Computers & Business Machines
Imagine the loss, 100 years from now, if museums hadn't begun preserving the artifacts of the computer age. The last few decades offer proof positive of why museums must collect continuously—to document technological and social transformations already underway.
The museum's collections contain mainframes, minicomputers, microcomputers, and handheld devices. Computers range from the pioneering ENIAC to microcomputers like the Altair and the Apple I. A Cray2 supercomputer is part of the collections, along with one of the towers of IBM's Deep Blue, the computer that defeated reigning champion Garry Kasparov in a chess match in 1997. Computer components and peripherals, games, software, manuals, and other documents are part of the collections. Some of the instruments of business include adding machines, calculators, typewriters, dictating machines, fax machines, cash registers, and photocopiers
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St. Louis Cash Register
- Description
- This cash register has a wooden case with glass-covered pop-up indicator numbers at the back. A metal lever that moves laterally across the front of the machine points to multiples of 5 from 5 to 95. On the right is an auxiliary lever for indicating amounts from 0 cents to 4 cents. On the left is another auxiliary lever for indicating 0, 1, or 2 dollars, hence the cash register indicates amounts up to $2.99. When the pointer-lever is depressed, the dollar, multiple of 5 cents, and 0 cent to 4 cent amounts are indicated on separate indicators at the back of the machine.
- A window in the front of the machine is above the scale for the pointer. It is supposed to be covered with a shutter which can be opened only with a lock and key, keeping a secure record of transactions. No lock or key is evident.
- The wooden cash drawer has six compartments for coins and three for paper bills. A spring at the back of the drawer keeps it in place.
- The Model 106 is not listed in McCarthy in 1924, although other St. Louis cash registers are. The company is not mentioned in the 1928 edition of the book.
- References:
- Richard R. Crandell and Sam Robbins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press Ltd., 1990, pp. 80–84, 319, 320.
- James H. McCarthy, The American Digest of Business Machines, Chicago, 1924, pp.160–162, 585.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1915
- maker
- St. Louis Cash Register Company, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1982.0735.01
- catalog number
- 1982.0735.01
- accession number
- 1982.0735
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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National Cash Register, Model 313
- Description
- This 1913 National Cash Register Company cash register has an ornate brass exterior with a marble plate above the cash drawer. In addition to the wooden cash drawer and pop-up indicators at the top, the machine had two rows of keys. Keys in the top row are numbered 90, 70, 50, 35, 25, 15,and 5 (the rightmost key is missing a label). Keys in the bottom row are labeled $1, 80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 10 (the rightmost key is missing a label). Inside a locked compartment above the keys is a register that reads dollars and cents up to $9999.99, a four-digit customer counter, and a two-digit no sale counter. The machine has no mechanism to assist the clerk in adding up totals for individual sales and no paper tape to serve as a receipt. It has serial number 1265603.
- By this time, aggressive sales tactics, numerous acquisitions, and frequent lawsuits had won NCR dominance in the cash register market. The firm also trained numerous young executives, including Thomas J. Watson. When the U.S. government found NCR in violation of antitrust law, several of these executives, including Watson, were fired. Watson was soon hired by the Computing Tabulating Machine Company of Endicott, New York, becoming the president of a firm that soon was known as IBM.
- References:
- Cortada, James. Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created. 1865-1956, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
- Crandall, Robert L. and Sam Robins. The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. II, Vestal, N.Y.: The Vestal Press, 1990.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.333754
- accession number
- 302254
- catalog number
- 333754
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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National Cash Register, Model 1054X-6
- 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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National Cash Register, Size 45
- Description
- The National Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, expanded rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It soon offered not only registers that kept digital records of transactions, but so-called autographic registers that simply allowed one to maintain written records of sales. This example consists of an oak box with a hinged lid, an opening in the lid that reveals a paper tape on which sales may be recorded, and a cash drawer. The decoration at the back of the register, the frame around the paper tape, and the handle on the door are of brass.
- The National Size 45 autographic register sold in 1908 for $20.00. For related documentation see 1987.0751.03 and 1987.0751.04.
- Reference: Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1990, pp. 304–315, esp. 312.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- maker
- National Cash Register Company
- ID Number
- 1987.0751.01
- accession number
- 1987.0751
- catalog number
- 1987.0751.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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McCaskey Credit Register
- Description
- The McCaskey Credit Register Company of Alliance, Ohio, was in business from 1903 until its acquisition by the Victor Adding Machine Company in 1953. It manufactured a variety of devices to assist in accounting, including this one for keeping track of the accounts of customers.
- The instrument is made of ferrous metal, painted black. The outside frame holds eight panels or leaves that rest vertically but may be opened out horizontally. The back of the front leaf and the front of the second are divided to allow an alphabetic index of the later leaves, with small paper slips giving the names of customers and a number for each name. The back of the second leaf, the front and back of the third through seventh leaves, and the front of the eighth leaf are divided into compartments, each of which has a clamp to hold the sales slips in place. These compartments are numbered from 1 to 200. Patent dates listed on the front of the machine range from October 10, 1899, to February 4, 1913.
- A mark on the front of the machine reads: The McCASKEY (/) McCASKEY SYSTEMS (/) THE McCASKEY REGISTER CO. (/) ALLIANCE, OHIO. A mark on a metal tab on the borrom of the inside of the front reads: 110831. A mark on a small slip on the first panel reads: 68 - York Springs Fire Co. A mark on a small slip on the second panel reads: Huntington Township. York Springs is a town in Adams County (near Gettysburg), Pennsylvania. The town of Huntington is the county seat of Huntington County, Pennsylvania.
- Reference:
- Rand-McNally Library Atlas, 1912.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1913
- maker
- McCaskey Register Company
- ID Number
- 1989.0186.01
- accession number
- 1989.0186
- catalog number
- 1989.0186.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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McCaskey Credit Register
- Description
- The McCaskey Register Company of Alliance, Ohio, manufactured systems for keeping track of accounts and credit registers from its organization in 1903 until its purchase by Victor Adding Machine Company in 1953. The firm was started by Perry A. McCaskey, a grocer in Lisbon, Ohio, who took out a patent May 19, 1896, for a “bill and account file” (#560523). He also patented a more complex “credit-accounting appliance” on December 30, 1902 (#717247). McCaskey contiinued to assign patents to the McCaskey Register Company through 1907, although ownership of the firm passed to others and several other inventors contributed to the product.
- This particular machine combines a system for keeping accounts with a cash drawer. It has a wooden base with a wooden roll-top cover. A slatted panel designed for holding credit slips fits over the cash drawer and a piece of glass that fits over the panel. A silver-colored metal compartment is on the front of the cash drawer, with five buttons at the top. A bell is at the back on the inside.
- McCaskey patents describe a system of credit slips that fit on bill-holders in the back of the machine. This machine has no bill-holders or slips.
- The donor dated this machine to 1893. However, it was made after the McCaskey Register Company was founded in 1903 and resembles McCaskey’s 1907 patent, hence the later date assigned.
- References:
- P. A. McCaskey, “Credit-Accounting Appliance,” U.S. Patent 717247, December 30, 1902.
- Craig Bara and Lyle Crist, Alliance, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Press, 1998, 29.
- Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1990, pp. 318–319.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1910
- maker
- McCaskey Register Company
- ID Number
- MA.336597
- accession number
- 1977.0174
- catalog number
- 336597
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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