Michael Roper started working at bars in the 1970s, and for the first 40 years of his career, across 15 taverns, he rang up each drink on one of the same lines of mechanical registers.

So when Roper, 71, opened Hopleaf in Andersonville in 1992, he purchased two of these machines — one from a Salvation Army store and the other from a moving and storage company — for $120 apiece, he said.

These gear and motor-powered “bangers,” as they were called, now sit quietly in Hopleaf’s storage room. Built by the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio, they feature a metallic body with a chrome finish. Black, beige and golden keys line the front, and a wooden drawer sits below.

But with the touch of a few buttons, the click-clack from within would promptly return, followed by the familiar c

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