Editing Cash register (section)

==History==
[[Image:Cmnational1.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Antique crank-operated cash register, with display showing money in [[French franc]]s and [[centime]]s]]
An early mechanical cash register was invented by [[James Ritty]] and John Birch following the [[American Civil War]]. James was the owner of a [[Bar (establishment)|saloon]] in [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], [[Ohio]], US, and wanted to stop employees from pilfering his profits.<ref>[http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_694231 Cash and Credit Registers], National Museum of American History.</ref> The Ritty Model I was invented in 1879 after seeing a tool that counted the revolutions of the propeller on a steamship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=98 |title=Replica of the Ritty Model 1 Cash Register |publisher=[[National Museum of American History]] |access-date=April 7, 2009}}</ref> With the help of James' brother John Ritty, they patented it in 1879.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ritty.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030302043931/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/ritty.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2003-03-02 |title=Inventor of the Week: Archive |publisher=[[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] |date=April 2002 |access-date=April 7, 2009}}</ref> It was called ''Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier'' and it was invented to stop cashiers from pilfering and eliminate employee theft and [[embezzlement]].<ref>{{cite book |first= Gordon |last= Kerr |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IJCVgTGfxf0C&q=%22Incorruptible%20Cashier%22&pg=PT210 |title= Book of Firsts |publisher= RW Press |year= 2013|isbn= 9781909284296 }}</ref>

Early mechanical 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 but simple adding machines. For example, the Rittys’ patent application filed in 1879 for their “improved cash register” describes the device as follows: “The machine consists, essentially, of an inclosed case or frame provided with an index dial and indicator operated by a system of levers or keys and connected with a series of co-operating disks marked with numbers on their peripheries, a row of which numbers are disclosed by a transverse opening or openings in the case to show at a glance the sum-total of cash receipts.” <ref> {{Cite web
	| url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US221360A
	| title = Improvement in Cash Register and Indicator
	| website = Google Patents
	| publisher = IFI Claims Patent Services
	| access-date = 2024-12-18
}} </ref>

Since the registration is done with the process of returning change, according to [[Bill Bryson]] [[odd pricing]] came about because by charging odd amounts like 49 and 99 cents (or 45 and 95 cents when [[Nickel (United States coin)|nickels]] are more used than [[pennies]]), the cashier very probably had to open the till for the penny change and thus announce the sale.<ref name="Bryson">{{cite book|title=Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States|last=Bryson|first=Bill|publisher=William Morrow Paperbacks|year=1994|isbn=978-0380713813|pages=[https://archive.org/details/madeinamericainf00brys/page/114 114–115]|author-link=Bill Bryson|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/madeinamericainf00brys/page/114}}</ref>

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 [[NCR Corporation|National Cash Register]] Company and improved the cash register by adding a paper roll to record sales transactions, thereby creating the [[General journal|journal]] for internal [[bookkeeping]] purposes, and the [[receipt]] for external bookkeeping purposes. The original purpose of the receipt was enhanced fraud protection. The business owner could read the receipts to ensure that cashiers charged customers the correct amount for each transaction and did not embezzle the cash drawer.<ref>{{cite news |title= Tale of the Tape: Retailers Take Receipts to Great Lengths |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |last1= Brat |first1= Ilan |last2= Zimmerman |first2= Ann |date= September 2, 2009 |page= A1 |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125175363135673825 |access-date= September 2, 2009}}</ref> It also prevents a customer from defrauding the business by falsely claiming receipt of a lesser amount of change or a transaction that never happened in the first place. The first evidence of an actual cash register was used in Coalton, Ohio, at the old mining company.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 1906, while working at the National Cash Register company, inventor [[Charles F. Kettering]] designed a cash register with an electric motor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Who Invented the Cash Register? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/cash-register-james-ritty-4070920 |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>

A leading designer, builder, manufacturer, seller and exporter of cash registers from the 1950s until the 1970s was [[London]]-based (and later [[Brighton]]-based<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__5836.aspx |title=Forum relating to the manufacturing activities at the Hollingbury industrial estate, Brighton, during 1960s. |access-date=July 21, 2009}}</ref>) Gross Cash Registers Ltd.,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/gross.html |title=Gross Cash Registers pictures and company history  |access-date=July 21, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://clp.bbcrewind.co.uk/44b4ea3a4e678e06c30e942de950a80e|title=Gross Cash Registers|publisher=[[BBC]]|year=1980}}</ref> founded by brothers Sam and Henry Gross. Their cash registers were particularly popular around the time of [[decimalisation]] in Britain in early 1971, Henry having designed one of the few known models of cash register which could switch currencies from [[£sd]] to £p so that retailers could easily change from one to the other on or after [[decimal day|Decimal Day]]. Sweda also had decimal-ready registers where the retailer used a special key on Decimal Day for the conversion.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}