When we think about everyday objects and devices, we often don’t know their origin story, and some have very interesting origins. An example of this was the first computer mouse, which was made of wood and had metal wheels, but was also something as everyday as a webcam. We use it all the time in meetings these days, but it was invented 30 years ago to control the coffee machine. The same goes for the invention of ATMs, machines that appeared about 60 years ago and may soon become extinct due to mobile phones.

And we have chocolate to thank for the existence of ATMs.

Chocolate. Until the invention of ATMs, if you had money in the bank and ran out of cash, the solution was to go to your branch during working hours and withdraw money. The problem was that when the bank closed you ran out of cash. British inventor John Shepherd-Barron wondered this when his light bulb burned out while he was in the bathroom.

“It occurred to me that there must be a way to get my money anywhere in the world or to the UK. I thought of a chocolate dispenser, but the chocolate was replaced by cash.”

Great success for Barclays. Barron was a member of the engineering team of the De La Rue Company, a British company that began manufacturing hats, but in 1860 he won a contract to mint coins. Barron pitched the idea to both his company and Barclays, and on 27 June 1967 the bank launched the world’s first ATM in Enfield, north London. How far did he let you retreat? 10 pounds at a time.

First cashier but barelyanyone. As always, there are some debates on these issues. It seems that in 1966 there was a card-operated credit machine in Japan that offered cash in the form of a 5% interest loan, but not much is known about it, so Barron’s machine is being considered. first. And very little, because Swedish savings banks launched something similar nine days later, and the British Westminster Bank also had something in the oven.

Rapid adoption of the system. After that first machine, other banks started to prepare alternatives. Both De La Rue’s and the Swedes’ designs began to improve and the Bank of Scotland introduced ATMs in 1968. A year later they also appeared in Sydney and Spain with Banesto. And of course there were limits: in the case of an ATM manufactured by Chubb in Sydney, the machine only dispensed $25 at a time. In the case of banesto, banknotes of 1000 pesetas and up to one to five denominations. In other countries, such as Germany, the limit was 400 marks per day.

Insert the card and they will give it back to you. Now, don’t think that 57 years ago the system was as automatic and instantaneous as it is now. Before this date, ATMs already worked with cards, but each bank had its own verification tools. The Sydney bank situation is extremely intriguing because yes, it allowed you to withdraw $25, but the teller hid the card. Once the bank confirmed the transaction and processed the withdrawal into the accounting system, the card was sent to the user by mail. Actually, it wasn’t very practical.

Radioactive controls. Other ATMs had different systems; some more advanced, others less so, but it was enough to function properly. In West Germany, the bank Kreissparkasse Tübingen had a very old ATM: It gave 1,000 selected users the key to the safe, an ID card, and ten punch cards. A card was used as proof that 100 points had been withdrawn.

Barron’s machine was slightly more advanced. To enable this the user had to enter a check type marked carbon 14. The cashier read it, verified it with a PIN number, and allowed the money to be withdrawn. Carbon-14 is slightly radioactive, but Barron assured the BBC there were no problems:

“You would have to eat 136,000 checks for the radiation to have any effect on your body“.

The video above is a report produced by Australian public television to show how the ATM worked at that time.

PIN. In the same interview, Barron mentions the anecdote about the creation of the four-digit PIN code, which is now standard not only for credit and debit cards, but also for online payments and even for unlocking a mobile phone or computer. Barron thought it was a good idea to have a six-digit PIN code on a military ID. When he talked to his wife and she said she only remembered four numbers, he thought that was the appropriate number. “Thanks to him, four digits became the world standard“.

Of course but. Fundamentally, current ATMs are exactly the same as the old ones, although much more technological. These are vaults that compare data, verify that it is us, and allow us to receive the money instantly. They have now experienced failures and criminals in all generations. One of the Zurich machines began to malfunction until it was discovered that tram cables were interfering with the mechanism, and the others were quickly destroyed.

Aside from forced thefts, there are now systems such as keyboard replacements or missing card readers that criminals use to steal our access credentials and even clone cards.

What about when we don’t use cash? The BBC’s interview with Barron took place in 2007, and the inventor stated: “Moving money costs money. I predict cash will disappear within three to five years“. 17 years later, cash is still important, but it is also a fact that there are now people walking on the street without money. Even without a card. Mobile phones and smart watches have now become an accepted form of payment. At a worldwide level and ATMs are in danger of extinction.” face to face.

They have been fulfilling their roles for decades, but they know how to reinvent themselves. According to World Bank data (somewhat outdated), the number of ATMs worldwide reached 41 per 100,000 people in 2020 and has started to decline to 39 per 100,000 people in 2021. This may be due to demographic problems or their gradual withdrawal.

Currently, we can perform many transactions (transfer or account inquiry) from our mobile phone that we can perform at an ATM, but there are still transactions that need to be done separately, such as depositing money into our account or updating the account. at the bank or ATM. When concepts like “passbook” become obsolete, we’ll see what happens to these machines that are still operational more than half a century later, despite major advances in digital banking.

Three years after the interesting interview, Barron died at the age of 84; In 2010, ATMs were still used as the standard for processing millions of transactions worldwide.

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