how does an atm machine work

An ATM or automated teller machine is a computerized machine that allows bank customers to gain access to their accounts with a magnetically encoded plastic card and a code number. These days they are cardless atm machines also. So what it does is that it enables the customers to perform several banking operations without the help of a teller, like to withdraw cash, make deposits, pay bills, get bank statements, effect cash transfers. Also called automated Banking machine, automatic till machine, or remote service unit.



According to History.com "Many experts believe that the first automated banking machine was the creation of an American inventor and businessman named Luther Simjian. Simjian held patents on all kinds of things–including an army flight simulator, a color x-ray machine, a self-focusing camera, an exercise bicycle and a teleprompter–but he was best known for his work on the Bankograph, a machine that could accept cash or check deposits at any hour of the day or night."

Who invented the idea of an ATM? (6)

History shows it was Luther George Simjian to develop the idea in 1939, though he could not make a commercial success out of it (see timeline).
James Goodfellow in Scotland holds a patent dated of 1966 for a full service ATM.
But what about John Shepherd-Barron's machine installed outside a north London branch of Barclays Bank in 1967?
The free standing ATM from 1968? It were Don Witzel, Tom Barnes, George Chastain, Jack Gebhart, and John D. White for Docutel in the US.

"The first automated banking machine in the U.S. was devised by a Dallas engineer and former professional baseball player named Donald Wetzel. Wetzel’s machine used plastic cards like the ones we use today. (Instead of radioactive ink, the cards stored account information in magnetic strips.) In September 1969, a Chemical Bank branch on Long Island installed the first of Wetzel’s machines."

We found information on an ATM patent by NCR. Here are the details below to understand how an atm machine works:

CLAIMS(10)

1. An automated teller machine (ATM) comprising:

   a. an ATM head unit in the form of a housing within which are housed user interface components of an ATM;

   b. a security enclosure within which is located an ATM media dispenser wherein the security enclosure and the head unit are discrete physically separate units, which are coupled so that media from the security enclosure can be dispensed to a user through interaction with the head unit, when in use.
2. An ATM according to claim 1, wherein the media dispenser is a cash dispenser.
3. An ATM according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the security enclosure further contains a media acceptor.
4. An ATM according to any preceding claim, wherein the user interface components include a card reader, a key pad, a cash dispenser slot, a display with FDKs, and a receipt printer.
5. An ATM according to any preceding claim, wherein the head unit is arranged to operate at low voltage.
6. An ATM according to claim 5, wherein the low voltage is 24V.
7. An ATM according to any preceding claim, in the form of a through-the-wall ATM.
8. An ATM according to claim 7, wherein the head unit is arranged to be hung on one side of a wall, in use, and the security enclosure is arranged to be located on the opposite side of the wall, the units being coupled by a cash transit path through an aperture in the wall.
9. An ATM according to any preceding claim, which is arranged to be front opening for repair or replenishment.
10. An ATM according to any preceding claim, including means for wireless communication between the head unit and the security enclosure.