Vintage British Calculators

British names appear on many vintage calculators.
Some are manufacturers, some are marketing companies selling other manufacturers calculators under their own names, and some are chain stores selling other manufacturers calculators under their own names in store.

This site is part of the Vintage Calculators Web Museum.
Minor updates to this site are regularly being made.
Last significant update 15th April 2025 Update Information

British companies which had their own names on calculators:

Click on a picture or an underlined company for more details and photographs

	Abatron - Hand-held calculators from Business Electronics Ltd.
	Addo (Britain) Ltd. - Manufacturer & Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic calculators. Subsidiary of Addo AB, of Malmö, Sweden
	Adwel Adding Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributor of Scandia calculators.
	Advance Electronics - Manufacturer, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE) - Manufacturer, hand-held electronic calculators, under the Calate and Taktile names.
	Agrell - Manufacturer, Mechanical. Manufactured for Addo.
	Ajax - Hand-held electronics calculators, marketed by Acme Electronics (Finsbury) Ltd.
	aml - Marketing, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held.
	Anita - Trade name of Bell Punch and Sumlock, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held. Anita calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Automatic Business Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic calculators. Distributors of Curta hand-held mechanical calculators, and Casio calculators.
	Bell Punch Company Ltd. - Manufacturer, Mechanical & Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators. Produced the world's first electronic desktop calculator. Sold under the names Anita, Sumlock, Plus, & British Computator Corporation. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Binatone - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held.
	Block & Anderson - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic. A member of the Ozalid group of companies. Distributed many calculators, including those by Facit, & Marchant.
	Boots - National chain store, selling Electronic Hand-held calculators, made by others, under its own name.
	BOSCO. (Bulmer's Office Supply Co.) - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributors of Lagomarsino, Numeria, and Sharp calculators.
	Brinlock - Marketing company, Electronic, Hand-held calculators.
	Broughtons of Bristol - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators. Were distributors for Busicom, Nippon Calculator, and also for various periods: Rheinmetal, Supermetal, Soentron, Mercedes, Triumphator, Minerva, and Flying Fish.
	Busicom Business Machines - Marketing company, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators (see Broughtons of Bristol).
	Calate - Electronic Hand-held calculators manufactured by Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE).
	Caltec - Manufacturer, Electronic calculators.
	Comptometer (Felt & Tarrant) - Manufacturer, Mechanical calculators. Felt & Tarrant assembled some Comptometers in Britain using parts manufactured in the U.S.A. and locally. For more information see the Comptometer page on the Vintage Calculators site.
	Control Systems - Holding company owning Bell Punch Company, Anita and Sumlock. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Co-op - National consumer co-operative.
	Data Devices - Manufacturer, Electronic calculators.
	Decimo - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Detson - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Dixons - National chain store, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators under the brand name Prinztronic.
	Exactus Business Machines - Manufacturer, Mechanical Hand-held calculators.
	Fi-Cord - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators. Was a joint British distributor of the Anita hand-held range, and also of hand-held electronic calculators produced for it by Advance Electronics.
	Geeta - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Geller - Marketing company, Electronic calculators.
	Gemini / Emihus - Hand-held calculators.
	Gross Electronic Calculators Ltd. (a subsiduary of Gross Cash Registers Ltd) - Manufacturer, Electronic Desk calculators.
	Guys Calculating Machine Ltd. , Wood Green, London - Mechanical Desk calculators. "Britannic" was their trade name.
	House of Fraser - National chain store, marketer of electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Imperial - Marketing company, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held calculators, under the 'Imperial' and 'Royal' names.
	Isambard Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical desk calculators. Distributors of Nisa and Cellatron calculators.
	Kingson - Marketing company, Mechanical Addiator type calculators.
	London Computator Corporation - Marketing company for early Bell Punch key-driven mechanical calculators (see Bell Punch and Sumlock). Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Memory Devices - Manufacturer, Electronic - Hand-held calculators.
	Memory Master - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Muldivo - Marketing company, Mechanical calculators. Distributed the calculators of many manufacturers, including Guy's, IME, Madas, Precisa, Thales, Walther.
	Newlyn Electronics - Manufactured the Gemini range of hand-held electronic calculators.
	Office and Electronic Machines Ltd. - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators.
	Okhai of Scotland - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Phytron Electronics Ltd. - Marketing company, Electronic Desktop and Hand-held calculators.
	Plus - Brand name of Bell Punch Co. early Mechanical "Compometer" calculators. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Plustronics (a division of Photopia International) - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Prinztronic - Trade name of Dixons national chain store, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Pye - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Radionic - Electronic kit supplier, listed under Sinclair.
	Radofin - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators. Triton was a registered trade name of the company.
	Semicomps Limited - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators - See Calate.
	SET - Electronic calculators.
	Shibuya - Electronic calculators.
	Sinclair - Manufacturer, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	E.G. Solomon - Marketing company, Mechanical Desk calculators. Distributor of Schubert calculators.
	Sovrin - Marketing company, Electronic Hand-held calculators.
	Sumlock, Sumlock Comptometer, Sumlock Anita Electronics and Sumlock Bondain - Trade names of the Bell Punch Company and distributors of their calculators, and company spun off, Mechanical & Electronic, Desk & Hand-held. Bell Punch calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Taktile - Hand-held calculators, a trade name of Advanced Telecommunications Ltd. (ATE).
	Tealtronic - Marketing company, Hand-held calculators.
	Texet - Marketing company, Electronic Desk & Hand-held calculators.
	Triton - Hand-held calculators, a trade name of Radofin.
	Betting Shop Calculators - Several specialised calculators for use in betting shops were manufactured by a few companies.

Foreign companies which had British made calculators

	Adler - Early hand-held model made by Sumlock-Anita Electronics. Anita calculators and their development are described in detail on the associated site "Bell Punch Company and the Anita Calculators".
	Burroughs - Manufacturer & marketing, Mechanical & Electronic - Desk.
	Commodore (cbm) - Manufacturer & marketing, Electronic - Desk & Hand-held.
	Gillette - The only Gillette calculator was manufactured by Sinclair.
	Hanimex - Marketing - Hand-held.
	Rockwell - Manufacturer & Marketing - Desk & Hand-held - also see Anita.
	Texas Instruments - Marketing & Manufacture, Electronic - Desk & hand-held. Commenced manufacture in 1974 in Plymouth^[1]. Texas Instruments models known to have been manufactured in Britain :- TI-1500 TI-2500 Datamath TI-3500

British companies which made calculator-based games

Invicta

Produced the Master Mind series.

Further information about British calculator companies will be gratefully received for inclusion on this site - please contact us.

References:

Milton, R., Beaumont, A.J. (1974), Electronic Calculator Markets and Suppliers, 2nd. ed., Finresearch Series, London: Ovum, p40.

The first electronic Desktop calculators

Please note that this is a virtual calculator museum which only exists as photographs and text on this website, not as a physical display of calculators anywhere.
None of the calculators displayed is for sale.

The Vintage Calculator Web Museum is interested in acquiring early British electronic calculators, and also calculator operating manuals, service manuals, teaching manuals, books, catalogs, and brochures.
If you have anything that you are willing to donate please contact me.

Your comments, information, corrections, photographs of vintage calculators for the photo library, etc., will be gratefully received and used to enhance the site. - Please leave a message.

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Each of the sections shown above is separate.

A "~" character before a year indicates "about that year".

The site is updated as new information and photographs become available.

For general information about vintage calculators and links to other sites please visit the main Vintage Calculators site.

About this site.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is presented in good faith. While we make great efforts to list accurate details we take no responsibility for any consequences for errors that may unintentionally be present. Note that even over the few decades since the calculators shown here were new it can be very difficult to judge the accuracy of information provided by the various sources that have been used. Be aware that information presented here may be updated as further detail becomes available.

You may also be interested in my site specifically about the Bell Punch Company and its ANITA calculators, including the world's first electronic desktop calculator, at http://anita-calculators.info/.

Interested in 1940s computers, WWII coding machines & code-breaking, old computers and military communications? - Try the Bletchley Park museum at www.bletchleypark.org.uk and The National Museum of Computing with their Vintage Computers and Calculators at www.retrobeep.com .

Also interested in preserved steam railways ? - Try the Great Central Railway at www.gcrailway.co.uk - the world's only double track preserved steam railway.

I also have a site showing the remains of the old Great Central Railway through Leicester at www.gcrleicester.info, and a site with old photographs of railways in that area at http://www.nigeltout.com/html/railway_photo_galleries.html.

Vintage British Calculators