It's the open secret that nobody in government wants to talk about: That cherished presidential signature that's tucked away in a scrapbook or framed for all to see might never have passed under the president's hand。

　　For decades, presidents of both parties have let an autopen do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to scrawling their signatures. The machine was recently put to use signing a bill into law, apparently a first。

　　Overseas and out of reach when lawmakers passed an extension of certain provisions of the Patriot Act, President Barack Obama employed the autopen to sign it, a step the White House has been mum about ever since。

　　"I always heard the autopen was the second most guarded thing in the White House after the president," says Jack Shock, who had permission to wield former President Bill Clinton's autopen as his director of presidential letters and messages。

　　Jim Cicconi, who oversaw the use of autopens for President George H.W. Bush, recalls that the plastic signature templates for the machines — yes, there was more than one autopen — would wear out from repeated use。

　　Ronald Reagan had 22 different signature templates, including "Ron," "Dutch" and other iterations, to boost the aura

　　of authenticity surrounding his fake signatures, says Stephen Koschal, an autograph authenticator who two years ago published a guide to presidential autopen signatures。

　　It's not just ordinary Americans who get the autopen treatment。

　　Koschal says he once visited Vice President Dan Quayle's office in the Capitol and spotted a signed photograph from the first President Bush that he said had clearly been autopenned。

　　Obama took the presidential autopen out of the closet and into a new realm。

　　While traveling in Europe last month, Obama directed his staff in Washington to use an autopen to sign into law an extension of certain Patriot Act powers to fight terrorism. The legislation had been approved by Congress at the last minute, and there was no time to fly it to France for Obama's signature before the anti-terrorism powers expired。

　　It was believed to be the first time a president has used an autopen to sign legislation. Autopen signatures generally are reserved for more personalized correspondence that doesn't score a real signature, say officials from administrations past。

　　这是美国政府内部一个“公开的秘密”，但没有人愿意谈及：很多人收藏在剪贴簿，或者装裱起来供众人欣赏的总统签名可能是自动签名机代劳的。

　　几十年以来，两党各总统在需要完成繁重的签名任务时，自动签名机就派上了用场。不久前，自动签名机还被用于签署一项法案，这在美国历史上还属首次。

　　美国国会近日通过一项法案，涉及扩大部分《爱国者法》所设权力。但奥巴马当时身处海外，于是下令用自动签名机替他签署法案。白宫对此事一直闭口不谈。

　　曾经替前总统克林顿“执掌”自动签名机的总统信件信息主管杰克•肖克说：“自动签名机在白宫内受保护程度排在第二位，仅次于总统。”

　　据前总统老布什的自动签名机使用负责人吉姆•西科尼回忆，自动签名机不止一台，由于重复使用，机器的塑料签字模板很容易损耗。

　　笔迹鉴定者史蒂芬•柯什尔两年前出版了一本关于总统使用自动签名机签名的指南。他称前总统罗纳德•里根有22个不同的签名模版，包括包括“Ron”，“Dutch”，以及其它类似的签名等等，以增加“假签名”的真实感。

　　获赠自动签名机签名的不仅仅是普通美国人。

　　柯什尔还说，他拜访前副总统丹•奎尔位于国会大厦的办公室时，发现了一张老布什总统赠出的签名照，签名明显是自动签名机写的。

　　奥巴马使总统使用自动签名机的“秘密”公开了，而且引入了新的使用领域。

　　上个月，奥巴马在欧洲访问期间，下令华盛顿的工作人员用自动签名机为他签署《爱国者法案》某些条款的延长决定。因为这些条款在最后时刻才在国会通过，总统如不立即签署生效就会作废。由于奥巴马远在法国，只能求助于自动签名机。

　　据称，总统借用自动签名机签署法案，这在历史上首开先例。美国政府官员曾透露，自动签名机通常用于更加私人化的普通信件，因为它们无需亲笔签名。