ANITA is Launched

The world's first electronic desktop calculators

The Anita Mk VII and the Mk 8 were launched simultaneously in October 1961.

Anita Mk VII

Anita Mk VII

The first Anita model to complete development was the Anita Mk 7 (see photograph above), which was ready for sale in late 1960. However, it required a slightly complicated method of multiplication involving the column of "Tab" keys on the left as well as the multiplication keys on the right. This did not find favour with the company's sales force who were afraid that the new operator skills required would cause confusion among the army of mechanical Sumlock operators in the field.

Fortunately, the export division welcomed it into their market for decimal calculators and it was launched at the 1961 Hamburg Business Equipment Fair (Oct. 10th. - 13th) by its German distributor Büromaschinen-Vertriebsgesellschaft m.b.H. This model was sold mainly in continental Europe, especially in Germany, Holland, and Belgium.

Headline and photograph from an article in the journal 'Der Büromaschinen Mechaniker' of November 1961 announcing the launch of the Anita Mk VII.

A translation of this is:

"Anita" the first portable electronic calculator
A completely new type of calculating machine

The electronics Buromaschinen-Vertiebsgesellchaft [Office Machine Marketing Company] m.b.H., of Hamburg 22, Karlstrasse 2, and branch in Wuppertal Barmen, now brings with the "Anita" the first portable electronic calculator on the market. "Anita" is the latest product of the Bell Punch Company Ltd., known by the key-driven Sumlock adding machines and Plus high-speed adding machines, in Uxbridge, England.

Anita Mk 8

Anita Mk 8

While the fate of the Anita Mk VII was being decided, development continued to produce a machine to a British market specification, and this became the Anita Mk 8 (also designated the Mk VIII, see photograph above). The Mk 8 was launched in Britain, the week before the launch of the Mk VII in Germany, at the 1961 Business Efficiency Exhibition in London (2nd. - 11th. October) by its British distributor Sumlock Comptometer Ltd., but orders were not being taken until January 1962.

This machine was also very successful and many thousands were produced at the company's Portsmouth factory and sold around the world.

Headline and photograph from an article in the journal 'Office Magazine' for December 1961, announcing the Anita Mk 8.

In reviews of the Anitas immediately after their launch, it was noted with enthusiasm how easy they were to use, and how quick and silent they were.

Note that the selling price, at about £355 Sterling [about US$1000] was very competitively priced compared to electro-mechanical calculators similarly capable of automatic multiplication and division. In over 2 years, between their launch and early 1964, there were no other models of electronic desktop calculator on the market and so several tens of thousands of Anitas were sold around the world.

Why were the first Anita electronic calculators called the Mk VII, and Mk 8 (or Mk VIII) ?
This is explained by the photograph below:

The photograph, from "The Magazine of Control Systems Ltd." of Winter 1959, shows Mr. R. Walter taking the Press Release meeting through the Sumlock range prior to the introduction of the Sumlomatic."

The various models in the development of the Sumlock mechanical calculators were the Mk I through to the Mk VI. The Anita electronic models, which followed on, used the next numbers in this series.

The Bell Punch Company & the Development of the Anita Calculator
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Text & photographs copyright © 2002 - 2008 Nigel Tout, except where noted otherwise.