An autopen is a machine used for the automatic signing of a signature. The reason for employing an autopen is typically emotive, intending to form a compromise between making every signature by hand, and printing a reproduction of the signature, which is perceived as impersonal by the recipient.
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The first autopens were developed by an Englishman named John Isaac Hawkins. Hawkins received a United States patent for his device in 1803. In 1804, Thomas Jefferson began using the device extensively.[1] This early device was known at the time as a polygraph (an abstracted version of the pantograph) and bears little resemblance to today's autopens in design or operation.[2] The modern autopen called the Robot Pen was developed in the 1930s and became commercially available in 1937 (used as a storage unit device, similar in principle to how vinyl records store information) to record a signers signature. A small segment of the record could be removed and stored elsewhere to prevent misuse. The machine would then be able to mass produce a template signature when needed. [3]
Harry Truman is believed to have been the first United States President to use the autopen as a way of responding to mail and signing checks. Autopen devices are used today by politicians and fundraisers to sign letters to constituents written by administrative assistants and clerical staff, and by other famous people to sign autographs. A company named Studio Fanmail uses autopens to reproduce celebrity autographs onto pictures of celebrities.
On May 27, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama became the first president to use an autopen to sign a bill into law.[4] While visiting France, he authorized the use of an autopen to create his signature which signed into law an extension of three key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.[5] Republican leaders have raised questions as to whether this use of the Autopen meets the Constitutional requirement for signing a bill into law.[6]
The first step in using an autopen machine is to have a metal "matrix" of the signature made. This matrix is then loaded into the machine and signing can then commence.
Further developing the class of devices known as autopens, Canadian author Margaret Atwood created a device called the Longpen, which allows audio and video conversation between the fan and author while a book is being signed remotely.