Canon Pocketronic

The Pocketronic uses an alternative display concept: it has a thermal printer, which prints on a narrow strips of paper lengthwise to the transport direction. This avoids problems of the plasma displays. You can argue about if it was Sanyo, Canon or Compucorp who really developed the first calculator. But it is a fact, that the Pockettronic was the smallest of the three. It was also Texas Instruments who claimed having developed the prototype of the first electronic calculator already in 1967(which is exposed in the "Deutsches Museum") in Munich. When looking at this calculator resp. its photos from its interior and compare them with the interior of the Pocketronic, built in Texas Instruments-ICs, it is conjecturable, that the Pocketronic is the serial version of the TI-machine except for the display.

Pocketronic detail

Display and label

The printed result can be viewed through the lense that can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture, before the thermal paper strip leaves the case on the left side.