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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

Casio AL-1000

Casio AL-1000

This is an early programmable calculator, and uses discrete transistors and a magnetic core memory.  It dates from 1967.

Casio121K

Casio 121K

Four-function, using a Fairchild chipset.  It dates from about 1971.

Casio AS-C

Casio AS-C

Four-function, using a Fairchild chipset, in horizontal design.  It dates from about 1971.

Casio Mini

Casio Mini

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].

Casio fx-10

Casio fx-10

The first of a long line of Casio scientific calculators, launched in 1974.

Casio AL-8

Casio al-8, al-8S, & al-10

The first calculators to input and display fractions and time.

Casiopocket LC

Casio pocket-LC

The first hand-held calculator with a 'Twisted Nematic' Liquid Crystal Display, which has an extremely low power consumption, launched in 1975.

Casio CQ-1

Casio CQ-1

The first combined hand-held calculator & clock/stopwatch, launched in 1976.

Casio micro mini M800

Casio micro-mini M800

A tiny calculator, launched in 1976.

CasioST1_1_t

Casio ST-1

Combined electronic stopwatch and calculator, can perform time calculations, launched in 1977.

Casio MQ-1

Casio MQ-1 & MQ-2

Tiny calculator with clock and stop-watch.  Can perform time and date calculations, launched in 1977.

Casio Mini Card LC-78

Casio Mini Card LC-78

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.

Vintage Calculators

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