It’s forty years this week since Brits were introduced to the Automated Teller Machine that gave them instant access to their current accounts and savings accounts.

The first ATM was unveiled in Enfield in North London – it’s Scottish inventor, John Sheppard-Barron, having dreamt up the concept whilst in deep thought in the bath. “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 a chocolate bar dispenser but replacing chocolate with cash,” he explained.

Barclays Bank were convinced by the idea and, over a pink gin, the chief executive signed a deal with Mr. Shepherd-Barron.

The original ATM was a very different beast to the one we see today. Plastic cards had not yet been invented so the machine had to use cheques that had been impregnated with carbon 14, a mildly radioactive substance. The machine would detect the radioactivity and match the cheque against a PIN. Concerned about the side-effects of radioactivity, Mr. Shepherd-Barron later worked out that you would have to eat 136,000 cheques for it to have an effect on you.

The maximum amount of money dispensed by the machine was £10, however in those days, that was enough to have a good weekend out.

It wasn’t all plain sailing – the first machines that were installed had a tendancy to be vandalised. One of the early installations in Zurich, Switzerland, also mysteriously malfunctioned. Eventually it was discovered that the wires from two nearby intersecting tramlines were interfering with the machine.

If you happen to go to the Enfield High Street branch of Barclays bank, there is still a cash machine there. Most users will be unaware of the historic significance of the machine although there is a small blue plaque now there, placed on the 25th anniversary of the cash machine’s installation. There are now are more than 1.6 million cash machines in operation throughout the world, perhaps it is understandable that most don’t think about the history behind this piece of technology.

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