I’ve been hearing the term ‘autopen’ a lot lately, both in reference to the US president’s signature and to collectible autographs, so it made me a little curious about this mysterious device.
Honestly, I was picturing a pen that you held in your hand while it moved on its own across the page, sort of like a Ouija board planchette. Turns out, that’s nothing like the real deal.
An autopen device is a machine with mechanical arms that holds a pen in an upright position. Your signature is encoded onto a plastic card which you insert into the machine. Place a piece of paper, photo, poster, etc. under the pen, start the machine and it will make an amazingly accurate copy of your signature.
