How was the cash register invented: from Ritty to the online cash register

The cash register was invented first of all by a business owner, not by a tax official. The man who came up with it wanted to protect his money from the "forgetfulness" of his staff. More than a century later, this very idea of "recording the receipt" became one of the main instruments of tax control.

Key points

1. The idea was born on a ship. According to the U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame, James Ritty, a saloon owner in Dayton (Ohio), was sailing to Europe by ship in 1878 when he saw a device that counted the revolutions of the propeller and wondered whether something similar could also record the cash takings in his saloon.
2. The 1879 patent. According to the Hall of Fame, the machine was built jointly by the brothers James and John Ritty (John was a skilled mechanic); it was granted U.S. patent No. 221 360. The Smithsonian writes that this machine became the basis of a product called "Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier", roughly "Ritty's cashier who cannot be cheated". The National Inventors Hall of Fame writes that the machine worked by pressing a key representing a specific amount.
3. Patterson and NCR. According to Britannica, in 1884 John H. Patterson bought a majority stake in the company and the rights to the cash register patent; the company became famous under the name National Cash Register (NCR). The Smithsonian notes that by 1884 the Rittys themselves had left this business.
4. The computerised register. According to IBM's history page, the company's point-of-sale systems began in 1973: the IBM 3650 for department and chain stores and the IBM 3660 system for supermarkets. The 3660 also included a barcode scanner at the checkout. The register was no longer just a money counter but became part of the inventory accounting system.
5. A new threat: electronic suppression. In its 2013 report the OECD described the risk of data in electronic cash registers and sales systems being suppressed: the two main tools for this were called "zapper" (an external program or device) and "phantomware" (software hidden inside the system).
6. The answer: the online cash register. The 2019 guidance of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration is devoted to the benefits and considerations of introducing online cash register systems. The idea is simple: if receipt data does not stay only inside the device but also reaches the tax authority, it becomes difficult to delete it later without a trace.
7. In Uzbekistan. Online cash registers (online-NKM) are used here too. A separate procedure for the situation in which they become faulty is set by Resolution No. 943 of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 23 November 2019: the technical service centre (TXKM) notifies the tax authority of the fault within 1 hour, and until the device is restored the customer is given a special receipt form.

Example: Ritty's problem in today's cafe

At the "Shirin Choy" cafe, two cashiers work the evening shift (compiled by the author, hypothetical figures).

This is exactly what Ritty wanted to achieve in 1879: the takings should be recorded in the machine, not in a person's memory. The online cash register took this idea one step further: the record is visible not only to the owner but also to the tax authority.