The cash register is an automatic machine that helps keep track of store information and prices. There are two main types of cash registers. One tells the price of each item bought. It prints out a "audit strip", which gives a record of each bought item. A meter adds up the total of the items bought. The amounts can be used in many ways, such as the sales of different departments or different varieties of sales. The second kind of cash register prints a record on what is being bought, but no receipt pops up. Mostly though, one record is given to the customer and the other is kept by the store.

Improvements on the Cash Register

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, several businesses built a better computerized cash register called the "Electric Data Processing Point-of-Scale Terminal". Those kind of registers work faster than mechanical cash registers and can do many other kinds of work. Some registers have an electronic device called a "scanner" which can "read" the products price and other information about it. It has a specially printed code on the product. One kind of code, the "Universal Product Code", has a variety of numbers and an order of bars (lines). Electric cash registers are also able to check a customer’s credit and give an itemized receipt. All that helps keep track of the store’s sales and items.

The Inventor of the Cash Register

James Ritty is the inventor of the Cash Register. Ritty was an American restaurant owner who was born in Dayton, Ohio. During Ritty’s trip to Europe in 1878, he saw a machine for counting the revolution of ship’s propellers. When he returned home he put together a similar machine to keep track of business transactions. In 1879, he and his brother, John built and patented (put together) a gear-operated adding machine. Later on the brothers built an easier paper-punch register. The Ritty’s later sold their business in 1881.

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