28) First "Transistorized" Electronic Calculator

 
Photo: "Compet CS-10A" announced by Sharp Corporation (Then, Hayakawa Electric Company) in 1964

Electronic calculators were one of important electronic products, which helped promote the Japanese semiconductor industry. The number of electronic calculators produced in 1965 in Japan was only 4,300 units and then, in 1980, amounted to the historic large number as many as 60 million. The number of the manufacturers reached around 50. The growing demand of electronic calculators must have been a spring board of the growth of semiconductor industry in Japan throughout the transistor, IC and LSI eras.
Opinion is divided on the origin of electronic calculators. As far as I know, it must be "Anita Mark8" manufactured by Sumlock-Comptometer Inc. in England in 1962. Since it utilized vacuum tubes instead of conventional relay devices, it was an electronic calculator as far as it goes. Its appearance and performance, however, were far apart from electronic calculators today.
In 1964 Sharp Corporation (then, Hayakawa Electric Company) announced "Compet CS-10A." It adopted germanium semiconductor devices fully for an arithmetic unit, where up to 350 transistors and 2,300 diodes were used.
This electronic calculator was 42 cm wide,44 cm deep and 25 cm high, and weighed 25 kg. Although it was neither small nor light enough then, Sharp continued to strive for miniaturization and low-power consumption and also for adoption of LCD displays, thereby bringing electronic calculators up to specialty products of Japan.
Sharp was awarded "IEEE Milestone" in 2005 for their contribution to the development of the series of electronic calculators.
(By courtesy of Sharp)

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