Description: In 1884, John Henry Patterson bought out his fellow investors in the National Manufacturing Company and formed the National Cash Register Company, the predecessor of NCR Corporation. Located in Dayton, Ohio, this company made cash registers. The company grew slowly, producing only sixteen thousand registers in its first decade in operation. Through aggressive marketing and advertising, by 1914, the National Cash Register Company was producing 110,000 cash registers per year. In 1906, the company manufactured the first electric cash register. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B08F03_049_001
Subjects: Cash registers--Ohio--Dayton; National Cash Register Company; Business--Ohio; Science and Technology
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: John H. Patterson founded the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio. Patterson (1844-1922), hoping the machines could save him money by reducing accounting errors in his supply business, purchased the patent rights to the cash register from James Ritty in 1884. Within six months, he reduced his debt and showed a profit. Patterson built the first National Cash Register factory on his family farm in Dayton in 1888. By the turn of the century, the company had become one of the largest employers in Dayton. Known for his strict training program for salespeople and health and education programs for employees, Patterson was closely involved in the daily lives of many of his employees. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F08_028_1
Subjects: Business and Labor; National Cash Register Company; Cash registers
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: Reverse reads in type: "Ritty Cash Register, no cash drawer." In script it reads: "Dayton, Ohio." Photograph is of a Ritty Cash Register. The register has two rows of buttons which are used to tally and record sales. When a transaction was completed, a bell rang on the cash register and the amount was noted on a large dial on the front of the machine. The first cash register was invented by James Ritty following the American Civil War. He was the owner of a saloon in Dayton, Ohio, and wanted to stop employees from pilfering his profits. Ritty and his brother John, a skilled mechanic, began working on a design for such a device. After several failed prototypes, the third design operated by pressing a key that represented a specific amount of money. There was no cash drawer. Instead, it simply recorded the number of sales and also the amount of each one. It was patented in 1883. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_025_1
Subjects: Cash register industry--United States--History; Cash registers--United States--History;
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)