Object Details
maker
Hough Cash Recorder Company
Description
In the late 19th century, as American shopkeepers hired strangers to work in their stores, they showed a new concern for keeping track of retail transactions. Azel Clarence Hough (1859-1946), the son of a creamery owner in South Butler, New York, took out a range of patents for the design and improvement of cash drawers between 1892 and 1899 (U.S. patents 484501, 486107, D22024, 534795 and 618034). His ideas served as the basis of the products of the Hough Cash Recorder Company of Indian Orchard, Massachusetts.
This example of Hough’s Security Cash Recorder is a large oak box with an oak lid. At the front on the right is a lock for the cash drawer; the drawer is on the lower left front. On top is an opening that shows a roll of paper. Salesclerks were required to enter a total on this paper roll and advance it in order to open the cash drawer.
This model is quite similar to the Hough Security Cash Register No. 70 shown in an advertisement reproduced in Crandall and Robins, p. 318. This machine sold for $15. Hough Cash Recorder Company advertised in Hardware Dealer’s magazine as late as June, 1906. However, its products were soon outpaced by the autographic registers sold by NCR.
In the early 20th century, Hough became interested in the manufacture of wooden blinds, and took out several related patents. He first manufactured shades in South Butler, then in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Hough Shade Corporation he formed survives under the name of Hufcor.
References:
Dorothy Wiggins, “Town of Butler Agricultural & Comprehensive Plan," South Butler Public Forum – September 15, 2008, pp. 1–2.
American Lumberman, vol. 1, 1940, p. 58.
Richard R. Crandall and Sam Robins, The Incorruptible Cashier, vol. 2, Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1990, pp. 316–318.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Sturgis A. Sobin
date made
1895
ID Number
1983.0881.01
accession number
1983.0881
catalog number
1983.0881.01
Object Name
credit register
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
metal (overall material)
paper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 23 cm x 58.6 cm x 50 cm; 9 1/16 in x 23 1/16 in x 19 11/16 in
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Springfield, Indian Orchard
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Computers & Business Machines
Cash and Credit Registers
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Business
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_694249