Antique Vintage Cast Iron Hand Crank Todd Protectograph Check Writer Imprinter

Description

Hand Crank Todd Protectograph Check Writer/Imprinter,
Fraud prevention device. C
irca 1916.
The Todd Protectograph Co. was established in 1899 by G. W. Todd. Circa 1902, the company was known as "G. W. Todd & Co." and was at 6 Exchange St., Rochester, New York. By 1916, the company was known as the Todd Protectograph Co.  They made hand-operated mechanical check protectors.
The devices were meant to prevent unauthorized alteration of business checks, using an impression made by the machine that was difficult to alter. This was a way to protect businesses against check fraud. Circa 1916, the Protectograph Check Writer devices wrote and protected checks using two colors (red for amount words, and black for denominations). The characters were "shredded" into the paper and pressure was used to force ink into the shreds (Todd Patents) Circa 1916 the company also sold "Protod Chemical Fiber Checks", which could not be bleached out by forgers.
The company merged with a California company c. 1954.