Hand-held Calculators

Home > Hand-held Calculators

Canon Pocketronic

Canon Pocketronic Canon Pocketronic in hand

Canon Pocketronic

Display is by printout on thermal paper tape.

Four-function.

Main integrated circuits - Texas Instruments TMC1730B, TMC1731A, & TMC1732A (here date coded weeks 18 and 19 of 1971).

15.6v (13x NiCd rechargeable cells).

100 mm x 208 mm x 48 mm (4" x 8.2" x 1.9").

Introduced in Japan in Spring 1970[1], and the USA in early 1971[2].

Made in Japan.

Texas Instruments started to investigate the design of a hand-held calculator in 1966 with the "Caltech" project. This calculator was the resulting commercial product, manufactured by Canon. Texas Instruments was awarded U.S. and Japanese patents for a "Miniature Electronic Calculator".

Like the Caltech the output is printed on thermal paper tape, manufactured by 3M[2].

Canon Pocketronic

Calculator with the thermal tape cartridge removed and a new, sealed cartridge.

Inside Canon Pocketronic

The base of the calculator with covers opened showing the 13 rechargeable cells which are squeezed in.

Inside Canon Pocketronic

Beneath the keyboard showing the printing mechanism and electronics.

Inside Canon Pocketronic

Beneath the keyboard with the printer circuit board removed to reveal the 3 calculating integrated circuits.

Close up of the Texas Instruments TMC1730B, TMC1731A, & TMC1732A integrated circuits, in ceramic packages.

When introduced in 1970 these calculators were at the cutting edge of technology and still having teething troubles. This is illustrated by a news story in the magazine Electronics in January 1971[3]:

"TI production woes delay calculator
  
Canon's pocket calculator, which was to be selling in the U.S. last month, is being delayed because production of its thermal print head by Texas Instruments is two months behind schedule. The calculator, called Pocketronic is designed around three MOS circuits and can add, subtract, multiply, and divide; it was to sell for less than $400.
   TI's James W. Clifton, manager of display products, says he expects to catch up during the second quarter. The print head, which is used with thermally sensitive paper to provide hard copy readout, is a silicon array of small dots that can be heated in various combinations to form numbers and other characters. Clifton attributes the delay to the fast turnaround time initially scheduled for the project: 15 months from laboratory to the large-scale production required by the Japanese firm. The Canon calculator also uses three of TI's MOS/LSI circuits. Apparently, there is no problem in delivering these circuits."

 

A year or two later Texas Instruments started producing its own range of calculators and sold calculator ICs to many other manufacturers.

 

This was one of the first hand-held calculators.

Although it is hand holdable it is not really a pocket calculator due to its great length and thickness (208 mm / 8.2" by 48 mm / 1.9").

Requires three large-scale integrated circuits (LSI) for the calculating functions.

 

 

References

  1. Dentaku Museum site at http://www.dentaku-museum.com/.
  2. "Pocket model", Electronics, Apr. 27 1970.
  3. "TI production woes delay calculator", Electronics, Jan. 4 1971, p17.
Home
1) Mechanical Calculators
2) Desk Electronic Calculators
3) Hand-held Calculators
4) Non-Decimal Calculators
5) Calculator Companies
6) Calculator Photo Library
7) Collecting Calculators
8) British Calculators
9) Puzzle Corner
10) Calculator Time-line
11) Calculator Technology
12) To make a Pocket Calculator
13) Index to the Calculators
14) Calculator Resources
15) Frequently Asked Questions
16) Update Information
17) Vintage Calculator News
18) Bletchley Park
19) About this site
20) Search this Site

Hand-held Calculators

TI Cal-Tech
Canon Pocketronic
Sanyo ICC-82 & ICC-0081
Sharp QT-8B
Busicom LE-120A & LE-120S
Sharp EL-8 & Facit 1111
Minolta Minolcom
Brother PRO-CAL 408
Bowmar 901B
Ragen Microelectronic
Sharp EL-811 & derivatives
Royal Digital III & IV
Busicom LE-100A handy
Busicom LE-80A handy
Hewlett Packard HP-35
Canon LE-10
Rapidman 800
Texas Instruments 2500
Lloyd's Accumatic 100
Sinclair Executive
Casio Mini
Sanyo ICC-809
Sharp EL-801
Texas Instruments SR-10
Sperry Remington 661D & 661
Olympia CD 81
apf Mark V
Ramsgate M-11
Iain Jones International Mini A
Hewlett-Packard HP80
Heathkit IC-2009
MITS 150
Summit Ko9V, K16 & SE88M
Unicom 102
Victor 85
Elka 101
RFT minirex 75
Sharp EL-120
Sharp EL-805
Bowmar MX-55
Atlas-Rand, Berkey, & Keystone
Hewlett-Packard HP-65
Casio fx-10
Calcu-pen
Casio AL-8 & family models
Commodore 776M & 796M
Novus 650
Rockwell 8R
General Instrument EZ3000
Check, billfold, wallet calculators
Edmund Scientific 1945
Texas Instruments Spirit of '76
Pulsar Calculator Watch
Compuchron Calculator Watch
Adler Lady & Sir
Elektronika C3-15
Speech+
Commodore S61
Sharp EL-8026
Texas Instruments TI-30
Canon Multi 8
Casio ST1
Wrist Calculators
Kosmos I & Kosmos Astro
Hanimex Calculator-Recorder
Navigation Calculators
TI58 Special Function Calculators
Sandvik 842S Coromant
Panasonic Electronic Ruler
Teal Photon
Sharp EL-825
Casio Mini Card LC-78
Feet & inches calculators
Elektronika MK-33
Sharp PC1211/Tandy TRS80 PC1
Curta
Slide Rule
Otis King L

Vintage Calculators

© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout  2000-2009 except where noted otherwise.