Point-of-sale and iPads have been replacing cash registers steadily over the last few years.

While cash registers are quickly becoming obsolete, odds are you can still find one at your local cash-only artisanal cocktail bar.

Early mechanical registers were entirely mechanical, without receipts. The employee was required to ring up every transaction on the register, and when the total key was pushed, the drawer opened and a bell would ring, alerting the manager to a sale taking place. Those original machines were nothing but simple adding machines.

Since the registration is done with the process of returning change, according to Bill Bryson, odd pricing came about because by charging odd amounts like 49 and 99 cents (or 45 and 95 cents when nickels are more used than pennies), the cashier very probably had to open the till for the penny change and thus announce the sale

Shortly after the patent, Ritty became overwhelmed with the responsibilities of running two businesses, so he sold all of his interests in the cash register business to Jacob H. Eckert of Cincinnati, a china and glassware salesman, who formed the National Manufacturing Company.

In 1884, Eckert sold the company to John H. Patterson, who renamed the company the National Cash Register Company and improved the cash register by adding a paper roll to record sales transactions, thereby creating the journal for internal bookkeeping purposes and the receipt for external bookkeeping purposes. The original purpose of the receipt was enhanced fraud protection.