Radofin, Taktile & Triton
Radofin Electronic was based in King Street, West London and marketed a variety of advanced consumer electronics.
In July 1974 there was a report of three newly formed electronics companies, Radofin Electronics of London, Radofin Electronics of Liechenstein, and Radofin Electronics (Far East) of Hong Kong[1]. Later Radofin models were manufactured in Hong Kong.
By January 1978 Radofin Electronics (Far East) were leaders in the electronic games business. It had once let the market in calculators, its only product until September 1976, but had seen the end of the calculator boom and moved into games production[2].
Triton was a registered trademark of the company and the earlier calculators bear the Triton name, whereas later calculators carry the Radofin name. Taktile calculators are similar to Triton models but any connection with Radofin is not known. If you have any information about this please get in touch.
Some early Triton calculators were manufactured by Advanced Telecommunications Equipment (ATE), of Woking, Surrey. This company was a small manufacturer of telecommunications and other
equipment, and marketed its own Calate range of electronic calculators for about 18 months. It ceased this at the beginning of 1974 to concentrate on OEM production for other companies, including Acme Electric (Ajax) and Radofin (Triton), with trade enquiries being handled by Radofin Electronic. The company manufactured its own membrane tactile keyboards.
The Taktile models
are identical to these Triton models so were presumably made by the same company.
References:
- The Times, 17th July, 1974.
- The Times, 31st January, 1978.
Known calculators under the Triton name:
Known calculators under the Taktile name:
Known calculators under the Radofin name:
- Radofin 8P
- Radofin 870
- Radofin 1515
- Radofin 1525
- Radofin 1610 "Valuman"
- Radofin 1630
- Radofin 1640
- Radofin 1660
- Radofin 1720
- Radofin 1750
- Radofin 2200 style 1
- Radofin 2200 style 2
- Radofin SR1630
Triton 8
Display is 8 digits, red LED.
Four function.
Integrated circuit - General Instruments Microelectronics C-550.
9v (PP3 battery).
Made in England.
Has membrane keyboard.
The Triton 8 is known only from this advertisement from February 1974, which boasted "Triton is based on GIM's powerful C550 "chip" packing the eqivalent of 7000 transistors in 0.1inch2 of silicon".
Triton 1000
Display is 8 digits, red LED.
Four functions.
Main integrated circuit - General Instrument Microelectronics GIMT CZL-550, here date coded 1974.
4.5v (3 x AA batteries).
74 x 150 x 20 mm / 2.9" x 5.9" x 0.8".
Assembled in Malaysia.
This model is identical to the Litronix TRITON 1000.
Triton 1200 & Taktile 1200
Display is 8 digits, red LED.
Four function.
Integrated circuit - General Instruments CZL-550, date coded early 1974 in both of the calculators pictured here.
9v (PP3 battery).
76 x 154 x 24 mm / 3.0" x 6.8" x 0.9".
Manufactured by Advanced Telecommunications Equipment (ATE).
Has membrane keyboard.
This is fairly thin calculator with a "pregnant" bulge to accomodate the 9v battery. Unlike some Sinclair models which had the same feature, the bulge here is at the top of the rear so the calculator sits on a desktop at a usful angle inclined to the user.
