Electronic Cash Registers and Point-of-Sale Terminals

Some of these devices simply combined a printing electronic calculator with a cash drawer.  More elaborate registers not only tracked accumulated receipts, like a traditional cash register, but handled credit card transactions and allowed clerks to scan merchandise to read off prices. These, in turn, served as input for computer systems.

The Regitel is an early point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash register.
Description
The Regitel is an early point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash register. Such terminals capture information about sales for computer processing.
The device was made by the American Regitel Corporation and installed as a part of a networked system in department stores across the nation. The networks communicated over telephone systems at 9600 baud, which was extremely fast for the time period.
A mark on the front reads: REGITEL. A mark on tape on the bottom of the machine reads: Theresa 3-22-71.
For related documentation, see 2002.0091.02 through 2002.0091.06.
American Regitel Corporation was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1968. The firm was acquired by Motorola in 1970.
References:
Accession file.
Auerbach Publishers, Snapshot of Point-of-Sale Systems, Pennsauken, N.J.: Auerbach Publishers, 1978, p. 11.
Creative Strategies Internaional, Retail Automation to 1983, San Jose: Creative Strategies International, 1980, esp. p. 109.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
maker
American Regitel Corporation
ID Number
2002.0091.01
accession number
2002.0091
catalog number
2002.0091.01
This yellow-tinted electronic cash register sits atop an off-white cash drawer. It has black keyboard keys, a printer for receipts, and a red digital display. The key that opens the cash drawer is missing.A mark on the left front reads: CHECK-A-TRON.
Description
This yellow-tinted electronic cash register sits atop an off-white cash drawer. It has black keyboard keys, a printer for receipts, and a red digital display. The key that opens the cash drawer is missing.
A mark on the left front reads: CHECK-A-TRON. The machine has serial number 4500032. Stanley Hayman Business Machines stickers are on the front and the back.
Check-A-Tron began selling an American-built electronic cash register in 1975. In 1977 it introduced the MICROS electronic cash register/point-of-sale terminal. The firm also distributed Sanyo cash registers made in Japan. According to a mark on this machine, it was assembled in the United States. By 1983 Check-A-Tron Corporation was out of the cash register business entirely.
Reference:
Creative Strategies Internaional, Retail Automation to 1983, San Jose: Creative Strategies International, 1980, esp. p. 116.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
Check-A-Tron Corporation
ID Number
2002.0281.03
accession number
2002.0281
catalog number
2002.0281.03

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.