Very cool calculator by Lloyd’s that has two displays, one for time & alarm, the other for computation output. The audible alarm is driven by a module that you plug into the underside of the unit that also hold batteries for power. Ambitious design!
By the early 80’s, nearly every electronics company had entered the calculator market, even audio giant like Toshiba. This little one surfaced in 1982 or so. Tiny calculator clock combo. Dig the forest & olive green color combination!
Litton Industries’ Monroe calculator line is long and diverse–their operations started in the US, but by the 1970s, had moved overseas. This little pocket multi-function model, the M-112 was manufactured in Japan probably around 1982. In addition to clock functions there’s a stopwatch, too.
Sure, we knew Pierre Cardin produced pants, but calculators too? This is their all-in-one device, assumedly marketed for busy travelling people. It combines a clock, calculator and AM/FM radio into one handy unit! There’s a telescopic antenna and the clock is armed with an alarm.
Here’s Sanyo’s all-in-one calculator, the RPM6950: a calculator, clock, and an AM/FM radio. It’s part of the fancy Horizon Collection, a product line that consisted of sleek and innovative products. Don’t be deceived by the design, the tuning is not digital. There’s a small dial on the top for that.
Canon was a big player in the calculator industry throughout the ’80s. This LC-34T was one of many models that had functionality beyond the standard mathematic calculations. It also had a clock with an alarm.
We must thank Thomas Fears of Rochester, NY for this week’s Magical Gadget. Thomas picked this Micro-Walkman up in Japan. Its silver finished and raised lettering indicate this was made during the hey-day of the quality-built portables. The micro-cassette is probably nearing extinction, becoming replaced with digital recording CD-Rs and the mini disc. But back in the late ’70s and well into the ’80s, the micro-cassette was a godsend for travelling businessmen, press people and size-conscious audio folks. Micro-cassette recorders offered all sorts of features, including stereo-recording, auto-reverse and in the case of Thomas’ Micro-Walkman, FM tuning. This incredible little gadget had an FM tuner in a micro-cassette shaped case, so you could listen to the radio, or remove it and record. This little module appears to be all-metal also and even has a little LED indicator for stereo reception! This idea was well executed in standard size audio-cassette walkmans in the early ’80s, but the M-50 is the only micro-cassette with such a tuner. Thanks Thomas!
What was the ultimate convenience in telephony back in the early ’80s? Touch-tone dialing, of course. In this period, many of us were still stuck on the rotary-dial telephones rented by the phone company. Sure, we made do, but what a luxury it would’ve been to have touch-tone dialing. Buscom made this ingenious little device called the Soft Touch AutoDialer. It replaced the phone’s plastic microphone screen by screwing into the talking end of the telephone receiver. Once it’s on, touch tone away! This gadget was powered by the current of the phone line and the model pictured above actually had the ability to store phone numbers! Program long numbers for those exotic new phone services like tele-banking and toll-free numbers. We grabbed the one pictured in an urban electronics shop. The original price tag said $179.95, we talked them down to five bucks.
Whoever this Lloyd is, someone give him a pat on the back for innovative products. Pictured above is the box for the Accumatic 613. This is a very early LCD calculator, the tell-tale sign being that beige color on the display. This calculator is very sleak in its brushed steel chassis. A six function calculator is not so unusual we know, but take a look at the second LCD display underneath! That’s for the clock! There’s a plastic module that snaps into the back containing an alarm mechanism, which doubles as a tilting pedestal.
This week, we covered the AM Stereo novelty that swept through the radio industry for a bit way back when. Sony provided consumers with plenty of AM stereo capable receivers, including this little Radio Walkman, the SRF-A1. It offered FM stereo and AM stereo. The two-position switch on the front is to accomodate reception of several popular flavors of AM stereo: Harris, Magnavox, Motorola Systems on the top setting, and the Kahn-Hazeltine System on the bottom. This model is indeed a rarity, and is sought after walkman and AM stereo enthusiasts alike.
