A MACHINE WITH A BRAIN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1584, 30 October 1912, Page 14

A MACHINE WITH A BRAIN.

AND ITS MAKERS. Less than thirty years ago Mr. Jacob Kitty conceived ttie idea of a registering macliino to record cash takings in his store at Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A. He built other machines of the same type, and Mr John H. Patterson, now president of the National Cash Register Co., purchased two of these for his small store at Coalton, a mining town iu Ohio. Ho soon found that this machine saved him money. He reasoned that "If this enabled him to make money, it wouli\ do the same for other shopkeepers throughout the world." It is difficult for one not conversant with a National Cash Register to realise what results can bo obtained from what is, after all, only a wonderful piece of machinery. Not only does this machine indicate and record every transaction that occurs, whether casih'tale, credit sale, money received on account, money paid out, or com or note changed, but it also gives a total of the exact amount received, which the proprietor may 'see at any time of the day he wishes. The takings can be separated into different cash drawers-ono for each assistant—and the register would total separately tho takings of each asI sistant. Tho proprietor has totalled for him separately the amount of cash sales, the amount represented by goods charged, monev, paid by customers on account, or disbursements, and in addition to all this he las a detailed record of every transaction printed on a strip of paper, winch information gives him an account as it occurs, of the amount and kind of sa e, together with tho assistant's initial. The total number of customers, and the total number attended to by each assistant, together with the total number of special transactions (such as credit sales) is also given. Each assistant being individually responsible for his own tafangs has confidence in the fact that mistakes aro checked to the one'who makes them; besides there is a system of Iwalthy rivalry between the assistants, lne i\cw Model National Cafiii Register also prints a receipt for tho amount paid. This goes to tho customer. On the receipt is tho consecutive number of tho sale, the date, the kind and amount of sale, tho assistant's initial, tho proprietors business card, and any advertising matter that may bo required. The register gives mechanical accuracy, quick service, and, ill brief, a business system. The New Model can. also be electrically .operated, and tho indication electrically illuminated. With such a remarkable machine—it seems almost to have , brains—ono can hardly wonder at the growth of the National Cash Register Company's business. The plant at Dayton, where nothing but National Cash Registers' are made,, now covers seven city blocks, with a total floor space of 36 acres. Over a million registers have been made and despatched to"all corners of the earth; from Alaska to fcho BhifF, and from the busy cities of the States to the waking countries of China and Japan. . Anyone interested, by writing to tho company s head otfaco at Wellington, may secure further particulars of the Company's unique methods or of the marvellous machine it manufactures and sells.