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In the UK shoppers will talk about going to the ’till’ to pay for their purchases. But anyone from outside the UK hearing that expression will be a little mystified. But all becomes clear when they realise that ’till’ means cash register!

So why do the British use the term “till” instead of “cash register?” Well, that is a bit of a bit of a mystery to the British themselves. One explanation could be that the tern till refers to the sections in a box or holding container where items are kept separate from another. So, because the draw of a cash register has several compartments for separating different notes and coins the word ‘Till’ became common usage in the UK.

Stores and businesses use cash registers to perform the dual actions of recording purchases and issuing receipts. But it is interesting to note that the cash register was actually invented as anti-theft device by a fed up bar owner in the United States.

James Ritter was the owner of a saloon in Ohio and came up with the idea of a cash register as a way to stop his employees helping themselves to the takings. In 1879 Ritter produced his first cash register and filed a patent to protect his invention in 1883 along with his brother, John.

Apparently Ritter based his invention on a device used on steam ships to count the number of revolutions made by the propeller. But, the inventor can’t have been too proud of his invention as he quickly sold his new cash register company. Within a year the company was sold on yet again to be acquired by the National Cash Register Company ? better known as NCR ? who now turn over billions of dollars annually.

And it was the National Cash Register Company (NCRC) that took Ritters basic invention and refined it to include the standard components we are used to seeing today. By the late 1800′s the cash register was able to record all transactions and issue receipts following the addition of a paper roll. This obviously became known as producing a receipt.

The next major advance in the evolution of the cash register came in 1906 when Charles Kettering developed a machine that was powered by a small motor. This led to huge developments for NCRC and by 1911 their workforce had mushroomed to over 6,000. Interestingly Charles Kettering left NCRC and eventually founded a company which eventually evolved in General Motors. Clearly the early pioneers of the cash register possessed the entrepreneurial spirit in abundance!

Whether the machine is referred to as a cash register or a till; it is doubtful that James Ritter foresaw the impact his machine would make when he invented the cash register way back in 1879.