Historedia
Episode 1 of 1

Patent Filing

When
1879-11-04
Where
Dayton, Ohio
Part of
Ritty brothers patent the first cash register

James and John Ritty patented their cash register design in Dayton, Ohio, on November 4, 1879, titled 'Cash Register and Indicator.'

The patent described a mechanical device with an index dial and indicator operated by levers, connected to disks marked with numbers. This design aimed to record cash receipts at a glance, addressing James Ritty's concerns about employee embezzlement.

Sources

  1. James Ritty Wikipedia, revision of 2025-10-07
  2. Cash register Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.