Photograph courtesy of Bill Wulf

This cash register in Crider's was so modern and could perform so many functions that it was almost as famous as the turkey flings from the department store's roof.

Picture From the Past

Crider's Department Store was known for its register

John S. Baggerly

Long before Silicon Valley replaced The Valley of Hearts Delight and its beautiful spring blossoms and fruit orchards, local businessman J. Walter Crider had installed what was considered a high-tech cash register in his department store at 140 W. Main St., now home to the Opera House shops and banquet facilities. Crider's was the store mentioned here last week that gained a modicum of fame by staging Thanksgiving Turkey Flings on its rooftop.

The cash register Crider purchased in the 1920s had total recall equal to any instrument invented and manufactured in present-day Silicon Valley. Manufactured by National Cash Register, this electrically operated device offered receipt, slip and detail-strip printing, had separate adding totals and cash drawers for each of six clerks and a floor cabinet.

The register performed many important functions for the merchants who could afford one. Thanks to information gleaned by Los Gatos historian Bill Wulf, here are the cash register's attributes:

* It forced a correct record of all cash sales.

* It prevented failure to charge for goods sold on credit.

* It prevented disputes over failure to credit money paid on account.

* It forced a correct record of money paid out.

* It did away with human miscalculations by making its own change.

* It forced correct records by printing the amount of the transaction on a receipt or sales slip, which went to the customer.

* It removed temptation and trained clerks in the best business methods.

* It printed and added records of all transactions. These records gave the merchant control of his business.

* It gave individual totals of all transactions handled by each clerk and fixed responsibility for errors.

* It made clerks careful, accurate and industrious.

Any amount from one cent to $99.99 could be recorded at one time. The picture above shows the standard key arrangement. The "cash," "received on account," "charge," and "paid out" keys in the left row and the captions A, B, D, E, H and K on the leverway could be changed to suit any business.

Bill Wulf's first memory of Crider's was at age 8, when his parents brought him into the store to buy what turned out to be a leather jacket with a fur collar. His father, William Waldo Wulf, was a printer for Murrison Labels in San Jose, which provided labels for the county's flourishing cannery businesses. W.W. Wulf later became Assistant Registrar of Voters for Santa Clara County.

Crider's dedication to having satisfied customers is illustrated by Wulf's memory of a spool of thread Crider sent by train to a woman's home in the hills above Los Gatos. Apparently, she had forgotten the thread in the department store.

Wulf recalls that Crider was inclined to travel and to buy furnishings, which he shipped to his store and put on sale. Such was the result of a trip to China and Mexico. The Chinese furnishings sold readily, Wulf said, but not so with items imported from Mexico.

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