Publications and Research

Winter 2003-2004

The Comparative Growth of Goods and Services Prices by Edith Gagnon, Patrick Sabourin, and Sébastien Lavoie Current Account Imbalances: Some Key Issues for the Major Industrialized Economies by Jocelyn Jacob The Rationale for Cross-Border Listings by Éric Chouinard and Chris D'Souza See also: Tables A1, A2, and Notes to the Tables Full Review (PDF, 467 kb)

Cover: Brass Cash Register, 1910

The cash register is probably the most familiar, and the most important, piece of equipment in any store. It serves as the point where customers complete their transactions, tendering their money in exchange for the merchant's goods or services. The cash register is the repository for payments: it records and tabulates sales or charges on account and dispenses change and receipts, providing both the merchant and the customer with an accurate record of the transaction.

Before the cash register was developed in the late nineteenth century, merchants relied on a simple cash drawer to hold their daily cash and receipts and a separate ledger in which to record transactions. This system was prone to inaccuracies and was susceptible to the greed of dishonest clerks. Frustrated by these limitations, Ohio barkeeper James Ritty set out to build an automated, accurate, and secure method of handling transactions. He succeeded in 1879, and within a few short years the cash register enjoyed widespread popularity among merchants.

In 1884, John H. Patterson purchased the National Manufacturing Company, which had been created to produce Ritty's cash registers, and renamed it the National Cash Register Co. Based in Dayton, Ohio, the firm opened its first office in Canada in Montréal about 1888 and another in Toronto the following year. By 1910, the company had sales offices in every major city across Canada and a large factory in Toronto.

The example shown here, one of the company's No. 500 series models, combined mechanical sophistication with visual artistry. Impressive in scale, it measured 73.6 by 83.8 by 50.8 centimetres and was so heavy that it took at least two people to move it. In addition to the necessary accounting machinery, these models included such options as motors, electric lights, clocks, and time and date stamps, all housed within an ornate brass cabinet with a marble shelf. The complete unit was mounted on a hardy oak base with one to six drawers, depending on the model.

The cash register featured on the cover was manufactured in Toronto in 1910 for P.D. Herbert, a grocer at 228–232 Bank Street in Ottawa. Objects associated with the register suggest that John W. Thomson of Buckingham, Quebec, proprietor of a men's store, acquired the register sometime during or after the First World War and used it into the 1940s.

The register is part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.

Photographed by Gord Carter, Ottawa.