1973 · Portable Thermal Printing Calculator · Work 941 of 1,871
A portable printing calculator on a white laminate table in an architect's studio in Milan on a spring morning, a flat elongated block twenty-five centimetres long with rounded edges, entirely egg-yolk yellow, on its left a rounded housing for the paper roll with a small clear window, a short curl of blank white paper rising from a slot, a red lamp and a plain smooth silver strip, on its right a soft yellow rubber skin with raised round nub keys and one large oval key, every key plain smooth and unmarked, a fingertip pressing a nub, tracing paper and a black ink pen beside it, light from tall windows on the left.
What it was used for
A printing calculator from Olivetti of Ivrea, designed by Mario Bellini. A display is missing entirely: output goes through a thermal printer with a built-in paper compartment. A removable battery allows use without a mains cord, a wheel with 4 positions sets the decimal places, and mechanical microswitches sit under the rubber skin. The MoMA names ABS, synthetic rubber and melamine as materials and gives dimensions of 4.8 × 24.8 × 12.1 cm; the underside carries the type designation BCD18 with 220 volts and 10 watts. The MoMA took an example into the collection in 1974, object number 450.1974.1-2.
What was new
What was new was not the calculating technique but the skin. An evenly stretched rubber membrane lies over keys and surface, the keys shaped like nipples; Bellini, who worked for Olivetti from 1963 to 1991, thus made the passage from mechanical to microelectronic technology into something one wanted to touch. That same material is the price: UV light turns the rubber hard, cracked and faded, which is why, in the account of Mass Made Soul, many surviving examples are damaged.
What the sources leave open: The day's plan gives 1973; MoMA and MoDiP date the object to 1972 and Mass Made Soul gives 1973 as the market launch - design and launch are different dates. The widths differ: MoMA 24.8 cm, MoDiP 310 mm; the MoDiP example comes with its clip-on charging unit, but MoDiP does not say whether it was measured with it. No source gives production figures or a price.