Automated Teller Machine; a computerized device that allows bank customers to access their accounts and perform transactions without human assistance.
Acronym formed from 'Automated Teller Machine,' coined in the late 1960s. 'Teller' comes from Middle English 'tellere,' meaning 'one who counts,' from 'tell' in its archaic sense of counting. The first ATM was installed in London in 1967.
ATMs revolutionized banking by making money accessible 24/7, but they also changed our relationship with currency—suddenly money became more abstract, just numbers on a screen. The original ATM inventor, John Shepherd-Barron, got the idea from chocolate vending machines, imagining a machine that could dispense money just as easily as candy.
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