We read of the passing of John Shepherd-Barron, the guy who invented the ATM.

Shepherd-Barron thought he should have access to his own cash any time, so he built a machine to do just that. The device was activated by special checks, deposited in a drawer (like those "Night Depository" things you still see near ATMs today). A code was entered and a second drawer opened with cash.

Early Wells Fargo ATM (Click for larger image in a new window) The first machine was installed at a Barclay's Bank branch in London in 1967. (History big.)

Within a few years, ATMs were the revolutionary service that banks sought to woo customers and show them how cool the banks were. Wells Fargo's first ATM was put into service in 1970.

Shepherd-Barron's wife, meanwhile, convinced him that a four-digit code was much easier for the user than the six digits he originally planned. She corrected him over the kitchen table and affected the way we all do our finances today. (That's History small, which modifies and humanizes the big story.)

Shepherd-Barron was knighted in 2004 for his idea. What's in store for the first financial services history blogger? Big History or small?

1 Comment

As a BIG fan of this blogger - I vote BIG !!!

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