Canon Canola 130S
Distinctive features: Uses germanium transistors and 'light-pipe' display modules.
Capabilities - 4 functions.
Display - 13 digits, 'light-pipe' display modules. Note that three are not working in the photograph above.
Technology - The 13 logic boards hold a total of 545 Germanium transistors of types 2SA538 and 2SB77, made by Hitachi, and hundreds of Germanium diodes.
Size - 340 x 435 x 195 mm (13.5" x 17" x 7.75"), 11.4 Kg (25 lbs).
Made in Japan by Canon Camera Co., about 1968.
The Canon Canola 130S was a development of Canon's first electronic calculator the Canola 130 which was introduced in 1964. In 1968 it was advertised as a "compact" calculator selling for US$995 (about £400GBP).
In the early 1960s the Canon Camera Company foresaw that business machines offered it an area with large growth potential. The company also had a great need for calculators for use by its lens designers, and so as part of its expansion it developed its own range of electronic calculators.
One problem that the calculator designers of the period had was in the choice of display technology. The only electronic type then available was the 'Nixie'-type numerical display tube which required high voltage drives.
The Canon designers chose the much less commonly used low-voltage filament-lamp/'light-pipe' numerical modules, as described below.
Different numbers being displayed by the "light-pipe" display modules. The method of operation is explained at the bottom of this page.
The bottom cover has been removed to reveal the very neat wire-wrapped connections to the sockets that the cicuit boards plug into. Modern practice would use a circuit board backplane rather than hand wiring.
Note the wheels at the rear, far right, which were common on the heavy desktop calculators of this period, to help in moving them on a desktop.
The boards alternate between those having two display modules and those without any. The two end boards each have one display module.
'Light-pipe' Numerical Display Modules
Here are photographs of a similar, though larger, 'light-pipe' display module showing its contruction. The modules used in the Canon Canola 30S are of a more compact design but work in an identical way.
Removing the cover reveals the stack of plastic light-pipe sheets, one for each number 0 to 9 in this module. Decimal points sheets could also be fitted.
Each sheet carries its number marked out in an array of conical pits in its surface. When a light is shone into the edge of the short side of a sheet the light is piped round the corner, as with fibre optics, and illuminates the pits and so the number is seen.
The bottom of this version is removed to allow replacement of the tiny filament lamps. There is one lamp to illuminate each 'light-pipe' sheet.
The bottom has been replaced allowing the connections to each lamp to be seen.
These 'light-pipe' numerical display modules only require the low voltage drive of the filament lamps. But the lamps have the disadvantages of high power consumption (though not much of a problem in an AC-powered calculator), short operating life, and a slow response. They were not widely used.
Text & photographs copyright, except where stated otherwise, © Nigel Tout 2000-2025.
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