Virtual Museum > The electronic revolution > Nixie
SCM is the name of the 3 companies that came together to build calculators: Smith-
Corona and Marchant.
Marchant was known to build mechanical calculator early in the 20th century. When merging with Smith Corona they started they build electronic calculators.
The COGITO series is an example of NIXIE displays in a fairly large desktop model, since it had only the 4 basic operations.
What is interesting is the shape, which is very 60's, looking like a small terminal on the desk:
There were several models of the COGITO machines, based on the number of NIXIE tubes:
COGITO 410 : 10 tubes (10 digits)
COGITO 412 : 12 tubes (12 digits)
COGITO 414 : 14 tubes (14 digits)
The inside of the machine is very clean or well organized, as shown below:
In the next view, you can see the empty spaces on the left and on the right, that would be used to add more tubes for the 412 and 414. The one pictured is a 410 with only 10 tubes:
These models did not survive very long, because 1970 was the beginning of the LED calculators, smaller, more powerful, and cheaper. A COGITO 412 would cost around $900 at that time (1970). 3 years later, the Hewlett-
Packard 35, with all scientific functions, would cost $395, and even that price went down years after years.
There is no comparison between a COGITO 412 and a small HP-
35 that fits in your pocket, works with batteries, and performs all scientific operations.
But just for the shape of the calculator, the style, and the use of NIXIE display, this one has a special place in my collection and virtual museum.
Please see below a short video to demonstrate the use of this device.