A 1975 vintage Olympia CD43

Unexpected thrift-store find!

In suitably coloured plastic, a 1975 Olympia CD43.

Spotted by our youngest, who scans the bins of 'button-boxes' for anything cool - this rated cool enough, certainly for the few Euro asking price. Batteries included - and it works :)

The vacuum fluorescent (VFD) display glows crisply green - in a bezel that is a little higher than the keyboard.

This small, simple four-function calculator was manufactured for Olympia in Japan. Noting that although it is a basic calculator with the four functions, in 1975 this was an advanced and relatively expensive item. It works on two AA batteries, but also has a power-jack for an external power-supply.

The arrival of low-cost electronic calculators in 1975 - 1976 spelled the rapid end of mechanical calculators and sliderules alike. This Olympia is reportedly based on the NEC µPD941C integrated circuit; a dual-inline 28 pin package.

This Olympia electronic calculator is in a way a direct descendent of the first commercially succesfull pinwheel calculator, the Odhner of the late 19th century. Setting up a German manufacturing / licensing of the Odhner patents was the basis of the Brunsviga line of calculators in the 1890s and Brunsviga was absorbed by Olympia in the late 1950s.

Showing how it compares; the usual simple division of 355

by 113

gives the answer immediately:

That really shows how much the little electronic calculator was superior to mechanical four-species machines (such as e.g. this Olympia RT4).

This thrift store find came complete with its vinyl protective sleeve.

That sleeve and it probably being kept in a drawer for likely 40-odd years away from direct sunlight is what probably helped keep the beige plastic relatively bright. It will continue to be kept by our youngest out of sunlight in its sleeve :)