Thomas De La Rue and Company Limited

De La Rue International Limited

Robin Bratchley

Duncan Hamilton Reid

David Allen Stone

John M Haslop

Malcolm Robert Knight

Andrew Nutton

Nicholas O Nugent

Linda S Ellis

Colin J Whitehead

Document of value

Ink composition and components thereof

This invention relates to documents, such as banknotes, which are produced and used in large numbers and which, for a given series, are identical one with another except for a unique multi-digit number upon each individual document, the number thus uniquely identifying that document within the series. According to the present invention, to render unauthorized reproduction of the document more difficult, on each document, at least two characters in the identifying number differ from each other (in addition to any differences in the letters or digits which they represent) in one or more visible characteristics. Thus the differing characters may have different heights or widths or be in different styles of type. Preferably, the identifying number appears twice on each document, in diagonally opposite corners, and preferably the variation of physical characteristics of the characters along the length of one of the numbers is reversed in direction in the other of the numbers.

Numbered documents

Growing community of inventors

Reading, United Kingdom

Robin Bratchley