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Ohio inventions and firsts · Invention · 1879

Cash register (Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier)

Dayton saloon owner James Ritty and his brother John patented a mechanical cash register in 1879 (Ritty Model I). Ritty sold out to Jacob H. Eckert of Cincinnati (National Manufacturing Company); in 1884 John H. Patterson (with brother Frank) took over and renamed it National Cash Register, adding a paper roll.

At a glance

Year
1879
By
James Ritty, John Ritty, John H. Patterson
Company
National Cash Register
Place
Dayton, Montgomery County ZIP 45402 · Dayton · Montgomery County
Patent
US 221,360 US 221,360 (1879, James and John Ritty)

The story

In the 1870s a shopkeeper or saloon owner often worked with a drawer anyone could reach into. If money went missing, the owner could not prove who took it. James Ritty, who ran a saloon in Dayton, suspected his employees were stealing from him.

Ritty had opened his first Dayton saloon in 1871. On a voyage across Europe in 1878, he saw a device on a steamship that counted the turns of the propeller, and he imagined doing the same for sales. With his brother John, a skilled mechanic, he built a machine with a dial and two hands for dollars and cents, and they patented it on November 4, 1879 as a Cash Register and Indicator.

Ritty did not stay in the business long. By 1881 he had sold his interest to investors including Jacob H. Eckert of Cincinnati, who formed the National Manufacturing Company. In 1884 John H. Patterson and his brother Frank took over and renamed it the National Cash Register Company. Patterson added a paper roll that kept a record of sales and gave customers receipts, which helped catch fraud.

The machine kept changing. In 1906 Charles Kettering, then at NCR, designed a register run by an electric motor. Ritty himself opened another Dayton saloon, the Pony House, in 1882, retired from the bar business in 1895, and died in Dayton on March 29, 1918.

Timeline

  • 1871: James Ritty opens his first saloon in Dayton. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1878: On a European steamship trip, Ritty sees a propeller-turn counter that inspires his idea. (at sea) source
  • 1879-11-04: James and John Ritty patent their Cash Register and Indicator. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1881: Ritty sells his interests to investors including Jacob H. Eckert of Cincinnati; the National Manufacturing Company is formed. (Dayton / Cincinnati, OH) source
  • 1884: John H. Patterson takes majority ownership and the firm becomes the National Cash Register Company, adding a paper roll. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1906: Charles Kettering designs a cash register powered by an electric motor. (Dayton, OH) source
  • 1918-03-29: James Ritty dies at his downtown Dayton residence. (Dayton, OH) source

What it changed

  • By 1911 NCR had sold one million machines, employed nearly 6,000 workers and held about 95 percent of the U.S. market, according to the company history page.
  • The paper roll kept an internal record and printed receipts, which made it easier to find fraud.

Why it matters

Prevented clerk theft and created a major Ohio industry.

Worth knowing

Earlier accounts said Patterson bought the business directly from Ritty, but sources show a third owner, Eckert, in between.

Places in Ohio to see

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. High: the main facts were confirmed in sources we opened.