Soviet calculators

They had calculators too. They were rare as manufacturing was expensive, but some of them were exported to other eastern block countries. Usually Soviet calculators used soviet chips which were sometimes (but not always) clones of western circuits, for example Elka printing calculator used original Rockwell's chip and later Soviet copy. Parts like display tubes, diodes, capacitors, sometimes LCDs and solar cells could be manufactured in soviet factories. Solar cells based calculators used very small backup capacitors because larger capacities were expensive.
In eastern block there was a permanent problem with paper for electrolytic capacitors. Soviet Union used enormous amount of Palladium alloys to make larger capacities. By using this precious metal they used less paper. Poland imported "kondensatornaya bumaga" (capacitor paper) from Soviet Union, but it was so poor in quality that they actually started to use it in late 1980s when technology became better.


Elektronika MK-60 (Электроника МК-60)

Type Simple pocket
Display: LCD
Keyboard: Membrane.
Chip: KB145WH3A-2 (КБ145ВХ3А)
Display driver: In a chip
Batteries: Solar cells
Operations: +, -, /, *, Decimal Point, %,sqrt, memory.
The first Soviet calculator powered by solar cells and the first solar-powered calculator in Eastern block, manufactured since 1982 till early 1990s (?1994?). It was promised that it'll work when exposed to 100W incandescent bulb light in maximum distance of 2m or 60cm away from 15W fluorescent lamp. Small, portable, simple, made with Soviet components.

There was also MK-60M version (export version) which had English letters on keys.

http://kaiu.narod.ru/mysoft.html - emulator of MK-60!


Manual


Chip datasheet

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In incomplete cover Numbers and minus Memory (П) and error (E)
Rear Keyboard removed PCB with keyboard
Chip is not known After disassembly Solar cell

 

Elektronika B3-09M (Элэктроника Б3-09M)

Type Simple pocket
Display: VFD
Keyboard: Membrane.
Chip: K145IK2 (К145ИК2)
+clock chip K1GF651 (К1ГФ651)
Display driver: In a chip
Batteries: 4x AA, power supply unit (photo)
Operations: +, -, /, *, 1/x, %, floating point
A typical battery-powered VFD calculator manufactured in 1970s in Soviet Union This unit is from 1976, it was manufactured around 1975..79?. It was widely exported to eastern block countries, and it later it was affordable even by an average engineer.
There were a few versions of this calculator with small differences in casing colours, containing different chip sets. IK2P chip required additional chips for storage, not present in IK2-based. There was also a transistor-based converter giving voltages needed for VFD tube.

 Schematic
 Photos of K145IK2
 Power unit (photo from auction)

 
Numbers Error indicated by dot Power switch and PSU conntecot
Manual in the bottom Inside Inside - converter