NCR Mechanical Cash Registers & Cash Register Mechanisms

A selection of cash registers exemplifying their technological development from 1878 until 1970.

From the 1890s through at least the introduction of electronic cash registers, National Cash Register Company dominated American sales of cash registers. The Ohio-based company had substantial foreign sales as well. It produced a wide range of products, tailored to suit the tastes and budgets of stores that differed widely in clientele. The firm expanded over the years to produce bookkeeping machines, adding machines, and electronic computers.

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Ritty Model 1 Cash Register, Possibly a Replica

After the Civil War, as American cities and businesses grew, business owners increasingly hired strangers to assist customers. At the time, it was all too easy for clerks and barkeepers to keep part of the money they received.
Description
After the Civil War, as American cities and businesses grew, business owners increasingly hired strangers to assist customers. At the time, 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 sums customers paid. It also had a locked compartment that tallied total receipts. This is the Rittys' first machine, or an early replica of it. It was the basis for a commercial product 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 showing this model at the St. Louis World's Fair. NCR went on to successfully make not only cash registers and accounting machines but electronic computers.
date made
ca 1904
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.316700
accession number
225455
catalog number
316700

National Cash Register, Model 79

This large, nickel-plated, manually operated cash register is an NCR Model 79. It has three columns of keys for entering numbers, and a fourth column of function keys. The operating crank is on the right side, the cash drawer is below, and a receipt dispenser on the left side.
Description
This large, nickel-plated, manually operated cash register is an NCR Model 79. It has three columns of keys for entering numbers, and a fourth column of function keys. The operating crank is on the right side, the cash drawer is below, and a receipt dispenser on the left side. Pop-up indicators above the keys indicate the total purchase. The Model 79 was introduced by NCR in 1892, this example dates from 1894. Principles introduced with this cash register would prove important on numerous later NCR cash registers. For a model of part of the mechanism of this machine, see MA.316703.
Reference:
Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press (1990), pp. 157–169.
date made
1894
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.316701
accession number
225455
catalog number
316701

National Cash Register, Model 1054X-6

This cash register has a wooden frame covered with brass and a metal mechanism. It has four columns of keys for entering amounts, an operating button, five function keys, a paper tape, a cash drawer, and pop-up indicators.Above the keys is a locked door.
Description
This cash register has a wooden frame covered with brass and a metal mechanism. It has four columns of keys for entering amounts, an operating button, five function keys, a paper tape, a cash drawer, and pop-up indicators.
Above the keys is a locked door. Lifting it reveals counters for numbers of customers and amounts spent. This is National Cash Register Company’s model 1054X-6, with serial number 1703570. It dates from 1919.
date made
1919
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.319500
accession number
238759
catalog number
319500

National Cash Register, Class 51

In the 1950s Americans increasingly bought groceries in supermarkets, which served large numbers of customers. Consumers selected their own goods, and took them to a clerk who rang up sales.
Description
In the 1950s Americans increasingly bought groceries in supermarkets, which served large numbers of customers. Consumers selected their own goods, and took them to a clerk who rang up sales. To make transactions as efficient as possible, the National Cash Register Company introduced machines that dispensed coins automatically, avoiding time and errors associated with making change. This change-making cash register went on the market in 1954, with a new model in 1958. This example was given to the Smithsonian by NCR in 1959, on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the company.
Reference:
Accession file.
date made
1959
maker
National Cash Register Company
ID Number
MA.316702
accession number
225455
catalog number
316702

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