IBM 604 and calculator history

Jerome Fine wrote, regarding the Friden mechanical calculators: A little historical elaboration. First, Friden (it doesn't have an extra 'e' in it) began making mechanical calculators as early as 1934, when the company was founded by Carl Friden. These machines required human intervention to divide. Later, in the 1940's, Friden came out with machines that were electro-mechanical and capable of automatic division. These machines proved very popular. One of the most common fully-automatic four function electromechanical calculators made by Friden was the Friden STW (see http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/fridenstw.html). These machines were made between 1949 and 1966. The peak of electro-mechanical technology was the Friden SRW and SRQ machines. The SRW could perform the standard four math functions, along with automatic square root. The SRQ could perform the same operations as the SRW, along with automatic, single-entry squaring. These machines were marketed in the 50's and 60's. The first electronic *desktop* calculator, using miniature Thyratron tubes (see http://www.geocities.com/anitaC-VIII.html), the Sumlock Comptometer Anita Mk 8, was introduced in 1961. In '63, Friden introduced the first all-transistor electronic *desktop* calculator, the Friden 130 (see http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/friden130.html). These machines were nearly the same size and weight as their electro-mechanical predecessors, *but*, they were quiet, and much faster. (Imagine the noise created in a large room full of electro-mechanical Friden calculators all running at once! -- such instances were quite common in insurance [calculating actuarial tables] and government/military [projectile trajectory work] during the 1940's). By 1966 to 1968, the trend was very clear...electronic desktop calculators were taking over. But, the machines were still rather large, heavy, and expensive [examples: Sharp Compet 20 (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/comp20.html) and Wang LOCI-2 (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/wangloci)]. Makers of the mechanical works of art such as Monroe, Marchant, and others (Olivetti, Olympia, etc.) had to deeply discount their mechanical machines because the electronic machines, while still more expensive, simply had advantages that made up for their higher price. These mechanical calculaor makers also had to scramble to attain expertise in design and manufacture of electronic machines, by either home-growing it (as with Friden, Olympia, Olivetti), starting out in electronic calculating from the get-go (Wang, Hewlett Packard), or finding someone else (generally in Japan) to help them (Monroe with Canon, Singer with Hitachi, and Burroughs with Sharp). As the '60s wound down, desktop electronic calculators shrunk in size and price, using small and medium-scale integrated circuits [examples being the Brother Calther 412 (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/calther412), and Sharp Compet 16 (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/comp16.html)]. By 1968, electronic circuitry had come to the point where sophisticated scientific desktop electronic calculators were possible, with machines like the Hewlett Packard 9100B (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/hp9100b.html) and Wang 300-series (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/wang360.html). Desktop calculators continued to advance, with HP's later 9800-series machines (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/hp9810a.html) and Wang's 700-series machines (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/wang720.html) blurring the line between the then-popular mini-computers such as the Digital Equipment PDP-8, and the Hewlett Packard 2100) and calculator. In the late 1960's, the advent of Large Scale Integration came into play, and the first 'portable' electronic calculators (though a far cry from 'pocket' calculators) were becoming available...machines such as the Sharp ELSI-8 (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/sharpel-8.html), the Canon Pocketronic (http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators/pocketronic.html), and others. The first truly 'pocket' calculator came to market in late 1971, made by Bowmar (using a single-chip calculator LSI made by Texas Instruments). So, as you can see, there was quite a lapse of time from when Friden introduced it's first mechanical calculators in 1934, and the time of the first 'pocket' calculator. Even if you consider the 'fully automatic' four function electro-mechanical Friden calculators (which came about in the early 1940's), to the time of the Bowmar pocket calculator, there were still over 30 years of time that progressed between these developments. As we all know, with technology advancing so quickly (even back then), 30 years seems an eternity. You can see more information about a lot of different calculators at my museum at http://www.geocities.com/oldcalculators Sure wish I could find one of those old IBM 604's, or a Casio 14-A relay calculator, as these machines were truly the 'mainframe' predecessor to the early desktop electronic calculators. Rick Bensene The Old Calculator Web Museum