Casio
Casio Computer Co. Ltd., Japan.
Casio was an early manufacturer of calculators electric and electronic calculators. It produced electric relay calculators in the 1950s and early 1960s and transistorised desktop calculators in the mid 1960s.
Casio pioneered low-cost hand-held electronic calculators in the early 1970s with the Casio Mini, and by producing innovative, well specified, high-quality calculators survived the calculator price wars of the mid-1970s and continues to be a major calculator manufacturer today.
History of Casio: In 1946 Kashio Tadao (who had been born in 1917) set up his own business called Kashio Seisakujo, in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan. The company operated as a small subcontractor that made microscope parts and
gears. However, in looking for products to manufacture, Tadao with one of his brothers, Toshio, developed a four-function mechanical calculator. From this followed relay calculators and then the transistorised
calculators.
The Casio Computer Co., Ltd. was established on June 1, 1957 to develop and manufacture the relay calculators.
The whole fascinating story of Casio and its calculators is told at http://world.casio.com/corporate/history/.
A brief chronology of Casio products can be found at http://world.casio.com/corporate/history/chronology/.
From this the following summary of notable Casio
calculators, with their launch dates (in Japan), has been extracted:
Casio calculators featured on this site
This is an early programmable calculator, and uses discrete transistors and a magnetic core memory. It dates from 1967.
Four-function, using a Fairchild chipset. It dates from about 1971.
Four-function, using a Fairchild chipset, in horizontal design. It dates from about 1971.
When launched in 1972 the Casio Mini with its 6-digit display was one of the cheapest electronic calculators, costing just below US$100.00 [£40.00GBP].
The first of a long line of Casio scientific calculators, launched in 1974.
The first calculators to input and display fractions and time.
The first hand-held calculator with a 'Twisted Nematic' Liquid Crystal Display, which has an extremely low power consumption, launched in 1975.
The first combined hand-held calculator & clock/stopwatch, launched in 1976.
A tiny calculator, launched in 1976.
Combined electronic stopwatch and calculator, can perform time calculations, launched in 1977.
Tiny calculator with clock and stop-watch. Can perform time and date calculations, launched in 1977.
The first credit card sized calculator, though a little thicker, launched in 1978.
For further photographs of Casio calculators see the Calculator Photo Library on this site.
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© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout 2000-2023 except where noted otherwise.