From: Andy Baracco 
Subject: Re: Unseen feature on new $20s may someday help the blind  
warded
I thought the blind population in the U. S. was closer to one million.
When I wrote my Masters degree thesus in 1975, I had to research this, and
at that time the number was given at about 500,000.
Andy Baracco
On Wed, 20 May 1998, David Andrews wrote:
> 
> 
> >
> > WASHINGTON (AP) -- The new $20 bill the Treasury Department is
> >introducing will include an invisible feature officials hope will lead to 
the
> >development of inexpensive, pocket-size, money-reading machines for
> >the blind.
> >
> > Such talking machines exist now, but they're expensive, retailing for
> >nearly $400 -- a lot of money to a blind person living on Supplemental
> >Security Income.
> >
> > The current generation of bill readers essentially are minicomputers.
> >They identify bills by recognizing light and dark patterns. Each time the
> >government redesigns a bill, as it began doing in 1996 with the $100 note,
> >the machines must be reprogrammed to recognize both the old and new
> >designs.
> >
> > The challenge to researchers at the Treasury Department's Bureau of
> >Engraving and Printing was to come up with a feature that could be read
> >by a less expensive machine, wouldn't cost the government a lot to add
> >to currency, and wouldn't be affected by future redesigns.
> >
> > "Once someone had this detector, they wouldn't have to constantly have
> >them reprogrammed or replaced," said a department official, who spoke
> >on condition of anonymity.
> >
> > He and other officials declined to reveal details of the feature, citing
> >security concerns. Although it's primarily aimed at bill readers for the
> >blind, it also could be used by future automatic teller machines and
> >vending machines.
> >
> > A source familiar with the new $20s said a finger-width strip on the back
> >of the bill will be printed with an ink that seems to disappear when
> >exposed to infrared light. The strip will be in a different position on 
each
> >denomination. Under natural light, it will be impossible to tell the bills
> are
> >printed with two green inks.
> >
> > "This adds virtually nothing to the cost of currency. It doesn't add
> >manufacturing steps. It didn't cost money to develop," the Treasury
> >official said.
> >
> > Another advantage is the infrared-sensitive strip won't interfere with
> >vending and ATM machines relying on existing bill-identification
> >techniques.
> >
> > "We have a huge deployed base of equipment," said Kawika Daguio of
> >the American Bankers Association. "As long as they don't do anything to
> >invalidate that base of equipment, we don't mind."
> >
> > Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
> >Greenspan plan to unveil the design of the new $20 at a news
> >conference on Wednesday. Like the new $100 and $50 before it, the $20
> >also will be updated with a variety of anti-counterfeiting features.
> >
> > Among them: an enlarged, off-center portrait, a watermark in the shape
> >of the portrait, an embedded polymer security thread that glows under
> >ultraviolet light and a numeral printed in color-shifting ink.
> >
> > Treasury officials plan to include the infrared strip in redesigns 
lanned
> >for bills with smaller denominations and in subsequent issues of the
> >redesigned $50 and $100.
> >
> > This is the first feature added to American money specifically to help 
he
> >nation's 200,000 blind people. Just as the redesigned $50 did, the new
> >$20 will include an enlarged numeral surrounded by blank space. That's
> >to assist the 3.5 million Americans with impaired vision.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--=_07535ED6.2544283A--
> >
> >
> >
> >
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