|
Oi Electric Aleph-Zero Desktop Calculator
Photo taken at offices of Oi Electric in Japan
Desktop electronic calculator utilizing approximately 1700
Parametron ferromagnetic devices as logic elements. Parametron devices were
compact and reliable, but required much more power than transistors. Total
power consumption for the Aleph Zero was around 300 Watts, roughly four times
the power draw of later transistorized calculators of similar capability.
Four function plus one-key automatic square root and summation function.
Full automatic floating decimal. One memory register. Utilizes Nixie Tube
display elements.
The Aleph Zero may likely have been the first Japanese-made all-electronic
calculator that was in regular production. It definitely preceded Sharp's
Compet 10 to market. Though
the Aleph Zero was advanced for its time, at around the same time, Mathatronics
in the US was debuting its
Mathatron calculators, which
were by far the most advanced electronic calculators to date, and held that
position until late 1965, when Olivetti in Italy introduced the famous
Programma 101.