John Henry PattersonDied 7 May 1922 at age 77 (born 13 Dec 1844).American manufacturer who founded NCR (National Cash Register Co.) and helped popularize the modern cash register by means of aggressive and innovative sales techniques. In the 1870s, when he and his brother Frank established a successful business selling coal and miner's supplies, unrecorded sales were a problem. After reading a description of the cash register designed by James Ritty and sold by the National Manufacturing Company in Dayton, John ordered two, sight unseen. In six months they reduced his debt from $16,000 to $3,000 and the books showed a profit of $5,000. These modern machines had solved the old problems of disorganization and dishonesty. Patterson "was so impressed that he bought the company." |