Compucorp
Compucorp
Computer Design Corporation
California, USA

Compucorp, a marketing division of Computer Design Corporation roots back to Wyle Laboratories, of El Segundo, California. A group of engineers started already mid of the 60s with the development of a programmable electronic calculator. Nevertheless it was a very capable machine the managment of Wyle Laboratories decided to stop further development of the machine. A group of engineers started their own business, the Computer Design Corporation. Without any marketing knowledge or sales organization the company decided to sell calculator designs instead of manufacturing calculators. In a first step the engineers started the design of a flexible calculator architecture based on microprogrammed logic to solve different calculating applications with one base design. The first customer of the design was the US company Monroe and a complete series of high-end calculators appears under the Monroe label using the first-generation chip set. The main difference between the calculators was the microprogramm.

Early in the year 1971 the Compucorp division was founded to sell ist own line of calculators. The first series of Compucorp calculators, the 100-series used the same chip set as the Monroe products. Some 20 different calculators were reported within the 100-series. At the same time the design of the second-generation „ACL“ chip set started and led to the 200-series desktop calculators and 300-series portable calculators. The „ACL“ chip set was fabricated by AMD, but later, Texas Instruments was added as a second source. Both lines of calculators generated again some 30 different calculating machines with just two base designs. The success of the chip set ended with the introduction of the highend 400-series, more a computer system than a calculator.

Later in the year 1971 the first single chip calculator designs appeared from both MOSTEK and Texas Instruments. Starting as basic four function calculators they changed the calculator market dramatically. Within month a lot of companies like Bowmar, Corvus and even Texas Instruments introduced cheap pocket calculators with rechargable batteries. Within two years calculators like the HP-35 and SR-50 raised the pressure on Computer Design Corporation and the shut down began. Already in the year 1975 Compucorp was history.

Sold also under the Monroe and Sumlock brand names.

Source : Joerg Woerner, Datamath Calculator Museum, based on the wonderful article „The History of Compucorp“ by Rick Bensene.

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