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British Vintage Calculators

British names appear on many vintage calculators.
Some are manufacturers, some are marketing companies selling other manufacturers calculators under their own names, and some are chain stores selling other manufacturers calculators under their own names in store.

British companies which had their own names on calculators:

Click on a picture or an underlined company for more details and  photographs

	Abatron - Hand-held calculators from Business Electronics Ltd.
	Addo (Britain) Ltd. - Manufacturer & Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic calculators. Subsidiary of Addo AB, of Malmö, Sweden
	Adwel Adding Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributor of Scandia calculators.
	Advance Electronics - Manufacturer, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE) - Manufacturer, hand-held electronic calculators, under the Calate and Taktile names.
	Agrell - Manufacturer, Mechanical. Manufactured for Addo, see above.
	Ajax - Hand-held electronics calculators, marketed by Acme Electronics (Finsbury) Ltd.
	aml - Marketing, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held.
	Anita - Trade name of Bell Punch and Sumlock, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held. Anita calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Automatic Business Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic calculators. Distributors of Curta hand-held mechanical calculators, and Casio calculators.
	Bell Punch Company Ltd. - Manufacturer, Mechanical & Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators. Produced the world's first electronic desktop calculator. Sold under the names Anita, Sumlock, Plus, & British Computator Corporation. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Binatone - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held.
	Block & Anderson - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic. A member of the Ozalid group of companies. Distributed many calculators, including those by Facit, & Marchant.
	Boots - National chain store, selling Electronic Hand-held calculators, made by others, under its own name.
	BOSCO. (Bulmer's Office Supply Co.) - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributors of Lagomarsino  Numeria, and Sharp calculators.
	Brinlock - Marketing company, Electronic, Hand-held calculators.
	Broughtons of Bristol - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators. Were distributors for Busicom, Nippon Calculator, and also for various periods  Rheinmetal, Supermetal, Soentron, Mercedes, Triumphator, Minerva, and Flying Fish.
	Busicom Business Machines - Marketing company, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators (see Broughtons of Bristol).
	Calate - Electronic Hand-held calculators manufactured by Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE).
	Caltec - Manufacturer, Electronic calculators.
	Control Systems - Holding company owning Bell Punch Company, Anita and Sumlock. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Data Devices - Manufacturer, Electronic calculators.
	Decimo - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Detson - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Dixons - National chain store, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators under the brand name Prinztronic.
	Exactus Business Machines - Manufacturer, Mechanical Hand-held calculators.
	Fi-Cord - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators. Was a joint British distributor of the Anita hand-held range, and also of hand-held electronic calculators produced for it by Advance Electronics.
	Geeta - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Geller - Marketing company, Electronic calculators.
	Gemini - Hand-held calculators.
	Gross Electronic Calculators Ltd. (a subsiduary of Gross Cash Registers Ltd) - Manufacturer, Electronic Desk calculators.
	Guys Calculating Machine Ltd., Wood Green, London - Mechanical Desk calculators. "Britannic" was their trade name.
	House of Fraser - National chain store, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Imperial - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Interton - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Isambard Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical desk calculators. Distributors of Nisa and Cellatron calculators.
	Kingson - Marketing company, Mechanical Addiator type calculators.
	London Computator Corporation - Marketing company for early Bell Punch key-driven mechanical calculators (see Bell Punch and Sumlock). Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Memory Devices - Manufacturer, Electronic - Hand-held calculators.
	Memory Master - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Muldivo - Marketing company, Mechanical calculators. Distributed the calculators of many manufacturers, including Guy's, IME, Madas, Precisa, Thales, Walther.
	Newlyn Electronics - Manufactured the Gemini range of hand-held electronic calculators.
	Office and Electronic Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators.
	Okhai of Scotland - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Phytron Electronics Ltd. - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Plus - Brand name of Bell Punch Co. early Mechanical "Compometer" calculators. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Plustronics (a division of Photopia International) - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Prinztronic - Trade name of Dixons national chain store, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Pye - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Radofin - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators. Triton was a registered trade name of the company.
	Semicomps Limited - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators - See Calate.
	SET - Electronic calculators.
	Sinclair - Manufacturer, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	E.G. Solomon - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributor of Schubert calculators.
	Sovrin - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Sumlock & Sumlock Comptometer - Trade names of the Bell Punch Company and distributors of their calculators,  Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Taktile - Hand-held calculators, a trade name of Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE).
	Triton - Hand-held calculators, a trade name of Radofin.
	Tealtronic - Marketing - Hand-held.
	Texet - Marketing company, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.

Foreign companies which had British made calculators

	Adler - Early hand-held model made by Sumlock-Anita Electronics. Anita calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Burroughs - Manuf & marketing, Mechanical & Electronic - Desk.
	Commodore (cbm) - Manuf. & marketing, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held.
	Gillette - The only Gillette calculator was manufactured by Sinclair.
	Hanimex - Marketing - Hand-held.
	Rockwell - Manufacturer & Marketing - Desk & Hand-held - also see Anita.
	Texas Instruments - Marketing & Manufacture, Electronic - Desk & hand-held. Commenced manufacture in 1974 in Plymouth[1]. Texas Instruments models known to have been manufactured in Britain :- TI-1500 TI-2500 Datamath TI-3500

British companies which made calculator-based games

Invicta Produced the Master Mind series.

From "New Scientist", 31 May 1973 - "The electronic calculator market in Britain is currently the third largest in the world ...  A recent count of the British market revealed no fewer than 76 pocket calculators, available from some 44 manufacturers, a third being Japanese, a third American, and the rest European, Canadian and Chinese (Hong Kong)."

Further information about British calculator companies will be gratefully received for inclusion on this site - please contact us.

References:

1. Milton, R., Beaumont, A.J. (1974), Electronic Calculator Markets and Suppliers, 2nd. ed., Finresearch Series, London: Ovum, p40.

Vintage Calculators

© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout   2000-2012 except where noted otherwise.