Without a doubt, the Automated Teller Machine is the most useful technology developed during the 20th century.
There are several benefits that people have enjoyed out of the ATM. One of these is a convenience in getting money out from the bank. People are no longer required to fall in line in the branch. They can insert their card into a nearby machine to withdraw money.
These machines are also available 24 hours and seven days a week. These machines help save people a lot of time and remove from them a lot of headaches in financial emergencies.
Who Invented the First ATM Machine?
Such a person deserves a lot of praise from the world. He is the one who conceived a way to put the many different ATM machine parts together in one working concept. Therefore, he has significantly changed the world for good.
According to Time, the first person to conceptualize the automated teller machine was John Shepherd-Barron, a British inventor. Shepherd-Barron made a pitch to Barclays, who immediately saw the genius of the prospect in 1965.
The first ATM was mechanically similar to its modern counterparts. Its design served as a foundation for the development of ATM machine parts used today.
There was only one significant difference: TIME says that, instead of a card with a magnetic strip, the first cards were actually paper vouchers carrying codes embedded within a radioactive material. These were considered as the first personal identification systems for ATMs.
Top ATM developer NCR, on the other hand, states that the PIN as people know it today was first developed in 1970. Another British genius, James Goodfellow, came up with the idea that would be adopted as a hallmark feature of ATM banking in contemporary times.
Current Developments in ATM Technology
These inventions are testaments to the creativity of the human mind. This creativity always comes into play when there is a great need. People either create new things or build upon existing inventions to improve these machines even more.
The use of an ATM card has proven itself in practicality over time. There is one drawback to cards, however, and this is the expiry date. While bank accounts exist virtually forever, ATM cards are not.
They could expire, after which the account owner has to renew to get a new card. Plus, the magnetic strips could be damaged through wear and tear and be rendered unusable.
Not surprisingly, Barclays would be one of the major players in this new “arms race” in ATM technology. The bank conceptualized the Contactless ATM, a revolutionary and more secure way of accessing ATM card data.
Instead of inserting the card into a magnetic reader, the card owner taps the card into a scanner. He or she then proceeds with the withdrawal as usual.
Alternatively, they can also use their smartphones to facilitate their withdrawals as well. The bank has developed an Android app specifically for that purpose.
The 21st century is indeed a time of great innovation. The invention of Cloud-based computing and mobile technology has opened the floodgates of creativity across all industries. So, one can certainly expect a lot of new features and processes for automated teller machines in the future.
