Busicom
Busicom KK ( Japanese ビ ジ コ ン 株式会社 , Bijikon Kabushiki-gaisha , English Business Computer Corporation ) was a Japanese manufacturer of mechanical and electronic calculating machines . The company , based in Taitō , Tokyo, was one of many international competitors in the up-and-coming business with these semi-mechanical computers.
Company history
The company was founded on April 22, 1918 and registered as a stock corporation on August 8, 1944.
From around 1970 , two pioneering examples of the architecture of electronic computers emerged in two collaborations, one with Mostek and another with Intel .
Mostek was commissioned with the design and manufacture of a "single chip" circuit which, among other things , should enable the construction of the first commercial fully integrated pocket calculator . The resulting semiconductor MK6010 was used for the first time in the Busicom Junior desk calculator , which has since been considered the first calculating machine with fully integrated electronics. The following model, the Busicom Handy LE-120A , was completed in January 1971 and went on sale for 89,800 yen . This computer was extremely compact (72 × 124 × 24 mm), battery operated and had the same MK6010 integrated circuit as its predecessor. In addition, a 12-digit seven-segment LED display was used for the first time . This model is considered to be the first calculator of its kind.
At the same time, Intel was commissioned to develop a complex but flexible chipset for computing machines. The result was the 4004 , in whose development the Busicom employee Masatoshi Shima played a key role. The 4004, along with a few other chips such as the B. a ROM for storing the machine code , a full-fledged microprocessor system. The first electronic calculating machine with such a microprocessor was the Busicom 141-PF model . It came on the market in October 1971 for 159,800 yen (= 1,591.34 DM).
These two devices are generally considered to be the most important milestones in computer history.
In 1973, Busicom went bankrupt due to the enormous cost pressure caused by the increasing number of competitors. The patent rights to the 4004, the world's first microprocessor CPU , had Intel recently repurchased by Busicom. The company was then reorganized and manufactured network accessories such as routers and modems until at least 2000, with the website being shut down in 2007.
In addition, the brand name Busicom was still used after 1973 by a former sales partner from England.
Web links
- Company history (English)