'That was a real cash register'

When I was a little girl, cash registers were just that. The man would put in the various amounts of what things cost by pushing keys.

Then when he was done adding, he would push another key and the register would show a total in the window at the top. The drawer would pop open when another key was pushed. He'd put one's money into the drawer and give one change if he had some coming.

Then he'd shove the drawer back into the register and be ready for his next customer. This was all done by hand.

When I worked at Buehler's Meat Market in my teenage years, Jeanne Reece and I would sit in a little locked booth. We had an adding machine if we needed it but most people bought only one or two items. There was a drawer underneath the desktop with divisions in it for the various bills and coins. The booth had glass all across its front with a hole cut out at its bottom so we could take the customers' money and give them their change.

Prior to that, when I worked at Reinbach's Bakery, we had a cash register similar to the one in the second paragraph above. One got no receipts; I guess that part of cash registers hadn't been invented yet, or else the registers were still ones that had been made prior to the Depression.

According to The World Book Encyclopedia, the first practical cash register was invented in 1879 by James Ritty of Dayton, Ohio. Dayton was the world's center for manufacturing the machines at that time.

In the early years of my marriage, we would go to Saunder's General Store in Rutan, Pa., when we were visiting. There was a large, old cash register in the store. If I remember correctly, it was gold-colored.

Today, one rarely sees an old-fashioned cash register. Over the years, they've gone electronic. There's still a drawer for money (or charge slips). There's usually a gadget sitting at eye level that registers the sales. I think those registers can about do anything except sing! There's another small gadget at hand level where one can sign if one is using a charge card. But if I were to have my choice, I'd still take the old-fashioned cash register. If the electricity goes off because of a storm or malfunction, these new "registers" don't work. And I've been in stores where that has happened and the clerks just didn't know what to do.

The last cash register that I've seen was when I'd go into Rose Eisenberg's store on Glen Flora Avenue in Waukegan. It was pictured in the News-Sun on March 3 of this year and it had been used for nearly 90 years. Now that was a real cash register!

Elaine Eagon