NCR Class 32 accounting machine, 1949-1959

In 1879, the American bar owner James Ritty invented the cash register. He hoped his invention would thwart his employee's attempts at pocketing money - his first model was called 'Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier'.

Ritty sold his company, cash register and patents in 1881 and a new company was established - the National Manufacturing Company. In 1884, the company was renamed the National Cash Register Company, maker of the first mechanical cash registers, and their first offices were based in Dayton, Ohio. The National Cash Register Company (NCR) dominated the production and sale of cash registers around the world. NCR cash registers were very widespread after the First World War and have continued to operate into the twenty-first century as NCR.

From the late 1920s onwards, NCR pioneered automation and early computing. In 1928, NCR purchased the Ellis Adding Typewriter Company, a US company that produced the only machine available that combined a typewriter with an adding machine in one unit. This made detailed accounting reports possible for the first time. NCR further developed and improved this concept until it produced the most flexible accounting machine to exist in pre-electronic era.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, there was increased demand for National Cash Register products, especially accounting machines. In late 1949, NCR introduced a new line of accounting machines, including the Class 31 and Class 32 accounting or bookkeeping machine. The Class 32 machine was first produced around 1949 and seems to have been made until 1959 and possibly beyond.

The NCR Class 32 accounting machine combined an electric typewriter at the front with an adding machine in the centre. Accounting machines were used to prepare monthly statements, type checks, record payroll and do general ledger work. The adding machine had eleven columns of digit keys and three columns of keys for indicating dates to the left of these. It had a variety of function keys and bars. Behind the adding machine was a wide carriage that could accommodate one or more forms.