National Cash Register
National Cash Register (the name is usually given as the acronym, NCR) was an American company with a focus in information-handling equipment for retail businesses. As the name implies, those were originally cash registers, but as electronic computers became a standard part of information processing in businesses, they eventually expanded into that area.
It was originally founded sometime between 1881 and 1884, by Jacob H. Eckert, as the 'National Manufacturing Company', to sell cash registers invented and patented by James Ritty, with help from his brother John. In 1884, it was acquired by John Henry Patterson, who renamed it to 'National Cash Register Company'; he developed an intense focus in the sales aspect of the business, where he produced many innovations in technique.
(The assembler of IBM, Thomas Watson, famously worked at NCR for a lengthy spell, and absorbed many of Patterson's ideas, which later became, in turn, a standard part of IBM's sales methods.)
During WWII, NCR became involved in producing electro-mechanical equipment, which included a fair amount of electronic content, for the U.S. Navy's attack on the German Enigma cryptosystem.
They endured a very long period of competition with IBM, from the punched card era of the 1930's, through mainframes, and although they never won, they hung on - something most of IBM's competitors in the computer business did not achieve.
NCR split into two companies, NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos, in 2023.
Further reading
- James W. Cortada, Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, and Remington Rand and the Industry They Created, 1865-1956, Princeton University, Princeton, 1993
- Jim DeBrosse, Colin Burke, The Secret in Building 26: The Untold Story of America's Ultra War Against the U-boat Enigma Codes, Random House, New York, 2004 - an excellent, detailed history of NCR's little-known involvement
External links
- National Cash Register Company (NCR) - a collection of sales brochures
- NCR Corporation has separated into two separate and distinct companies: NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos - a joint Web presence for the two
