One of the questions that many people ask an inventor is, "what was the inspiration for their idea"? In many cases, the answer is similar. They had a problem. They had been inconvenienced, or had a dilemma, and nobody had a solution. Rather than sitting back and leaving the matter to sort itself out, that person decided to take the situation in hand and create their own solution. Such is the tale of the ATM.
Late one evening Mister John Shepherd was laying in his bath pondering the fact that he had missed the bank that morning. Due to the fact that the bank was closed, Mister Shepherd had been forced to ask at a local gas station if they could cash a check for him. Mister Shepherd was upset by the fact that he had been unable to get any cash from the bank itself. He could not understand why it was that a person could get a chocolate bar, or a bag of peanuts, from a vending machine day or night, but could not get any cash. While in the bath one night, Mister Shepherd came up with the concept of building a machine that would work the same as a vending machine operated except that it would allow people to be able to cash checks.