CASH REGISTER, an automatic device for recording all transactions handled in retail stores. It is probably the most antique, and yet in its improved form the most modern device known to commerce. More than 6,000 years ago the ancients used a registering device known as the Abacus (q.v.) for the purpose of showing visibly to the buyer and seller the amount purchased.
The modern cash register was invented by Jacob Ritty, of Dayton, Ohio, patented 1879, it being suggested to him by the dial on a steam ship which recorded the number of revolutions of the propeller. The first practical cash regis ter was a crude device which punched holes in a strip of paper. By counting the number of holes the merchant could tell how much money he should have in his cash drawer. The present day cash register is a combination adding ma chine and printing press, which, by its perfect mechanism,provides a record of all transac tions handled. It tells instantly how much busi ness each clerk has done; how many customers each clerk has waited on; who, if anyone, has made a mistake; the total amount of money taken in; the number of charge, received on account and paid out transactions handled. It issues a receipt, which bears printed figures of the amount of the transaction, the initial of the clerk who handled it, the consecutive number of the sale, the kind of sale and the date. In addition, this receipt contains the merchant's name and address, together with any advertis ing he may care to use. Some registers do not issue a receipt, but print the same information on a sales slip inserted in the register. This receipt or slip is wrapped in the package with the goods going to the customer. At the same
time the receipt is issued, the miniature print ing press prints the detail of every transaction that occurs upon a roll of paper locked up in side the register. This gives the proprietor full information concerning every detail of his busi ness, offering him at a glance facts showing the progress of his store, as well as the industry of each clerk.
The object of the cash register is to stop mistakes, remove temptation, eliminate careless ness, increase trade and increase profits. It furnishes information concerning a business which could be obtained in no other way except through a large amount of detail work. It pro tects the money received by providing a correct account of all incoming cash, and accounts for the money paid out, and at the same time pro vides a record of the amount of credit business handled. It not only indicates the amount of each and every transaction, as well as the initial of the clerk who handled it, but at the same time transmits the amount indicated to various sets of adding wheels, and also prints that amount on the receipt going to the customer. A receipt going to the customer bearing printed figures of the transaction makes it necessary to record the correct amount on the register. This ensures the proprietor that he will get an accu rate record of every transaction handled in his business. More than 2,000,000 of these ma chines are in use the world over. See CALCU LATING MACHINES.