Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 1.4
Mechanical calculators led to the “de-skilling” and “feminization” of book-
keeping.
(Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
While on a European holiday in 1878, Ohio restaurateur James Ritty saw a mechan-
ical counter connected to the propeller shaft of his ship. A year later he and his brother
John used that concept to construct the first cash register, essentially an adding machine
capable of expressing values in dollars and cents. Enhancements followed rapidly, and by
the early 1900s the cash register had become an important information-processing de-
vice (Figure 1.5). Cash registers created printed, itemized receipts for customers, main-
tained printed logs of transactions, and performed other accounting functions that pro-
vided store owners with the detailed sales records they needed.
Cash registers also made embezzlement by clerks more difficult. The bell made it
impossible for clerks to sneak money from the cash drawer and helped ensure that every
sale was “rung up.” Printed logs made it easy for department store owners to compare
cash on hand against sales receipts [10].
As corporations and governmental organizations grew larger in the late 1800s, they
needed to handle greater volumes of information. One of these agencies was the US Bu-
reau of the Census, which collected and analyzed information on tens of millions of
residents every decade. Aware of the tedium and errors associated with clerks manually
copying and tallying figures, several Census Bureau employees developed mechanical
