Cash register at Wolkoff House Museum

About the sound

National Cash Register at Wolkoff house museum, Lappeenranta
Model: National Cash Register (NCR) model 642, Dayton Ohio, USA
Year of production: 1912 (serial number 1 202 730)

Wolkoff is a house built in 1826 and located in Lappeenranta town center. The house is one of the oldest remained wooden buildings in Lappeenranta. It had been owned by many different merchants prior to its acquisition by merchant Ivan Wolkoff in 1872. Subsequently the house was inhabited by four generations of the Wolkoff family until 1983. Ivan Wolkoff was a self-made man. He elevated himself from a Russian serf to a gardener, and finally to a respected merchant. The family continued trading on the site. The heirs of the Wolkoff family donated the house to the town of Lappeenranta for use as a museum in 1986 and museum was opened in the summer 1993.

The cash register has been an important part for keeping track of sales since the turn of the 20th century. The cash register on site is not the original one used by the Wolkoffs, but is acquired for the museum from Imatra. The acquirement is a similar kind compared to the original, as far it is known.
For operating the cash register first the operator resets the machine using a large lever on front of the machine. Then he must input the sum using the smaller levers. To finish the operator must then register the sum by turning the crank on the right side of the machine, which also opens the money drawer and pops out the receipt for the customer from the hole at the left side. This machine had not a paper roll installed.

Video recording: Kimmo Kestinen
Sound recording: Kimmo Kestinen
Photographer: Kimmo Kestinen
Machine operator: Teemu Ahola

Recorded with the cooperation of South Karelia Museum during the Finnish Museums Association meeting.