What an Auto-pen Machine looks like! :)
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 11:06 pm
Okay, so I know a lot of people in the past want to know what an auto-pen machine is. well I came across a photo of one today! It's pretty simple concept. The process of creating an autopen signature is as follows--a celebrity signs his/her name once on a sheet of paper, and a pattern or template is created for the machine at the Autopen company. When the template is installed, the Autopen machine is then able to recreate the autograph. The item to be "autographed" is inserted under the arm, the motor is turned on, and the pen moves according to the matrix design. The signature that is produced is identical to the celebrity’s own signature, but it now can be produced at a rate of hundreds per hour by a secretary. Since the resulting signature is in the handwriting of the celebrity and is drawn with an actual pen, the only sure way to tell if a signature is an Autopen is to compare it to a known sample of the pattern.
There are several tips that may enable one to suspect that a signature is an Autopen. Look for these signs:
a shaky signature, which indicates movement while the machine is in operation
a light signature, especially one that does not have variation in pressure as seen by an indentation in the paper when viewed in the proper light
abrupt pen stops
a “drawn†look to the signature
Other mechanical devices have been used that are similar to the Autopen. Thomas Jefferson invented a machine called the polygraph, which was a pen attached to a framework onto which other pens were attached, enabling the user to sign many documents at once. Harry Truman used a later incarnation of this machine to sign checks in the 1930's. In the 1970's there was another machine in use called the "SignaSigner" which enabled full pages of text to be mass-produced, but fortunately the company that made it went quickly out of business. Jimmy Carter reportedly was a user of the SignaSigner.
RYAN J.
There are several tips that may enable one to suspect that a signature is an Autopen. Look for these signs:
a shaky signature, which indicates movement while the machine is in operation
a light signature, especially one that does not have variation in pressure as seen by an indentation in the paper when viewed in the proper light
abrupt pen stops
a “drawn†look to the signature
Other mechanical devices have been used that are similar to the Autopen. Thomas Jefferson invented a machine called the polygraph, which was a pen attached to a framework onto which other pens were attached, enabling the user to sign many documents at once. Harry Truman used a later incarnation of this machine to sign checks in the 1930's. In the 1970's there was another machine in use called the "SignaSigner" which enabled full pages of text to be mass-produced, but fortunately the company that made it went quickly out of business. Jimmy Carter reportedly was a user of the SignaSigner.
RYAN J.
As much as I dislike autopen signatures it's cool to how how they actually operate and function. I'd like to find a more in-depth video on these.