• 1965

Hardware Description

Wang Laboratories was one of the first companies to develop and successfully market electronic calculators. Their first commercial model, the WANG 300 launched in 1965 was their first electronic calculator aimed to compete with the electro-mechanical calculators dominated by companies like Friden and Burroughs, and the early electronic calculators such as the ANITA (A New Inspiration To Arithmetic) manufactured in England by Sumlock Comptometer since 1962, and the Compet (CS-10A) introduced in Japan by Sharp Corp. in 1964. The WANG 300 was based in the LOCI, a desktop scientific calculator patented by Wang Laboratories in September 17, 1964. The LOCI had no resemblance whatsoever to the current small sized high powered calculators. It used a teletype hardcopy device to enter the data and output the results, its main unit had to stand on the floor and supported multiple keyboards.