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Addendum to 'The Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators'
"J–O"

The Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators lists over 1,500 models of early pocket calculators from over 220 companies and provides an excellent source of information on early hand-held calculators.  However, since it was published further models have come to light and are listed here.

If you have an early pocket calculator (from the 1970s with LED, vacuum fluorescent, discharge, or early LCD display, and battery powered) which is not in The Collector's Guide, please email the details as in the list below for inclusion here.

Details for each calculator are required in the format used in the book, and below:
Manufacturer or Trading Company, Model Name or Number (there may be more than one), Functions, Display Type, Battery type (and if rechargeable), Size, Country of Manufacture, any Interesting Features.

A small frontal photograph (jpeg format, about 600 pixels max dimension) of each would be useful and will be included with the details if of good quality.
Please email with details.

New Calculators

Latest Update - latest additions have the date added.

Displays are 8-digits unless described otherwise.

Go to   J   K   L   M   N   O

 

J

JANON

Japy (French watch manufacturer)

JCE (John Colling Enterprises, Palo Alto, California, U.S.A.)

JC Penney (U.S. department store)

JEFFERSON

JE

JET

JetSet

JOYSONIC

J.T.A. (sold mail-order by J.T.A. of 7 Weir Road, Balham, London, SW 12)

JULIETTE

JUNIOR

 

K

KARR + Cie. AG (Zürich)

Karstadt (German company)

Kel-Co (Cannella Corp, Syracuse, NY, U.S.A)

Keltmace

Kessel (Kessel Electronics (HK) Ltd., of Hong Kong, is a company of the Kessel Group)

KENNEX

Keon ("London, Hong Kong, Melbourne")

Keystone (U.S. company - see also Berkey)

Kiankho

King Sonic

Kings Point

Kingstron ("Kingstron Electric Co. Ltd., Taiwan, China")

Kitlex

KOKUYO

königer

Kores (International office supply company based in Vienna, Austria)

Kosmos

KOVAC (KOVAC CORPORATION, Osaka, Japan, marketed in Europe)#

 

L

Labora Mannheim (German laboratory equipment company)

LANCIA

Lecom

Lexicon

Litronix (U.S. company)

Litton (Litton Industries, U.S. company. By 1970 it also owned Monroe, Imperial, Royal, Triumph-Adler.)

LJG

Lloyd (Deutscher Lloyd Lebensversicherung AG. German life insurance company)

Lloyd's and Lloytron (U.S. company, calculators with the Lloytron name are found in Europe. See the Calculator Companies section for more information. Model numbers may be preceded by 'Accumatic' or 'E' ).

LMI ("THE WEIGL COMPANY INC., New York. N.Y.")

Logic

Logitech (Logitech Inc., Taipai, Taiwan)#

Lolek - see Elwro

Longines Symphonette

Lyceum

 

M

Mach

MADISON ("MADISON by CARAN D'ACHE")

Magiclick (Distributed in Spain by eye S.A.)

Magnon

Mallory

Manica

Mannics (Mannics Industries Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan)#

Mariner (NRC, New York)

Maruman

Master Calculator Company (U.S. company)

MATAC

Mathbook

Math Master (Epoch Co. Ltd.)

Mathmatic (American Circuitron Inc., Hamden, Conecticut,  U.S.A., also Mathmatic Sales Inc., Waterbury, CT.)

Mattel (U.S. company)

Mayfair (Mayfair Sound Products Inc., Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.)

Mayhugh

MBO (MBO Schmidt & Niederleitner gmbh & Co. KG, Germany)

MD1 and MD2 (found in Europe.)

McO

MEC (Metropolitan International Enterprises Co. Ltd)

Megatone (Iwatani & Co. Ltd., Japan)

Meir

Melcor (Melcor Electronics Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y., U.S.A.)

Memory Devices (East Molesey, Surrey, England.)

Memory Master (European market calculator)

Methodo

Metro

Metronic Laboratories (U.S. company)

Microcifra (fate Electronica, Argentinian company)

Microlith

MICROLUX (MICROLUX by WINDERT)

MICROMA

Miida (Sometimes labeled "Marubeni Corporation, In U.S.A. Miida Electronics, Inc., In Canada Master craft Enterprises")

MIKE

MILUX

Minerva (U.S. company)

Minicom

Minipet

MINITEC (TOYO ENTERPRISE CO., LTD., JAPAN)

Minitron (made in Yugoslavia (now Serbia) by Elektronska industrija-Niš.  Designs developed from Rockwell/ANITA after end of production in Britain.)

Minolta (Japanese camera company)

Mintron (Minsung Electronics Ltd., Seoul, Korea)

Miracal (P D Labs, 2120 Ronald St., Santa Clara, California, U.S.A.)

Miracle

MITS (Micro Instruments & Telemetry Systems.  U.S. company, famous for being one of the first companies to make home computers.)

M-OFFICE (A trade name of the Migros supermarket and department store company of Switzerland.)

Monarch (No details available. If you have information about this company please get in touch.)

Monroe-Litton (U.S. company)

Monte Carlo (Manufactured in Hong Kong, possibly by (or distributed by) Collins Industrial Co., Ltd.)

Monteverdi

Montgomery Ward

Morse Electrophonic

MORSE INTERNATIONAL INC.

M.P.Alas - See Ei

MPI

Mustang

MVB

 

N

National (see Panasonic.  The brand name often used in the 1970s was National Panasonic)

National Cash Register (NCR) (U.S. company)

National Semiconductor and Novus (U.S. company, some calculators marked National Semiconductor and some marked Novus)

Navtronic see Specialized Electronics Corp.

NCR see National Cash Register.

Neckermann (German department store)

Nentone

Nestler (German office equipment company)

Netronics (Netronics Research & Development Ltd., Spring Valley, N.Y., U.S.A.)

Neutron

New Bright (Shinsho Sangyo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan)

Nixdorf

Nobility

NORIS

norman (AUTO RADIO NORMAN, Argentina)

nova

Novax

Novus - see National Semiconductor.

Numerex

Nuvox

 

O

Office International (We have no information about this company - If you know anything please drop us a line.)

Okhai (Scottish company)

Olivetti (Italian company)

Olympia (German company, subsidary of AEG-Telefunken.  Some early models made in Japan by Matsuhita, and so resemble Panasonic models.)

Omron (Omron Tateisi Electronics Co., Japan)

ONGNICA

Ordibel Collators

Orion (please let us know if you have any information about this company).

ORIS

 

 

Click to go to :
Calculator Book Addendum A-B
Calculator Book Addendum C-D
Calculator Book Addendum E-I
Calculator Book Addendum P-R
Calculator Book Addendum S
Calculator Book Addendum T-Z

 

Key to Abbreviations

Functions:
4-funct = 4 basic mathematical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
sci-funct = scientific or engineering functions (logarithmic and trigonometric functions such as log, sine, and cosine and usually memory, square, pi, etc.)
mem = memory
% = percent function
exp = exponent
paren = parentheses
pi = pi value
recip = reciprocal
sgn chg = sign change
sq rt = square root
sq funct = square functions (including square and square root)

Battery Type:
button rep batt = very small, disk-shaped, replaceable batteries commonly termed button-types, used mainly in LCD models.
rep batt = replaceable batteries (such as 9V, AA, C, and N batteries)
rep batt pack = replaceable batteries in a removable pack
sealed batt = rechargeable batteries sealed in the case
sealed batt pack = rechargeable batteries in a removable pack

Display Type:
See the section on Calculator Displays for more detailed information.
Displays have 8 digits unless specified otherwise.

COS-LCD = Early Liquid Crystal Display from Sharp showing silver digits on a dark background. COS stands for Crystal on Substrate. This display was used as early as October 1973 but eventually was phased out.
fluor = see VFD.
Gas discharge = Display containing all digits sealed in a single package employing  gas discharge to generate light in the same way as a neon lamp. Normally give amber- or orange-colored digits, and typified by the Panaplex® used by a few calculator manufacturers.
LCD = Liquid Crystal Display, a flat, gray-digit type of display type that uses less power and was embraced by calculator makers by the end of the 1970s. Early versions (used in the early 1970s) by Rockwell and Sharp are included in this guide.
LED = Light Emitting Diode display (usually red although sometimes a purple filter was used to color the display). LEDs often have small half bubble-like covers over the digits. tube or mini-tube = separate vacuum or fluorescent tube for each digit of display.
Yellow LCD = Early LCDs had a reliability problem with ultra-violet light and manufacturers used a yellow-colored filter over the normally gray display to remedy that. Refinements in later LCD designs removed the need for the filter.
VFD = Vacuum Fluorescent Display. Display containing all digits sealed in a single tube generating light from an electrical discharge onto a fluorescent material. The color of the digits is normally green or blue, or somewhere in between.

Other Information:
Klixon keypad = Texas Instruments Klixon® keypad was one of the earliest keypads and used greatly by Bowmar and a few other early calculator makers. It had the four basic functions and used metal key pads about 1/2" square.
Japan (for example) = country of manufacture as stated on calculator
RPN = Reverse Polish Notation, a method of calculating and user data entry used by HP calculators. A few other manufacturers also used RPN in more limited scale.
"aka" (also known as) is used when there is another name or model variation on the calculator.
"c" (for example, c1973) is used as "circa," denoting at approximately that time.

 

A big thanks to Thomas Brockmeier, Richard Brooks, Andrew Davie, Larry Gilbert, Niels Grot, Palmer Hanson, Steve Haynes, Robert King, Kent King, Jeff Lane, Philippe Leckler, Ken Meine, Bob Patton, James Redin, and CB Wilson for their help.

 

How to Buy the Book!!!!

Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators

by Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm

This 204 page, softcover book is the world's most comprehensive listing of electronic pocket calculators from the 1970's, the so-called Golden Age of Pocket Calculators.  Over 1,500 known calculators are detailed with information on features, size, display type, power type, and pricing.  In addition, when known, the listing also contains date of sales, original pricing, and country of origin information.

The book features over 470 photographs of various models from over 240 manufacturers around the world (including calculators from lesser-known companies in England, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, and Russia).

"The Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators" includes a comprehensive value guide to help you gauge rarity and desirability of the various models -- especially as they relate to each other.

The book can be purchased for $20.00 plus $5 for USA mailing ($10 for first class mailing to Canada, and $23 to other countries).  California residents please add $1.86 state sales tax.

For payment by PayPal, or for additional details and information, contact co-author Guy Ball.  Guy is happy to sign the books if asked.

 

Copyright ©1997 Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, ©2002-2024 Nigel Tout

Vintage Calculators

Text & photographs copyright, except where stated otherwise, © Nigel Tout 2000-2024.