon in a protected area with the generally available writing instruments due to the slipperiness of the exposed surface provided by the invention. Attempts at complete or partial removal of the applied tape result in damage to the document, e.g., tearing, mutilation, holes in the protected area, etc.

It is an important object, therefore, of this invention to provide a protection system to protect the document against alteration by various well-known means such as ball point pens, cut and paste of the item portion of the document, solvent and mechanical erasure or bleaching of the amount through chemicals.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a document protection system which is adaptable for use with a high speed computer printout apparatus so that the item to be protected receives the protective element or material concurrently or simultaneously with the printing of the amount and signature thereof.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a relatively simple document protecting means which avoids the use of complex chemical formulations and permits the system to be employed by means of simple mechanical applicators such as cold pressure rolls or platens.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a document protection system which produces immediately visible evidence of alteration regardless of the means used to make such alteration.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a greatly enlarged sectional view in side elevation of the document protection system as applied to a conventional check;

FIG. 2 is a view of a portion of a camouflage pattern for use with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the tape protecting layered adhesive assembly in conjunction with a document to be protected;

FIG. 4 is a top plan of a conventional check illustrating the "void" pattern arranged over the amount area of the check; and

FIG. 5 is a view similar to view 4 illustrating the check protection tape applied over the amount area illustrating the complete camouflage of the void pattern while permitting the amount to be visible through the tape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Protection of negotiable instruments from the hazards of alteration by chemicals, mechanical cutting, pen and ink addition to amounts, and general erasure, obliteration, scuffing and other similar means of altering or changing numbers has intrigued and frustrated engineers and laymen alike since the inception of the use of such instruments. Up until the present time the skillful forger or document alterer armed with a scant few chemicals and a reasonable amount of finger dexterity could alter, change, rearrange, or otherwise make over a negotiable document into an instrument whose amount and/or signature had been changed and thereafter pass such document into the commercial money or banking stream almost at will.

Detection of such alteration varies from impossible to ridiculously easy depending upon the skill of the forger. Protection against the known schemes has run the gamut from chemically compounding various papers on which the documents are to be pre-printed to using special pens and inks, mechanical checkwriters, special presses, intricate, large type styles, involved chemical overlays which were applied to the document both before and after printing, and certain types of processes more or less related to the decalcomania art. The present invention relies for its novelty on none of these and yet is broadly related to certain of the prior art systems. In any case, the present invention in effect avoids the pitfalls of the prior art while providing an extremely high degree of protection against the known item and signature alteration techniques.

Referring to the drawings and first to FIG. 1, there is shown a portion of a piece of document material, e.g., check paper, disproportionately enlarged so as to more clearly make discernible the various elements of the combination. The check paper 10 which may vary in thickness from about 0.0035 to 0.007 inch may have printed on the facing surface 12 thereof a printed pattern 14, e.g., the word "VOID" repeated in multiple lines. A solvent insoluble substrate such, for example, as a polyester film base 16 on the order of 0.001 inch in thickness is provided on one surface 18 thereof with a curable silicone resin plus catalyst coating 20 of 0.0005 to 0.00005 inch thickness. The opposite surface 22 of the polyester substrate 16 is provided with a printed, camouflage pattern 24 which pattern is printed directly on the film base; and, as will be seen later on herein, cooperates with the "VOID" pattern printed on the check in the same color to completely hide or mask the void pattern. Over the surface of the printed camouflage pattern 24 there is applied a coating 26 of a high peel strength, aggressive, solvent and heat resistant, pressure sensitive, adhesive which is approximately 0.0008 to 0.0015 inch in thickness. The ink used to apply the VOID pattern is solvent insoluble; thus if the adhesive is dissolved away by a solvent, the pattern of the "void" becomes clearly, visibly evident and immediately indicates the fraudulent alteration of the document.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the polyester substrate with its multiple layers of material is disposed with the adhesive coating adjacent the "VOID" pattern on the check paper.

FIG. 2 is illustrative of one type of camouflage pattern 24 which may be used with the void pattern 14 of the present invention. However, it is readily apparent that other patterns may be used provided the end result is that the void pattern printed on the check paper is masked thereby so that the pattern is invisible to the unaided eye.

FIG. 3 illustrates the manner in which the check protection system of the present invention can be employed to protect the amount area of a document, for example, a negotiable instrument such as a check. The layered structure as described in connection with FIG. 1 is produced in the form of a continuous tape or band 28 which may be loaded onto a supply reel and thereafter fed from the supply reel to the printing area of the high speed printer permitting a portion of the tape to be adherred under cold pressure as by a roller and back-up anvil over the amount which has been printed in the amount area over the void pattern which is pre-printed on the check structure.

An example of a check structure 10 bearing a preprinted void pattern 14 is shown in FIG. 4. This pattern could also be employed in the signature area 30 and the layered tape construction used in similar fashion to its use in the amount area.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the finally protected document, in this case a check 10, as it might appear with the protecting tape 28 adherred over the amount awaiting the signature of the payor with the "void" pattern camouflaged but with the amount clearly distinguishable therethrough.

There has thus been described a new, novel and unobvious method and article of manufacture for the prevention of fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature of commercial documents including checks, bank drafts, bills of exchange, etc.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A document protection system for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising:

a document bearing on its surface indicia including an amount and signature and a pattern of legible solvent insoluble warning data clearly visible to the unaided eye when the document is tampered with or fraudulently altered, and

a transparent film member having a camouflage pattern on one surface and an adhesive coating adhered to said surface,

said film being applied to said document under cold pressure permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible through said film but so that the camouflage pattern completely obscures the pattern of legible data until the film is disrupted or removed when the data becomes plainly visible, signifying fraudulent alteration.

2. Document protection system for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising:

a document bearing on its surface printed indicia including amount and signature areas and a signal pattern visible upon illegal alteration of said document,

means overlying said amount and signature areas camoflaging said signal pattern,

means secured to said camouflaging means having a very low coefficient of friction relative to known writing instruments and of a material such that removal thereof results in partial destruction or damage to said instrument, and

means bonding said camouflaging means to said document permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible to the unaided eye but so as to make alteration by writing on said document relatively impossible.

3. A document protection system for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising:

a document bearing on its surface indicia including a signal pattern readily visible to the unaided eye when the amount or signature is altered,

a carrier member,

a plurality of strata bonded to said carrier member,

said strata including a camouflage pattern for camouflaging said signal pattern and

means adhesively bonding said carrier member to said document upon the application of cold pressure permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible to the unaided eye but so that removal thereof exposes and makes visible the signal pattern on the document and damages the structure of the document.

4. A document protection system for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising:

a document bearing on its surface indicia including an amount and signature, a repeating pattern in solvent insoluble ink which becomes exposed to view when the document is altered,

a solvent insoluble substrate having on one surface a silicone resin plus a catalyst coating with the opposite surface of said substrate being provided with a camouflage coating, and

means bonding said substrate to said document permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible to the unaided eye but so that said repeating pattern is concealed from view and known writing instruments are incapable of altering the indicia without making such alteration visible.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 4 wherein said substrate comprises a polyester film on the order of 0.001 inch in thickness and wherein said silicone resin catalyst coating is on the order of 0.0005 to 0.00005 inch in thickness.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 4 wherein said solvent insoluble substrate comprises a transparent MYLAR film and wherein the means bonding the substrate to the document comprises an adhesive approximately 0.008 to 0.0015 inch in thickness of a material having a high peel strength, aggressive, solvent and heat resistant and pressure sensitive.

7. A document protection system for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising:

a document bearing on its surface printed indicia including an amount and signature and a signal pattern safeguarding the amount and signature areas, and

a transparent polyester solvent insoluble film forming a carrier member, said carrier member having a curable silicone resin plus a catalyst coating on one surface and a printed camouflage pattern plus a solvent and heat resistant adhesive on the opposite surface,

said film being bonded to said document in the indicia and amount areas by cold pressure permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible to the unaided eye but whereby said film pattern masks and obscures said signal pattern unless the film is ruptured and prevents marking by known writing instruments thus avoiding fraudulent alteration.

8. A document protection method for safeguarding negotiable instruments of exchange against fraudulent alteration of amount and/or signature comprising the steps of:

providing a document with indicia including an amount and signature and a signal pattern readily visible to the unaided eye when said document is altered,

bonding a plurality of strata including means camouflaging said signal pattern to a carrier member, and

adhesively bonding said strata and said carrier member to said document under cold pressure permitting the signature and/or amount to be visible to the unaided eye but so as to cover said indicia and thus make removal thereof impossible.