The National Cash Register Company is located in Springfield, Illinois. It was founded in 1884 by John H. Patterson, the inventor of the first mechanical cash registers. In 1906, the first electric motor-powered cash register was designed by Charles F. Kettering. The National Cash Register Company acquired Computer Research Corporation (CRC), which produced a line of digital computers with applications in aviation, which started the journey on to computerized registers. The company changed its name to NCR Corporation in 1974. The company signaled its evolution from a hardware-only company to a full-solutions provider by purchasing Compris Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of store automation and management software for the food service industry. It also purchased Dataworks, a company that develops check-processing software. They were granted a patent in 2003 for signature capture, proving they were the leaders in technology, offering solutions to key markets.