The Mechanical Reverse evolved in clearly defined steps. The actual movement of the hand secretly flipping cards over from the fingertips to the palm was published in Henri Decremps' book, Le Testament de Jérôme Sharp, 1785, p. 161 of the Hugard translation, in the context of a Card at Any Number effect. This move used no cards as cover; it was just a secret deck flop. 166 years later, Stewart James published the move with cover — the first modern-day mechanical reverse. He called it the Top Cover Move, which was part of his marketed trick, The Nullifactor, 1951.

Dr. Ronald Wohl later included the now-common pinky wedge break and included it in ​Ibidem, No. 28, Apr. 1963, p. 36 (Wohl's ms. was written between ​April 1957 and March 1958). It wasn’t until Epilogue Special #2, 1975, p. 251, that Ken Krenzel jumped on board and gave it the name we now all use.