Calculators from the U.S.S.R
Elektronika MK-33, MK-57A, MK-61, Elorg 801
On this page are details of the Elektronika MK33, a very late red LED display calculator, and also the Elektronika MK57A and MK61, late green vacuum-fluorescent display calculators, and the Elorg 801 red LED display calculator for export, all from the Soviet Union.
Elektronika MK-33
Display is 8 digits, red LED.
4-function, %, memory, square root.
3.6v, 3x large rechargeable button cells.
Size 70 x 131 x 14 mm (2.75 x 5.2 x 0.5").
Cost 25 roubles.
This model is very stylish with a satin-finish aluminium front. They were manufactured from the 1980s into the 1990s (this example made in April 1990) by the Svetlana company of Leningrad USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, now St. Petersburg, Russia).
The USSR lagged behind the West and Japan in semiconductor and display technology. Their first hand-held calculator developed in great haste and introduced in 1973 appears to have been largely based on imported technology. Many models with largely local electronics were subsequently produced under the Elektronika name, but in general look dated when compared with the models of the West and Asia of the same period. Red LED display calculators were almost completely obsolete elsewhere by 1980, having been replaced by low-power LCD displays, but in the Soviet Union, with much less competition, they continued to be manufactured into the 1990s, as shown here.
