10/27/2017
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`BBC NEWS | Business | The man who invented the cash machine
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`The man who invented the cash machine
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`By Brian Milligan
`Business reporter, BBC News
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`"They're clever scoundrels," fumes John Shepherd-Barron at his remote farmhouse in northern
`Scotland. He is referring to the seals which are raiding his salmon farm and stealing fish.
`
`Inventor's memories
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`"I invented a device to scare them off by playing the sound of killer whales, but it's ended up only attracting
`them more."
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`But failure with this device is in contrast to the success of his first and greatest invention: the cash machine.
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`The world's first ATM was installed in a branch of Barclays in Enfield, north London, 40 years ago this week.
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`Reg Varney, from the television series On the Buses, was the first to withdraw cash.
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`Inspiration had struck Mr Shepherd-Barron, now 82, while he was in the bath.
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`"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."
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`Barclays was convinced immediately. Over a pink gin, the then chief executive signed a hurried contract with
`Mr Shepherd-Barron, who at the time worked for the printing firm De La Rue.
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`Teething troubles
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`Plastic cards had not been invented, so Mr Shepherd-Barron's machine used cheques that were impregnated
`with carbon 14, a mildly radioactive substance.
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`The machine detected it, then matched the cheque against a Pin number.
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`However, Mr Shepherd-Barron denies there were any health concerns: "I later worked out you would have to
`eat 136,000 such cheques for it to have any effect on you."
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`The machine paid out a maximum of £10 a time.
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`"But that was regarded then as quite enough for a wild weekend," he says.
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`To start with, not everything went smoothly. The first machines were vandalised, and one that was installed
`in Zurich in Switzerland began to malfunction mysteriously.
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`It was later discovered that the wires from two intersecting tramlines nearby were sparking and interfering
`with the mechanism.
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`One by-product of inventing the first cash machine was the concept of the Pin number.
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`Mr Shepherd-Barron came up with the idea when he realised that he could remember his six-figure army
`number. But he decided to check that with his wife, Caroline.
`
`"Over the kitchen table, she said she could only remember four figures, so because of her, four figures
`became the world standard," he laughs.
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`End of cash?
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`Customers using the cash machine at Barclays in Enfield High Street are mostly unaware of its historical
`significance.
`
`A small plaque was placed there on the 25th anniversary, but few people notice it. Given that there are now
`more than 1.6 million cash machines worldwide, it is a classic case of British understatement.
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`http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6230194.stm
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`BBC NEWS | Business | The man who invented the cash machine
`10/27/2017
`Mr Shepherd-Barron says he and his wife realised the importance of his invention only when they visited
`Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
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`They watched a farmer arriving on a bullock cart, who removed his wide-brimmed hat to use the cash
`machine.
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`"It was the first evidence to me that we'd changed the world," he says.
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`But even though he invented the machine, Mr Shepherd-Barron believes its use in future will be very
`different. He predicts that our society will no longer be using cash within a few years.
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`"Money costs money to transport. I am therefore predicting the demise of cash within three to five years."
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`He believes fervently that we will soon be swiping our mobile phones at till points, even for small
`transactions.
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`At 82, Mr Shepherd-Barron is very much alive to new ideas and inventions - even though his device that
`plays killer whale noises still needs a little bit of tinkering.
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`Story from BBC NEWS:
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`http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6230194.stm
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`Published: 2007/06/25 05:35:32 GMT
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`© BBC 2017
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