James Ritty was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1837. His father, Leger Ritty, emigrated from Alsace to the USA and opened a small pharmacy, where he sold various medicinal herbs. Three of his five sons - Sebastian, John and James - were born inventors.
Sebastian had several patents on the processing of agricultural products on his account, and John also noted in the same area, having patented a machine for cleaning and preserving corn. In addition, John designed an unusual ventilation system for one of the cafes - the palm leaf fans installed on each table were set in motion by water supplied through pipes. James was also a skilled mechanic, but in 1871 he decided to change his profession and became a restaurateur, opening a small saloon in Daytona. His establishment quickly gained popularity in the city, but instead of prosperity, it brought losses to the owner.
And the business qualities of James had nothing to do with it - the cashiers were constantly stealing, hiding part of the proceeds. The dismissal did not help: in place of dishonest cashiers new ones came, who also could not resist the temptation. The constant turnover almost ruined Ritty, and to distract himself, he took a cruise through Europe.
On the ship, James became interested in the mighty marine machines and befriended the chief mechanic. During a tour of the engine room, he gazed fascinated at the automatic propeller shaft revolution counter, and suddenly the thought occurred to him: "If this mechanism can record the movement of the propeller, why can't you do the same with money?" The idea was so captured by Ritty that he significantly shortened his voyage through Europe and soon returned home. There, James presented his idea to his brother John, and together they built a primitive machine for counting money: two rows of keys, each of which marked a specific amount, and an hour dial with two hands (for dollars and cents). The brothers improved the second model, replacing the dials with classic discs,and it was for this design that US patent number 221360 was received on November 4, 1879. The third model, called Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier, already knew how to show the buyer the “punch-through” amount, and the fourth punched the total with holes on the paper tape. It was she who became the first serial cash register.
Despite his success, by 1881 Ritty realized that this was not his business and returned to his little cafe. He sold the patent to Jacob Eckert, who in 1884 ceded the company to John Patterson, one of the first buyers of cash registers. Patterson renamed the firm the National Cash Register Company. It is now NCR Corporation, a multibillion-dollar hardware and software trading company. Of course, modern NCR technology has almost nothing to do with the first Ritty machines. Except for one quality: she is still incorruptible.