ATM: Story behind the machine
Imagine you are going for shopping in a cab and when you check your bag or purse you don’t find any money because you forgot to take cash with you. And then you see your ATM card and finally sigh with relief and you feel there is nothing to worry about. It happened with me several times maybe happened with a bunch of people. ATM! What an amazing and extraordinary piece of machinery we have among us. Such a convenient and safe way to take out cash when we need it. Today we are going to talk about the origination of a device that revolutionized the banking industry and provided us with a way to transact our money whenever and wherever we want, the ATM.
ATM stands for ‘Automated Teller Machine'. It is an electronic telecommunication device for cash vending which lets you access your bank account details with the help of an ATM card. We all know how to use the ATM. First, we have to insert our card into the machine. Then it asks for a personal identification number or PIN, after entering the PIN and the desired amount of money the machine provides you the cash.
Adrian Ashfield gave the basic idea of card combining with key and user's identity with it in February 1962. A testing Bankograph was installed in New York City in 1961. The Bankograph was an envelope deposit automated device that accepts coins, cash, and cheques but it did not have the cash dispensing feature. It was removed after six months because of the costumer's negative review and lack of acceptance.
There were many attempts in the field of money dispensing machinery but the main contribution was of John Shepherd Barron, an engineer working in the printing firm De La Rue. He is said to be the inventor of the ATM. There were many people working on the same thing, to successfully create a cash dispensing machine. He got the idea when one afternoon he wanted to take out some money for work but he missed the bank open hours. He thought of making a machine that allows a person to be able to take out cash any time he/she wants.
In an interview, John said “It struck me there must be a way I could get my own money, anywhere in the world or the UK. I hit upon the idea of chocolate bar dispenser but replacing chocolate with cash”. The very first ATM commenced on 27th June 1967 at Barclay's Enfield Town in North London which inaugurated by English comedy actor Reg Varney. Transactions through the ATM was through inserting paper cheques issued by the cashier, marked with C-14 carbon for machine readability and security. In the later model of the machine, the carbon 14 system had replaced by the use of a six-digit PIN.
The ATM became very successful and quickly spread out in the whole world due to the advantages of it like cash withdrawal, deposits, updating passbook, funds transfer, and account information. Bank of Scotland launched an ATM under the brand name 'Scotcash' in 1968. A Chubb made ATM appeared in Sydney in 1969. This was the first machine installed in Australia. The machine only dispensed $ 25 at a time. Nowadays, we even can change our PIN through the machine, it even becomes a touch screen machine just like our smartphones. It can also be used to withdraw cash in a foreign country. There are over three million ATMs in the world, even in Antarctica. Also, ATMs are installed every three minutes in the world. There is an ATM in Abu Dhabi that even dispenses 320 items made of gold.
For the accomplishment of the ATM, it’s inventor John Shepherd had awarded an OBE, Order of British Empire, in 2005. Currently, we have 1 ATM per 3000 people in the world. The ratio is even higher in developed countries like the USA, UK, and Australia. So, with his mind, a person made the world of the banking system efficient and convenient for us. That’s how ideas work and ideas come from the mind and your inquisitiveness makes you a better person for yourself and for the world. Don’t let the ocean of curiosity in you ever evaporate. Keep asking, keep knowing, and to know about your curiosity level click here.
