Automated Teller Machines - History of Automated Teller Machines
The Automated Teller Machine, or ATM, enables people to withdraw and deposit money from their bank accounts using machines. It is thought to be a combination of a few different inventions. The first automated banking machine only collected cheques and deposits, and was created by American inventor and businessman, Luther Simjian in 1960. A Scottish inventor, John Shepherd-Barron, created an ATM that used paper vouchers printed with radioactive ink so the machine could read them in 1967. Finally in 1969, Donald Wetzel created the first ATM in the United States that used plastic cards similar to the ones we use today.
The ATM is a sophisticated computer that can do almost anything a human bank teller can. A typical ATM is made up of the following devices: a computer, a magnetic/chip card reader, a keypad, a display screen, a printer, and a vault.
- Most ATMs communicate with the bank by connecting to an interbank network.
- A customer uses a plastic card with a magnetic stripe or smart chip that holds a unique card number and security information. The customer enters a personal identification number (PIN) to authenticate its use.
- Users can do almost all of their banking at any time of day, whether or not their bank is open.
- There are almost two million ATMs around the world.
- The ATM was the first form of self-service banking, which led to other convenient forms, like telephone and internet banking.
- Many other industries saw how popular banking through machines became, and came up with ways to sell their own products in this way. There are now automated machines to dispense everything from movie tickets to medication.
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