Paymaster X-900 Series Ribbon Writer Check Machine - Vintage - With Key

Description

Paymaster X-900 Series Ribbon Writer Check Machine - Vintage - Good Condition. Circa 1950’s, includes key. Missing two lever caps for the two cents digits.
Made By:
The Paymaster Corp., 1811 W. Winnemac Ave., Chicago, IL
“The only way to have the Paymaster system when you NEED it is to have one
all the time
—NOW!”
—
tagline from 1951 Paymaster sales manual
Often kept well out of sight in the backrooms of banks and the HR departments of small businesses, the nearly 15-pound Paymaster X-900 Check Writer had the heft and durability of a small burglary safe. Only, instead of storing cash
in it
, this magical machine
produced
its own money . . .
in a manner of speaking. As the name would suggest, a pull of the Paymaster’s handle activated an internal pressure bar and ink rollers, which then stamped down the monetary value (selected via the levers under “DOLLARS” and “CENTS”) on to an inserted blank check.
Devices like this were the integral conduits through which millions of paychecks and billions of dollars were distributed to workers for much of the mid-to-late 20th century. They were also the best friend of the business owner, as the tiny pin-point perforations the machine created in each check offered a useful defense against fraudsters.
There were several large national manufacturers of check writers (aka check protectors), including Hedman, ,akers of the F&E Check Writer. The biggest name in the business after WWII, however, was the Paymaster Corporation, whose army of freelance salesmen helped put new models like the X-900 in offices from Fort Bragg, California to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Each of those machines was manufactured at Paymaster’s Chicago factory, produced by a dedicated workforce that excelled and bonded with one another in the face of an often unsympathetic, union-busting executive board.
Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.