Marchant Calculator

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The Marchant Calculating Machine Co. was founded in 1911 by Rodney and Alfred Marchant in Oakland, California.

The company built mechanical, and then electromechanical calculators which had a reputation for reliability. Employee Carl Friden designed a new model in 1918 in response to patent challenges. It was a great success, and Friden became the chief designer until he left in 1934 to found his own company. In 1958 the company was acquired by the Smith Corona typewriter company in a diversification move that proved unsound; the company, which was now known as SCM, tried to stay competitive by introducing the SCM Cogito 240SR electronic calculator (designed by Manhattan Project veteran Stan Frankel) in 1965. Within a few years a tidal wave of cheaper electronic calculators had devastated their business, and by the mid 1980s, SCM's typewriter business, too, had been ruined by advent of inexpensive personal computers used as word processors.

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