James Ritty - Complete Biography, History and Inventions
Key Points
- James Ritty joined the Union Army in 1861 serving for three years before leaving to open a saloon.
- A chance trip to the engine room during a voyage inspired him to apply the principle of the propeller rotation tracking machine to his business.
- "Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier," was created in 1879 and marketed to the public. However, the invention was purchased by John Patterson who achieved a greater degree of success with it.
Few know of James Ritty, but he is a man who has influenced the life of virtually everyone who lives in the modern world. Ritty is the inventor of the cash register, and can thus be considered one of the founders of much of the modern commerce that all of us enjoy today.
Who was James Ritty?
James Ritty was born in Dayton, Ohio, on October 29, 1836. His father was a doctor and his mother, Mary, a housewife. Ritty remained in Ohio for all of his life.
Ritty was set to study medicine and enrolled in medical school, seeking the education to become a doctor and follow in the footsteps of his father. Ritty's education was cut short by the Civil War, which ended changed plans. Dropping out of medical school, Ritty joined the Union army and served in the Fourth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. He served in the army for three years before leaving in 1864.
Career
Saloon Owner
In 1871, Ritty opened a saloon in his hometown of Dayton, operating his first business on 10 S. Main Street. The saloon sold many types of alcohol, including whisky and wine, as well as cigars. Unfortunately for Ritty, he had to deal with a problem that many business owners have struggled with over the years: Employee theft. Employees would regularly steal from the "till" that contained the money, pocketing the cash and siphoning money away from Ritty. Like other business owners, he struggled with how to put a stop to this thievery. The issue was a major source of stress in Ritty's life and hindered his business success.
According to published reports at the time, Ritty's inability to track the finances of his saloon business caused him stress to no end. He struggled to track his business' finances and keep a constant eye on what was happening at his cash register, but given his other responsibilities, this ultimately proved a major challenge to Ritty. Furthermore, like other saloons at the time, Ritty dealt with a constant turnover of barmen, making it difficult for him to find honest employees.
As a result, Ritty's health suffered. Fatefully, he and his wife traveled to Europe in 1878, and it was a trip that would ultimately change Ritty's life. In 1879, Ritty and his wife were on a ship that was crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Ritty was given the opportunity to visit the engine room, whereupon he came across a machine that tracked the rotations of the propeller. Inquiring further, Ritty found that the machine was engineered to record revolutions of the machine. This inspired Ritty to wonder what he could do to take the principles behind this machine and apply them to his business, potentially developing a machine that could record financial transactions.
What Did James Ritty Invent?
The Cash Register
Ritty was so inspired by the idea of a cash register that he and his wife ended their vacation early, and Ritty set to work right away on becoming an inventor. Both returned home to Dayton, whereupon Ritty spoke with his brother, John. Ritty had no formal education in business or engineering, but his brother was a skilled mechanic and possessed the mechanical skills that James was looking for. As such, John put his mechanical skills to work and began creating a device per James' specifications.
John went to work right away and came up with the first version of the cash register in 1879. The first machine, as you would expect, looked nothing like the cash registers we use today. Instead, it had a large face with three arrows on it, bearing some relation in appearances to a clock. Clerks would use keys on the front of the device to record transactions and then insert the money into the device, which would keep a tally of how much money had actually been inputted.
The device was first marketed as "Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier," a direct reference to the fact that the register would make it much harder for employees to rob the businesses for whom they worked.
The Ritty Brothers would make changes to their device, replacing the original method by which transactions were recorded with a paper tape, then adding popping numbers to let cashiers and customers know how much money had been recorded. The device was patented, and the Ritty Brothers formally became inventors.
