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After the Civil War, as American cities and businesses grew, businessmen increasingly hired strangers to assist customers. It was all too easy for clerks and barkeepers to keep part of the money they received. The cash register, invented by the Ritty brothers of Dayton, Ohio, had a large display to indicate the money customers paid. It also had a locked compartment that tallied total receipts. This is a replica of the Rittys' first machine, which was the basis for a machine they sold called “Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier.”
By 1884, the Rittys were out of business, but their patents were purchased by the National Cash Register Company. NCR made and sold much improved cash registers. By 1904, they were ready to convey the history of their company by constructing this model for exhibition at the St. Louis World's Fair. NCR went on to successfully make not only cash registers and accounting machines but electronic computers.
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Object ID: MA*316700
Division: Division of Information Technology and Communications
Subject(s): Computers & Business Machines
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