U.K. ROBOT TO CASH CHEQUES

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31407, 28 June 1967, Page 24

U.K. ROBOT TO CASH CHEQUES

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, June 27. The world’s first robot cashier opened outside a London bank yesterday.

Known as “Barclaycash”— after its sponsor, Barclays, one of Britain’s largest banks —it will be mounted on the outside wall to enable customers to cash cheques any hour of the day or night. This is how the system will work: The customer will have collected in advance from his bank a book of vouchers, each worth £lO. Each voucher will be printed with magnetic ink prepared by a secret process, without which the robot cashier will not pay out.

The customer will then tap out on a keyboard on the robot’s face a four-figure combination code known only to him and the batik. An electronic device in the

A leading electronics expert said that Germany, Sweden and Japan were known to be working on a similar project.

“But it looks as if Britain has come up first with a production model,” he said.

machine will check the identity of the customer through his voucher marks and his code, and if all is well an “accepted” panel will light up, and, by opening a drawer, the customer will collect his money.

The machine, designed by De La Rue Instruments of London —a subsidiary of the firm which prints banknotes for Britain and many other countries—is claimed to be the first of its kind in the world.