A magnetic stripe card carries a band of iron-based magnetic material bonded to a plastic card, on which data is encoded and later read by swiping the card through a reader that senses changes in the stripe's magnetic field. IBM engineer Forrest Parry developed the technique of permanently laminating a magnetic stripe onto a plastic card in 1960 while building a security-badge system for a United States government client, reportedly fusing the stripe to the card with his wife's clothes iron after adhesive alone failed. The technology was adopted widely over the following decades for credit and debit cards, transit tickets and hotel keycards, before contactless and chip-based cards began to replace it.
Facts
SignificanceBecame the standard carrier for credit, debit, gift, stored-value, hotel key and identification cards until newer chip and contactless technologies began to replace it. 1 FAQs
Who suggested using an iron to attach the stripe to the card?
Parry's wife Dorothea is said to have suggested the iron after he struggled to attach the tape without damaging it.
IBM engineer Forrest Parry needed a way to attach magnetic tape to a plastic card without damaging the tape, and he struggled to find a good method. According to a widely told story, his wife Dorothea suggested using a laundry iron to bond the stripe to the plastic. The account is a popular story rather than a fully documented record, so it is best read as the traditional explanation of how the problem was solved.
Sources
1. Forrest Parry, Wikipedia
Career, first sentence
In 1960, while at IBM, Parry invented the magnetic stripe card for use by the U.S. Government.
Career, sentence on uses of magnetic stripes
Magnetic stripes are used on credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, stored-value cards, hotel keycards, and security identification badges, though they are being phased out in favor of other means of digital identification, such as QR codes and NFC chips and apps.
View the SourceWikipedia, Automatic Identification and Data Capture (source)
In Group: Automatic Identification and Data Capture, Lead states AIDC includes magnetic stripes among its technologiesView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.