ATMs are devices for processing information. These machines are used to dispense and receive money, pay for services, pay off loans, and other transactions.

In this article, you will learn about the design and useful features of ATMs.

ATM design

External components of an ATM:

• hull;
• monitor;
• keypad for code entry;
• card reader;
• bill acceptor;
• observation camera;
• printer.

Internal ATM components:

• a safe with dispensers and cassettes, which is a cash vault;
• the system of rollers for receiving and dispensing cash;
• the “brains”: motherboard, processor and power supply unit.

Interesting facts about ATMs

• A limited number of banknotes – per transaction ATMs issue from 35 till 110 banknotes.
• Not all ATMs work 24 hours a day – for example, in Japan there are a large number of ATMs that work only during the day (because the night profit from the operation of the devices does not cover the cost of their maintenance and security).
• A certain number of cash cassettes – as a rule, an ATM has 4-6 cassettes configured for a particular banknote, each of which holds approximately 2.5 thousand banknotes.
• An ATM has a small cull cassette – it holds glued bills and banknotes that users have not picked up from the cash withdrawal slot.
• ATMs can freeze – a standard outdoor machine is fully protected against moisture, but is sensitive to cold and may stop functioning perfectly at temperatures below 15 °C.
• ATMs use matrix and thermal printers – whereby the paper tape for receipts is located in spools (usually 2,000 to 5,000 receipts per spool).

Important: There is false information on the Internet that a mirror PIN code can save from robbers. This claim appeared after 1994, when Joseph Singer, an American lawyer, suggested that entering numbers in reverse sequence would be an alarm signal for banks and police. However, the idea of a mirror PIN was never implemented, because in this case the cardholder would have to enter the value of the code somewhere to further enter the information into the ATM.