Your comment sounds very strange to me, because it never occurred to me that credit card can be used to "buy something that costs a couple of pay periods".
I thought they are mostly for convenience, like when you can carry them instead of cash, or use them to pay in the Internet. But I always pay off the whole balance at the first occasion (irregularly, whenever I login to my bank website and notice the outstanding balance).
If you want to pay something off gradually, you usually have better options (car dealerships or shops selling electronics, and many others, they typically have their own credit offers, much better than your average credit card).
I think never in my life have I ever paid any interests on my credit card.
The history of card payments is pretty rich.
Individual shops like electronics, but before that department stores, etc offered charge cards (or charge coins) since the 1870's. Charge cards/accounts are distinct from credit cards because you settle the balance at the end of the period (month) and it's not revolving debt with an interest rate. Its more like Net 30 terms.
Diners Club card was introduced in 1950 as a multipurpose charge card, usable at a large selection of merchants.
Eventually banks got in the game in the 50's and 60's and that enabled true credit cards, which were like a charge card but you could carry revolving debt on them
The finance side of it is equally rich. Merchants did/do offer their own financing, with mixed results. Car dealerships did well, and eventually made so much money they spun off entities like GMAC (the GM financing arm), which now operates as a bank - Ally - because of regulatory requirements on deposits etc