History
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The mechanical cash register was invented by James Ritty. James was the owner of a saloon in Dayton, Ohio, USA, and wanted to stop employees from pilfering his profits. On a trip to Europe by ship he made friends with the ship’s engineer, and spent hours in the engine room. There he observed the workings of an automatic device that recorded the revolutions of the ship’s propellers. From this, Ritty imagined he could make a similar device that would record amounts of money passing through the cash drawer. He reputedly cut short his vacation to rush back and begin work on the prototype. Ritty assembled his first cash register in 1879, and patented a second, improved register later that year. He went into business with “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier’ after perfecting a third model.
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Early cash registers were entirely mechanical, without receipts. The employee was required to ring up every transaction on the register, and when the total key was pushed, the drawer opened and a bell would ring, alerting the manager to a sale taking place. Those original machines were nothing more than simple adding machines.
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Shortly after the patent, Ritty became overwhelmed with the responsibilities of running two businesses, so he sold all of his interests in the cash register business to Jacob H. Eckert of Cincinnati, a china and glassware salesman, who formed the National Manufacturing Company. In 1884 Eckert sold the company to John H. Patterson, who renamed the company the National Cash Register Company and improved the cash register by adding a paper roll to record sales. During the period 1888 to 1915 the cash register spread into nearly every retail establishment. This period saw the appearance of the beautiful brass cash registers which were designed to enhance the look of a shop as well as to reduce theft. Finishes included polished brass, nickel-plate, antique copper and even silver and gold plate. Brass dominated the National Cash Register Company line, which grew to represent 95% of the total market and the company owned the largest brass foundry in the world during that period.
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World War I (1914-18) marked the end of the antique era for cash registers. There was a definite turning point after the war when mechanics were no longer a fascination. Their creators were no longer interested in adding to their cost in order to achieve beauty of form along with function. After 1915 National Cash Registers continued to dominate the market. Their machines were universally accepted as the best made but the designs from then on were far more functional and their outer casings were mostly made of flat metal. Despite this, the mechanics inside the National machines remained the “Rolls Royce” of all cash registers which is why many of them remain operational even up to today.
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