I found a listing on freecycle.org for an old 1950's cash register and quickly responded! I love freecycle--you never know what exactly you are going to get since there aren't any photos. My husband picked it up for me--which is a good thing because even though I am freakishly strong (it's weird really) this sucker is HEAVY!! The entire thing is made of metal and wood. Even after we took it apart, what was left of it is super heavy!This thing has been in the backseat of my husband's car 
for a few weeks now so we decided last night to bring it in and take it apart. I had envisioned sledgehammers, saws, lots of banging and cutting. But....we took the more reasonable approach and basically used a screwdriver and pliers.
Even with the lack of sledgehammers, every step of this was exciting! When one piece was pulled off, more interesting little pieces were revealed. (Although at first it was hard to get over all the dead spiders and things that emerged as well!)
My son really got into this whole thing too! He grabbed his "tools" and pretended to take it apart.My main purpose for doing this (besides the fun of taking something apart) is to reuse parts for jewelry and for awesome photo taking oportunities. I strongly believe in recycling and re-using 
old things to make them new again.
old things to make them new again. I really can't wait to take the keys off this and make some cool necklaces out of them. We are trying to figure out a way to cut them off--if anyone has some good ideas please leave me a comment!! I'm thinking a metal jewelers saw...or a drummel.
Here's photos of the little price tag things that pop up when you punch the keys--talk about inflation!!
These are the round pieces that imprint the receipts-- 
These pieces actually ended up being perfect for necklaces. I need to shine them up and buff them--I'm so excited to use my drummel for this. I haven't used it in so long.
This is the used receipt paper!
Every time we banged on it you could hear the brass bell! I was so happy we got that out too. Wow, was this a big mess on our dining room table! 
But it was worth it. Hopefully I will get some nice pieces made with a bit of history behind them too.