Abstract: A smear test machine for diagnosing problems associated with reader sorters used to process documents having magnetic ink characters printed thereon includes read heads which are closely juxtaposed to a document transport subsystem adapted to move the document past the read head a preselected number of times as controlled by a solenoid-operated gate.

Abstract: This magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) character coating system makes use of the application of an inexpensive lubricant that is selectively applied to the document, solely in the area where the MICR characters are printed. The lubricant of choice used in this apparatus is sodium stearate (soap). The lubricating apparatus includes a pair of rollers, between which the printed documents are fed. One of the rollers is a drive roller that advances the documents. Opposite of and spring loaded against the drive roller is a free running lubricating roller that is manufactured from a solid lubricant, which lubricating roller is of length equal to the length of the MICR character field that is printed on the document. In the printing of the document, a sensor mark is printed on the document and is used to indicate the beginning of the MICR character field.