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Canon Multi 8

Canon Multi 8.

Distinctive features: The first hand-held calculator with a multi-line display.

Technical details:
Display has 2 lines, each of 8 digits, blue fluorescent.

Four functions, %, memory, square root.

Integrated circuit - Texas Instruments TMS1079NL, here date coded late 1977.

4.5v (3 x AA batteries).

76 x 154 x 22 mm (3.0" x 6.0" x 0.85").

Made in Japan.

Has two lines of display - The switch to the left of the display is used to select one of the following:

• The upper line displays the number in the memory (see above, left).
• The upper line is turned off, so giving a conventional single line display.
• Both lines display the items of a calculation (see above right).

Close up of the 2-line fluorescent display.

Until the introduction of cheap multi-line LCDs (Liquid Crsystal Displays) in the 1980s this was one of the very few calculators to display more than one line.

Vintage Calculators

© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout   2000-2010 except where noted otherwise.