Time to look at one of the new calculators which joined the collection at Christmas. The Busicom 1210PD is a decent sized desktop mains powered machine with a built in printer. This calculator, like the mighty Silver-Reed 1250PD, is intended for heavy duty number work such as working out the wages for the workers on a Friday.
The calculator works well, though requires a new ribbon. Despite it's age it seems to work electronically pretty well with few glitches. Numbers are shown in a nice cyan blue VFD display.
Busicom is a very important company in the history of computing. In the late 1960s Busicom wanted to build an electronic calculator. To reduce costs, they wanted to integrate the various (indeed many) chips needed into a few integrated circuits. They approached a new company in the US to design and manufacture this calculator chip, that company was Intel and the chip was the Intel 4004. The calculator which used it, the Busicom 141-PF, went on sale in 1971.
To reduce the prices charged to them from Intel, Busicom gave up their exclusivity for the 4004. Intel later in 1971 went onto sell the microprocessor, the first one to go on general sale, and they have done pretty well ever since. Busicom did not do so well, however. They went bust in 1974 and were bought out by Broughtons of Bristol who continued using the Busicom name. The 1210PD is one of these machines, it is unlikely to have a 4004 in it though maybe i shall open it up one day and check!
