How Does MICR Technology Work?
According to TroyGroup.com, checks and other financial documents have special characters printed on them using Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). Using MICR technology allows checks to be read by specially designed machines in large numbers at high speed.
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History
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Troy reports that in 1958 the American Bankers Association (ABA) approved the use of E-13B MICR technology. Alongside the use of MICR, special characters were designed to be placed at the bottom of financial documents.
MICR
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Elfring Fonts explains that MICR technology is used to read checks at high speeds, so the characters must be positioned at a specific point on the check or document to allow it to be read by machine. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has introduced procedures for placement of MICR characters and the toner signal strength. For example, each MICR character must occupy one-eighth of an inch.
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Toner
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The toner or ink used for MICR printed documents is magnetically charged to a specific strength, which allows the characters to be read by an MICR reader. Troy reports that MICR characters contain information regarding the account number and routing information for the check originator.
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