Radionic calculator

Radionic calculator
Case number - AIBDC : 0_2302
A Radionic calculator manufactured by Radionics Products Ltd, Bristol. The rights and manufacturing parts for this calculator were bought by Radionics from Sinclair at the end of the 1970s. It is based on the Sinclair Oxford calculator and has an 8 digit red LRD display.
View more images on the MoDiP site
DesignerUnknown - Wanted
ManufacturerSinclair
CountryUK
Date1978-1979 (circa)
Dimensionslength 152 mm, depth 33 mm, width 74 mm
Methodplastic
Colourred
Inscription"Radionic" (top), "Sinclair Made in England" (back edge)
href=" http://www.10most.org.uk/artefact/radionic-calculator"

Join the hunt at: 10mostinvolved

Facebook Feed

29/09/14

Radionic calculator AIBDC : 0_2302 What can you tell us about this colourful calculator? We want to know in particular the individuals involved in its design: its working part and the form it takes. May be you worked at Sinclair or know someone who did? Or may be you owned one. If so perhaps you can tell us when you bought it? Follow the case on the 10 Most Wanted website: http://10most.org.uk/artefact/radionic-calculator.

02/10/14

For information about this calculator see the British Vintage Calculator site at - http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/radionic.html

04/10/14

The very helpful Nigel Tout from the Vintage Calculator Web Museum www.vintagecalculators.com emails to say ‘Clive Sinclair had a deserved reputation of being a very innovative entrepreneur, but by the end of 1976 Sinclair Radionics was in financial difficulties. The British government's National Enterprise Board (NEB) bought heavily into Sinclair Radionics, and was especially interested in the flat screen television which might rejuvenate the ailing UK television industry. However, the financial situation got no better. The NEB gave further heavy financial help but was under pressure not to lose the taxpayer's money, so they tried to raise money by selling off assets. The calculators were no longer profitable, so in 1979 the rights to the Radionics name, together with parts and dies, was sold to the ESL Bristol group of companies under the name Radionics Products Ltd. The NEB also sold the television business to Binatone, but retained the Sinclair instruments division which was later taken over and became Thandar. This Radionic model is very similar to the Sinclair Oxford 150 (http://vintagecalculators.com/html/oxford_150.html) from a few years earlier. The Radionic in my collection actually has a Sinclair sticker on it – see lower photograph on the page http://vintagecalculators.com/html/radionic.html. The Sinclair name still had a lot of prestige to it, and would for some years to come when the Sinclair computers were very popular. So I think that we can be confident that the Radionic is a Sinclair design, or at least derived from one (it is possible that the electronics inside may have been updated)’.

Follow on Facebook ...

Case notes

Susan Lambert's picture

Radionic calculator: Case AIBDC : 0_2302

What can you tell us about this colourful calculator? We want to know in particular the individuals involved in its design: its working part and the form it takes. May be you worked at Sinclair or know someone who did? Or  may be you owned one. If so perhaps you can tell us when you bought it?