Chubb ATM 1967

ATM cards began in mid 1967 with a new device (the MD1), based on the invention of Mr. James Goodfellow (pictured right), and manufactured by Chubb integrated systems. The Chubb machines were the first in the world to use an actual card, read by a machine. These machines had a number of security features intrinsic to the card design. Chubb ATM collection
Westminster Bank were the first, and issued cards to account holders in London, who could use a single card to withdraw 10 pounds. See the video: Chubb MD1 1967
Mr. Goodfellow, a customer of the Royal Bank of Scotland, informs us that the cards issued by RBOS, dispensed 5 pounds. Guess things were more expensive in England?
The real reason is that the banks came to their own decisions as to how much cash the dispensed packets would contain. BNP (National Bank of Paris) in France dispensed 250FF, whereas the Marseillaise Credit Society set 200FF as the dispensed amount.

Small Biography

Mr. James Goodfellow was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 1937. While still a teenager, he became an apprentice for Renfrew Electrical & Radio Engineers. By his mid 20’s he was working as a development engineer in Glasgow at the Smiths Electronics division, Kelvin Hughes.

In 1965, The General manager of Kelvin, asked Mr. Goodfellow to develop an automatic cash dispenser. He designed a system that allowed customers to use machine-readable encrypted cards and to manually enter pin codes to access the card.

His cash machine patent was applied for on May 2, 1966. Mr. Goodfellow’s machines were physically developed and branded by Chubb Lock & Safe Co., and were initially installed at Westminster Bank branches.

Another machine was being developed around the same time from the invention of Mr. John Shepherd-Barron, and maufactured by De La Rue. These machines however used a cheque / voucher printed using carbon 14 to verify the voucher. Today, we have NO voucher operated ATMs, but the card operated ATM machine is everywhere.

as a side note, Mr. Shepherd-Barron never patented his invention. The card and PIN technology invented by James Goodfellow still affects our daily lives today.

westminster_firstatm2  martins_bank_chubbatm_1967
Martins Bank followed quickly, installing 3 of the MD1, before being merged with Barclays Bank.
Royal Bank of Scotland issued cards were set up to dispense 5 pounds.

We are looking for examples of a number of different UK banks, as well as other countries. Martins bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Williams and Glyn's are a few of the known UK banks, but also the Australian, Venezuela, Angola, Brasil cards.
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ABOUT THE CARDS

The card was MBCD punched (modified binary coded decimal) with account information, and first punch holes on the leading edge to initiate card insertion. The customer also used a 6 digit verification PIN (also proprietary to Mr. James Goodfellow) before cash was dispensed. The card was retained for manual debiting the next banking day by staff of the bank. Banks did not have the equipment initially to read the card information, so in the early stages, the account holder and sort code numbers were hand written, or printed on the reverse.
Interestingly, while the PIN was initially 6 digits, after assessing the customer risk, it was reduced to 4 digits on ATM systems like Chubb MD range. A compromise, in keeping with the memory limitations of the average human mind.
A Chubb made machine (MD1) installed by the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney, appeared in central Sydney in 1969. This was the first cash machine installed in Australia. People could only receive AUD $25 in one fixed transaction and the card was returned to the user later, after the bank had processed the withdrawal. A 1969 Today Tonight current affairs news report is excellent to watch:
ATM Australia  australia_chubb2

Chubb installed machines (under company Ducerf) for Societe Marseillaise De Credit, which dispensed 200FF. This is likely 1968-1969 using the MD1 device. BNP (Banque Nationale de Paris) also issued cards for a 250FF fixed amount.
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Chubb was also active in Brasil for some years with the MD machines, this card showing the MD3 as the current model in use most likely 1970-71.
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INSTRUCTION BOOKLET (Societe Marseillaise De Credit)
Thanks to our friend Markus Gleich, who generously allowed us to swap this original instruction booklet from his personal collection. Hope to get the time to enter the translation, or obtain an English booklet.