How to Get a Key Made for the NCR Model 100 Cash Register

Specialty houses and collectors clubs can help you obtain parts for your antique cash register.

The National Cash Register (NCR) Model 100 cash register was produced from the late 1890's until 1904. Unfortunately, NCR does not carry parts for its antique models. Fortunately, clearing houses and collectors clubs do have antique parts, including keys. You may have to be persistent and patient, or even ask a machinist to produce a key for you from a plan. Collector clubs also can help you get your register working even without a key.

Instructions

1. Call the Hickory Bend Antiques and Collectibles (HBAC) Group. It started business in 1990 and quickly evolved into a specialty house only working with antique cash registers. It has become one of the largest sources for antique register information and parts in the world. Have your cash register serial number available, if possible, when you call.

2. Contact the Cash Register Collectors Club. It offers a wealth of information on how to date your register, how to get parts and how to operate a register for which you do not have original parts.

3. Check with the Montgomery County Historical Society. It is located in Dayton, Ohio, where NCR was founded. It maintains an archive devoted to NCR history.

4. Take a good drawing of the key, which you can obtain from the NCR archives at the Montgomery County Historical Society, to a precision metal shop. Bring the cash register with you also. With both, a skilled machinist should be able to make a new key for you.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not panic if you cannot find a specific key. Old cash registers did not have the high-technology security features modern models have. Cash register collectors have written books on how to unlock and get old registers working even without original parts and keys. If you cannot find a precision metal shop near you, look within the nearest large urban area.

• You should exhaust all other options before going to a precision metal shop. The big expense in forming a non-standard piece is the set-up. Tooling machines to form your key could cost in the thousands of dollars. Once the machine is tooled, duplicates are cheap.

References

• HBAC Group: Other Parts
• Cash Register Collectors Club International: Home
• Dayton History: How Old Is My NCR Cash Register?
• Jack Roeser; Otto Engineering; Carpentersville, Illinois

Resources

• National Cash Register: Antique NCR Cash Registers