John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of ATM, dies at 84

LONDON - John Shepherd-Barron, the Scotsman credited with inventing the world's first automated teller machine, has died after an illness. He was 84.

Shepherd-Barron died peacefully in northern Scotland's Raigmore Hospital on Saturday, funeral director Alasdair Rhind said Wednesday.

Shepherd-Barron once said that he came up with the idea after being locked out of his bank. He also said that his invention was inspired by chocolate vending machines.

"It struck me there must be a way I could get my own money, anywhere in the world or the U.K.," he said in an interview with the BBC in 2007. "I hit upon the idea of a chocolate bar dispenser, but replacing chocolate with cash."

The first ATM was installed at a branch of Barclays Plc in a north London suburb on June 27, 1967. Plastic bank cards had not been invented yet, so Shepherd-Barron's machine used special checks that were chemically coded. Customers placed the checks in a drawer, and after entering a personal identification number, a second drawer would spring open with a 10-pound note.

Shepherd-Barron originally planned to make PINs six digits long, but cut the number to four after his wife, Caroline, complained that six was too many.

There are now more than 1.7 million ATMs across the globe, according to the ATM Industry Association.