John Henry Patterson

1844 to 1922

When John H. and his brother Frank established a successful business selling coal and miner's supplies in the 1870s unrecorded sales were again 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" for $6,500 and promptly changed the name to The National Cash Register Company. The Pattersons, however, had not done their homework and when they found that the company had been losing money they offered $2,000 to get out of the deal. The seller said "You purchased the stock. If you had paid for it and I had turned it over to you, I would not have it back as a gift."

The Start of Industrial Welfare

One of the most famous photos in any history of NCR is this one depicting a young woman worker at the Dayton plant who J.H. observed heating her luncheon coffee on a factory radiator. This incident set the stage for all his social welfare programs thereafter.

A complete hot lunch was offered to all female employees but it was refused as the ladies would not accept "charity". The solution? Charge five cents.  
A dining room for 400 women was built in 1895. The sick list dropped from 18 percent to 2 percent in one week.

In-plant healthcare, company sponsored vacation trips, children's programs, and even an employee country club were only a few of Patterson's employee benefits. Other industrialists accused him of coddling his workers.

Patterson believed this paternalistic treatment of his workers, especially the the Victorian era ladies, was not only the right thing to do but was also good for business.

The first "daylight factory" buildings were built in 1893 with floor to ceiling glass windows that could be opened to let in fresh air, as well as light. They also had ventilation hoods to absorb dust, first-class baths, locker rooms, and restrooms for the ladies, hospitals and first-aid stations, and gymnasiums. The grounds had spacious lawns and landscaping with colorful plantings and this was during the time when "sweatshops" were still in operation elsewhere.

In the 1890s autographic suggestion machines were used to capture employee thoughts about improvements. Signs and posters with Patterson slogans were displayed at locations worldwide.

Large contingents of employees were transported, at company expense, to seashore vacations and events like the World's Fairs. Shown here is The NCR pavilion at 1904 Fair in St. Louis.

He brought Thomas J. Watson (second from right in this 1911 convention photo) to the home office to deal with the competition as he had so successfully done in Rochester. Watson was a former "drummer" who sold pianos from the back of a horse-drawn wagon in rural New York and Pennsylvania who later hired on with NCR in Buffalo. He was promoted to Rochester branch manager in 1899.

The Patterson-Watson team virtually destroyed the competition and the United States Government rewarded them, and twenty eight other company officers, with a one year sentence in the Miami County Jail and a $5,000 fine for Sherman Anti-Trust and restraint of trade violations.

Some say they were saved by a tornado and a flood. During the great Dayton flood of 1913 Patterson stopped production and directed the company's total energy to saving Dayton.

Patterson became somewhat of a national hero and hundreds of people petitioned President Wilson to pardon him and his officers, however the decision was reversed by the Court of Appeals in Cincinnati in 1915, ruling that NCR defence material in the first trial should have been admitted.

Watson would be elevated to the #2 position only to be later fired by Patterson. He then went to work for C.T.R. (Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company) which would change its name to International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924 and Watson would become president. He left the home Patterson built for him and his Pierce-Arrow motorcar, but he took his "THINK!" sign and all his training with him.

When World War I broke out in 1914 John H. Patterson was on the last train to leave Berlin. After the cessation of hostilities he was one of the first American businessmen to re-enter Berlin in 1919. In between these visits, Patterson devoted all the resources of NCR to the war effort after the United States entered the conflict in 1917. The company built precision shell timers and airplane instruments on a "fixed-fee" basis. Patterson refused to work on a "cost-plus" basis and was "proud not to have made any money on the country's necessity".
When the war ended, Patterson threw his support behind Woodrow Wilson's ill-fated attempt to persuade the United States to join the League of Nations and he even attended League sessions in Geneva.

Although Patterson the man may be a dim figure to new generations of NCR employees and Dayton citizens, the ideas he introduced are an everyday part of their working world. This is also true nearly everywhere people work, products are manufactured, and they are marketed and sold.