An LED calculator watch BEFORE Pulsar in 76 ??? Surely not

[Diginut]

Robert Fondiller - inventor of the LED wristwatch calculator ? before pulsar ??!!

This chap seems to have a filed a couple a dozen patents to do with electronic watches and other devices from early 70s through to late 80s; He died in 1999. His obituary claims that he was the inventor of many things ? including the ?wristwatch calculator? ? before Pulsar !

A summary of his life is shown below. His 2 dozen patents (by him or referenced to him) including numerous ones to do with the electronics of digital watches and digital displays in the 70s, and numerous links to John Bergey ? But what is really interesting is that his company Fondiller Corp produced a 9 digit LED wrist calculator with a tiny grid of touch pads for buttons encased in a machined stainless steel case and made this in early 1975, and even had a price on it of $600. IE, perhaps 9 months BEFORE the pulsar calculator wristwatch broke cover in Dec 75 / Jan 76.

I have included two items of interest. One is the text summary of his obituary from 1999, and then a composite image taken from scans of a June 1975 Playboy magazine that showed a picture of the ?Fondiller Calcron? watch in a static image with a simple description. I do not pretend to know that this worked, or they made many, etc. But I am keen to find out more because this superficially looks extremely interesting. I am a big fan of anything Pulsar, and don?t wish to steel their thunder, and no doubt some of the army of Pulsar evangelists out there will scoff at this ? but you have to admit this is pretty interesting stuff, and as far as I know NO ONE has ever voiced this observation before me.

Can anyone shed any additional light on this fascinating tale ??

Let the flames commence.




Robert Fondiller, inventor, consultant and entrepreneur, New York, Died on February 9, 1999. Fondiller, who received a master?s from the Stevens Institute of Technology, an MBA from NYU, and a doctorate in psychology from California?s Fremont College, was a prolific engineer and consultant. After working for a time with Western Electric, Fondiller became president of Fondiller Corp., later known as Futura Corp. The holder of 20 patents, ?Robin? Fondiller was credited with inventing a battery used to power life-support systems in spacesuits used on the first moonwalk, the erase key for typewriters, the wristwatch calculator, and fitted bedsheets. He designed clip-on sunglasses, the first kitchen configured for use by the wheelchair-bound, a ?healthmobile? with medical diagnostic equipment for use in rural areas, and the ?princess? telephone. He also created a spray process to help construct low-cost housing in less than a day. A member of Mensa, the Explorers? Club and the New York Academy of Sciences, as well as a Knight of Malta, Fondiller was something of an eccentric ? he once entertained the King of Spain with grilled cheese sandwiches. On a trip to Cuba in 1960 to meet Magda Lupescu, the mistress of the deposed king of Romania, Fondiller was arrested for taking unauthorized photographs, only to be released when it was discovered that he had forgotten to load film in his camera. He learned to fly airplanes after being forced to land a plane in Mexico when the pilot suffered a sudden heart attack. Fondiller became a widely respected consultant on economic development, technology and business management, advising 21 governments (including the People?s Republic of China, Russia and South Korea) and the United Nations. He addressed the general assembly of UNESCO in Paris on a literacy system for underdeveloped countries that he had developed. Fondiller also taught widely, including courses at City College, the New York Institute of Technology, NYU and Columbia; in later years, he became a popular speaker for the American Management Association.
Class of 1939

[Dig-it-all]

What a great piece of investigation ....... this IS interesting.

[Lordpulsar]

Wow... Now this is interesting... I cant remember if the 1822-2 came out in 1975 or 76.. I'm pretty sure it was 75, but never the less, I've never heard or seen this one before.... Really interesting article.... !

Nice one !

[Dig-it-all]

Had a thought - is this JUST a calculator. I don't see anything like a 'T' or time button.

Pulsar was both.

Sinclair did a wrist calculator but I don't know when they came out without digging around.

[fronzelneekburm]

Never heard about or seen that Fondiller Calc-Watch or how its called. Very interesting finding - why do people always connect Playboy with nudity?

No seriously - as I have really seen some rare stuff I think this calc if it was ever produced must be like ultra rare. I know a die-hard calculator collector who knew all early LED calc watches like HP-01, Uranus, Pulsar, Hughes, Calcu Pen, Sinclair wrist calc and stuff. But he never mentioned this Fondiller thing, I know he would have as I have bugged him a lot about LED calculator watches.

I think it could be some kinda "one piece" prototype, who knows if there ever was one working piece?

I remember loads of cool novelty stuff that was announced in other magazines (no, not playboy), like some cell phone watches, various TV watches (OK there finally is the NHJ, but it looks different from early "prototype pics"), a video conference watch and tons of other stuff. You get what I mean? I really know nothing about it, but if it exists and appears on ebay one day, then it will be DAMN rare. :wink:

Very cool finding!

[fronzelneekburm]

Oh, I finally found it!!!

I still do not know if he has ever made the first calculator wristwatch, but seems like ha has patented it.

Class of 1937:

J. Franklyn Bourne, Fairmount Heights, Md., in 1998. Robert Fondiller, inventor, consultant and entrepreneur, New York, on February 9, 1999. Fondiller, who received a master?s from the Stevens Institute of Technology, an MBA from NYU, and a doctorate in psychology from California?s Fremont College, was a prolific engineer and consultant. After working for a time with Western Electric, Fondiller became president of Fondiller Corp., later known as Futura Corp. The holder of 20 patents, ?Robin? Fondiller was credited with inventing a battery used to power life-support systems in spacesuits used on the first moonwalk, the erase key for typewriters, the wristwatch calculator, and fitted bedsheets. He designed clip-on sunglasses, the first kitchen configured for use by the wheelchair-bound, a ?healthmobile? with medical diagnostic equipment for use in rural areas, and the ?princess? telephone. He also created a spray process to help construct low-cost housing in less than a day. A member of Mensa, the Explorers? Club and the New York Academy of Sciences, as well as a Knight of Malta, Fondiller was something of an eccentric ? he once entertained the King of Spain with grilled cheese sandwiches. On a trip to Cuba in 1960 to meet Magda Lupescu, the mistress of the deposed king of Romania, Fondiller was arrested for taking unauthorized photographs, only to be released when it was discovered that he had forgotten to load film in his camera. He learned to fly airplanes after being forced to land a plane in Mexico when the pilot suffered a sudden heart attack. Fondiller became a widely respected consultant on economic development, technology and business management, advising 21 governments (including the People?s Republic of China, Russia and South Korea) and the United Nations. He addressed the general assembly of UNESCO in Paris on a literacy system for underdeveloped countries that he had developed. Fondiller also taught widely, including courses at City College, the New York Institute of Technology, NYU and Columbia; in later years, he became a popular speaker for the American Management Association.


Edit: found here: http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/nov ... aries.html


Edit 2: Cant stop thinking about it. That article claims he has patented the wristwatch calculator. Did all others - like HP, Pulsar, Hughes and whoever, maybe even casio - now pay him for making calculator watches? I never thought they were like patented - there are so many different makes, I have never thought it could be patented.

[Seer Taak]

Re: edit 2. I wouldn't think so. If the act of calculating is not a revolutionary invention, ie. people have uses various systems to calculate over the centuries, then it is surely possible to produce various wrist calculator models that dont infringe each others' designs. I think patents would be more likely for the different integrated circuts that make the wrist calculators possible, not the wrist calculator itself? Well thats my logic anyway :?

[The Time Computer]

Patent #3,803,834 for the first LED calculator was filed in the US Patent office on February 6th 1973. It was filed by Robert O.Reese who worked for Time Computer, Inc. of Lancaster, PA.

This is just a claim with no documentation. It?s unfortunate that Mr. Robert Fondiller has also maid a false claim and his name is not even mentioned in any referenced patents prior to the TC Pulsar calculator. Although it is a very interesting watch, it was not the first. You can find a new display at the NAWCC museum in Columbia, PA. featuring the Pulsar calculator, it was donated by Mr. Reese. I will be lending my prototype of the very first calculator ever made to the museum this summer so any of you that have a chance should visit the watch museum. BTW, I almost forgot to menton it had pushbuttons like the telephone keypads did in 1973

[fronzelneekburm]

Hmm, then I really wonder what it was he patented. Ah well I never understood that whole patenting thing anyways. Did then any of the other companies like Hughes or HP pay patent-fees or so to Pulsar?

Another interesting thing I found: "Calcron" is on Jon Etons brand list:

http://www.ledwatches.net/articles/watch-brands.htm

I wonder if Eton has ever seen one of them "life"?

[The Time Computer]

Well, I know some folks on this forum don?t think a patent is worth anything but it is reconized by the world as the ownership of invention and can be very costly if one operates without being licensed by the patent holder. Pulsar was a trade name of Time Computer, Inc. so it was TC that licensed any company who wished the use of their patent rights. There is quite a bit of documentation of many companies who were sued by TC for operate without a license. I think HP was actually one of them, I can check if you wish

[bruce wegmann]

A couple things stand out for me, looking at this watch. First, I am giving it the benefit of the doubt that it is in fact a watch, since I see no button labeled to suggest it had that function [though the "cron" in the name suggests it was a timepiece]. But mostly, I notice that this device embodies a great number of functions, including scientific and algebraic ones [indeed, the list of key functions is almost identical to the HP-35]. I remember the first calculators as being simple affairs; strictly "four-bangers"...add, subtract, multiply, divide, and that was it [even the Time Computer calculators didn't progress much beyond that; the HP-01 was vastly more sophisticated]. I also remember seeing the first HP-35 on the West coast, and that was sometime in 1975 [I'm reasonably sure, but that is going back a ways]. In any event, it just doesn't seem likely that the very first calculator would be small enough to fit on a wrist, but also have complexities that later [and supposedly more advanced] devices would lack. Just too out-of-sequence for me...

[Diginut]

Heres my thoughts (and distinct experiences) of whether the Calcron was possible in 1975 ?


Small bulky hand held calculators kicked off in 1970 with 2/3/4 chips inside powering everything. (For me the dynamic scattering displays used in some 72 calculators are collectible for the display alone !)

The first single-chip hand held simple calculators were available from 1972.

The HP35 was a ?advanced? scientific calculator, launched in Feb 1972, for a then whopping price of $400. It had 2 LSI logic devices and 3 ROM chips.

But by 1974 calculators were shipping 100m units world wide, prices on simple 4 function ones were right down to ?10-20. I remember my first one as a present when I was a kid, a sharp elsi-8002 with a green fluorescent display which I still have, and it works !

And also in 1974, Sinclair was churning out 12 function scientific calculators in bendy white cases and prices of those were falling dramatically from an initial high. They had a single calculator chip inside?

Simple calculators were down to ?5 by mid 1975 due to the proliferation of single chip designs, and hundreds of no-name brands filling the market place. The Single dedicated chip design was cheap because it did everything from the keyboard reading, driving the various display types popular at the time, and off course all the maths functions.

I am sure that the 1974/5 equivalent of tiny ?surface mount? chips would have allowed a small device like the Fondiller Calcron to have been prototyped by late 74, early 75 ? which is why perhaps Fondiller promoted/announced it so early as there was a real race on to announce the smallest yet, which inevitably meant someone somewhere would produce a wrist calculator.

As for chip complexity, bear in mind that in 1974 the 8080 8-bit microprocessor was available, the Z80 was around late 75, and by 1976 full 16 bit microprocessors were already being mass produced. And I bet cheap scientific calculator chips would have been available in 74/75, thus enabling the calcron idea to be hatched.

So I believe it may have been ?possible? for a prototype calcron to have been made, and promoted, but not mass produced, in 1975, because after all Hamilton a whole 5 years earlier managed (just about !) to engineer 40 odd simple logic chips into a multi-layered miniature assembly and squeeze it into a prototype watch case ? in 1970. And 5 yrs during the early seventies electronics boom was a very long time.

In 1977 I actually made one of the Sinclair wrist calculators kits. Still got it and it still works ! (I?ll do a pic of it soon) But my point is that it had a single 28 pin chip running the whole show, and such chips were not overly complex by then standards. Bear in mind that considerably more complex 8 and 12 bit microprocessors were driving the early home computer industry, as well as video games and so on. I know ? I was there, building them, and writing games for them.

Overall though, I feel that the calcron was a one off, but just about feasible for the day, and possibly even an unreliable working prototype. Looking at the picture gives some clues as to its possible functionality, although the surface printing of the tiny facia plate is a bit wonky where the word calcron is show. But the pic shows what look like tiny conducting touch pads for ?buttons?, and possibly tiny slide switches for the 3 way functions. There is possibly three LEDs top left for what trig mode it was in, OR these could have been 3 more ?buttons? to tell the chip which function to use next as each ?buttons? looks like it had 2 or more input functions. The Sinclair wrist calculator had this problem and solved it with a tiny 3 way front mounted slide switch ? which was a horrendously bad design !

Anyway, does anyone have any more info on this interesting quirk of history ??

[notonly1]

Another interesting thing I found: "Calcron" is on Jon Etons brand list:

http://www.ledwatches.net/articles/watch-brands.htm

I wonder if Eton has ever seen one of them "life"?

No, I have never acutally seen one in person although I'd love to. A few years ago I found an article in the January, 1977 issue of Popular Science about novelty calculators. The Calcron calculator watch was one of the featured items. However, the one in the article is a somewhat more advanced model than the one posted by Diginut, not so much by functions, but by design. Certain improvements were made in the year and a half after the Playboy article. I don't have any way to post a picture of it, but perhaps one of the other members might be able to find a copy and post a picture.

[Lordpulsar]

Hey Bruce,

On the subject of the calculators, I noticed you mentioned the 18k Euro model (1823-2) in your Group A of top watches ?.. I understand there were two models made and you have the really nice one with heavy solid bracelet ect?. To my understanding, didn?t Time Computer make two versions of this watch? .. The standard (really nice model) made by Pulsar S.A which has a heavy solid link bracelet with hidden clasp and nice brush finish. Then, there's a really cheap and nasty version that has a mesh bracelet (similar to men?s dress models) and a finish that is similar to metal when it has been sand blasted with pock marks ! ... kinda looks like it was designed by an engineer who threw watch parts together on a Friday afternoon or who was just bored! (no that?s a bit harsh) .. But it really does look so inferior compared to the Pulsar S.A version and must weigh half as much in gold ..... I think Tiffany sold it for a while, but it proved unpopular compared to the nice one and didn't sell half as well?