today, in most busy cities and towns, you can find automated teller machines, or atms, on practically every block. an atm is an electronic communications device that allows bank customers to perform financial transactions without needing to talk to a human bank clerk. however, some people can conduct their banking business entirely using atms.

as with many complicated pieces of technology, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the first atm was developed. in 1939, an american inventor named luther simjian patented an early version of an atm that were not having much success. [ ] simjian called his invention the bankograph. the bankograph could accept cash or check deposits at any time of day or night but not dispense money. to assuage customers’ fears that they might never see their money again, there was a camera inside the bankograph that took a picture of every deposit and provided a photo receipt to the customer. however, the bankograph did not catch on.

[1] it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, when more of the population had became comfortable with the idea of automated technologies, that automated banking machines became more popular. [2] the first modern automated banking machine was developed in 1969, by a dallas engineer named donald wetzel. [3] wetzel’s machine used plastic cards like the ones we use today. [4] some say that it took a good old-fashioned new york blizzard to truly make atms a permanent institution in american life. [5] in 1977, the chairman of citibank spent over $100 million to install atms all over new york city, hoping they would be a success. [6] the following winter, a blizzard shut down banks in the city for days, and atm usage suddenly increased by 20 percent. [7] this blizzard also launched citibank’s long-running “the citi never sleeps” campaign, with posters and billboards showing customers trudging through snow drifts to get to citibank atms. [ ]

now, there are around 2 million atms in the world. even some of the most remote areas of the world are connected by atms; there are even two machines in antarctica. but the atm may have already reached its peak of popularity. since so many people today use there credit and debit cards for most purchases, cash from atms is less in demand. [ ]