Sumlock ANITA calculator

Unfortunately, the major mechanical calculator manufacturers were far away in the US and Germany, and Kitz's idea lay dormant until he raised it at that meeting.

Being the first in the field there were several major technical areas that required considerable development:[4] However, the main constraint was to be the cost of the calculator.

[4] This prototype was later donated by the company to the Science Museum in London, where Kitz had originally had the idea for the electronic calculator.

The Mk VII was a slightly earlier design with a more complicated mode of multiplication and was soon dropped in favour of the simpler Mark VIII version.

Being silent and very quick in operation, and the only electronic desktop calculator available, the ANITA sold well, reaching nearly 10,000 units per year by 1964.

[7] Development and some manufacture of the ANITA calculators took place at the Bell Punch Company's headquarters in Uxbridge, about 15 miles (24 km) to the west of London, United Kingdom.

However, the main production facility was in Portsmouth, on the south coast, where the company expanded the original site there, opened in 1952 to produce mechanical calculator parts, by acquiring additional buildings.

Initially the competing electronic calculators were no cheaper nor smaller than the ANITA, but Bell Punch responded by opening a new research and development building on its Uxbridge site, and electronics research was increased for the calculators and the other Bell Punch products.

There was a major development in 1973 when the Sumlock Anita Electronics division was bought by its main supplier of integrated circuits, Rockwell International of the US.