Calculators sold by Sumlock and made by
other companies
Wanderer Conti
Image of the Wanderer Conti enlarged from the advertisement shown below.
Wanderer Conti
An electronic calculator with printer, manufactured by Wanderer in Germany and sold by Sumlock Comptometer.
For some users, accountants for example, a permanent print of a calculation and its result was required. Early electronic calculators with printers were something of a rarity, and the first ANITA model with a printer, the 1011P, was not introduced until 1971.
A prototype Wanderer Conti was exhibited in late 1964 and was then the first electronic desktop calculator with printing output[1]. Production was scheduled for 1966[2]. The electronics, using Silicon transistors, was designed and manufactured by Nixdorf which bought Wanderer in 1968.
The capacity in input, output, arithmetic and magnetic core memory is 14 digits.
Additions and subtractions with full numerical values take a millisecond, while multiplications and divisions take,
on average, seventy to eighty milliseconds.
However, the speed of the machine does not depend on the time required for computation, but rather the high printing speed of about 240 lines/min[2].
A Conti badged for Nixdorf, at the Konrad-Zuse-Computermuseum in Hoyerswerda, Saxony, Germany. Photograph courtesy of Ralf Bülow.
The Wanderer Conti was added to the Sumlock Comptometer range in late 1967, since there were then no ANITA models with a printer.
At the Annual General Meeting of Lamson Industries Ltd. (the parent company) in May 1968 it was explained "We
also recognize that we cannot necessarily manufacture all that we can or should market and are prepared to add such products as fit in with those which we already handle and can make a profitable contribution to our selling
armoury. For instance, Sumlock Comptometer are now selling the Conti electronic desk calculating machine, embodying tally roll hard copy, a useful addition to the Anita range with visual display."[3]
Two models were marketed, the Conti 10R (with 10 magnetic core stores) priced at £1,085 (about US$3,000), and the Conti 3R (with 3 magnetic core stores) priced at £898 (about US$2,500)[4].
John Clements worked as an engineer at Sumlock from 1958 to 1978, and was one of the first to train on the Conti. He says: "I found the Conti machine very unreliable and the mechanical section especially so".
Advertisement of January 1968 from Sumlock Comptometer featuring the Conti along with ANITA calculators.
References:
- "Der erste elektronische Tischrechenautomat mit Druckwerk" [The first electronic desktop calculator with printing unit], Der Büromaschinen-Mechaniker, November 1964, p237.
- "Die >>Wanderer conti<< wurde vorgestellt: Prototyp des ersten elektronischen Tischrechenautomaten mit Druckwerk in Köln" [Presentation of the "Wanderer conti": Prototype of the first electronic desktop calculators with printing unit in Cologne], Der Büromaschinen-Mechaniker, December 1964, p247.
- "Lamson Industries Limited", The Times, 8th April 1968.
- Conti 10R Flyer, Sumlock Comptometer Limited, London, 1968.
Early Anita Desktop Calculators
Text & photographs copyright © 2002 - 2023 Nigel Tout, except where noted otherwise.