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NCM

Business Computer Corporation (Busicom Corp.), Osaka and Tokyo, Japan.

Originally the Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation (NCM), the name was changed to Busicom Corp. (Business Computer Corporation) in the late 1960s.
Busicom was a very technically progressive company, and was involved with Intel in the development of the Intel 4004, the first commercial microprocessor, for use in calculators.

Busicom also produced one of the first hand-held calculators, the Busicom LE-120A, which is small enough to be called the first pocket calculator.  This made use of the Mostek MK6010 integrated circuit, which was the first "calculator on a chip", which was developed by Mostek and Busicom.  The company also made prototypes of an LCD display version of this calculator, which would have been the first LCD calculator, but there were worries about the life of the liquid crystal and it never went into production.

Unfortunately the company's business acumen was not as advanced as its technology, and with the intense competition in the calculator industry it got into financial difficulties and ceased production in early 1974^[1].  However the rights to the Busicom name were bought by Broughton's of Bristol in Britain and calculators with the Busicom label, produced by different manufacturers, continue to be marketed.

See the article "Busicom of Japan and Broughtons of Bristol: Pioneering calculator company and the company which carries on the name" in the Collecting Calculators section of this site, and the Broughtons of Bristol section of the associated British Vintage Calculators site for later calculator models under the Busicom name distributed by Broughtons.

Some Busicom calculators were labelled for sale by other companies, including NCR (National Cash Register) of the U.S.A. and Privileg of Germany.

Examples of Busicom and Nippon Calculating Machine calculators

NCM/Busicom HL21.

This mechanical, pin-wheel, calculator can be found with both an NCM label and a Busicom label.

Dating from the 1960s, this is a featured calculator on this site.

The circuit board of the Busicom 141-PF.
The integrated circuits of the MCS-4 chipset used here are:

• 4 off 4001, read-only memory (ROM). The board also has one blank space which is marked for another 4001.
• 2 off 4002, random-access memory (RAM).
• 3 off 4003, shift register
• 1 off 4004, 4-bit microprocessor (the central processing unit, CPU).

The fascinating story of the development of the microprocessor for this calculator is told in The calculator that spawned the microprocessor on this site.

Further photographs can be found on this site of:

• Busicom hand-held calculators in the Calculator Photo Library.
• Busicom desktop calculators in the Calculator Photo Library.
• Later calculators marketed by Broughtons of Bristol in the Busicom pages of the associated British Vintage Calculators site.

References:

1. Milton, R., Beaumont, A.J. (1974), Electronic Calculator Markets and Suppliers, 2nd. ed., Finresearch Series, London: Ovum, 5.

Text & photographs copyright, except where stated otherwise, © Nigel Tout 2000-2025.

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