Casio Mini Card LC-78 Handheld Electronic Calculator

This credit card-sized, lightweight handheld electronic calculator has an aluminum case, plastic keys and display cover, a plastic circuit board, and various metal circuitry. In addition to an array of ten digit keys, a decimal point key, and a total key, it has a column of four arithmetic function keys immediately to the right of the digit keys, and a column with a percentage key and three memory keys on the far right. The on/off switch is above the keyboard and the AC (all clear) and clear keys are left of the digit keys. The eight-digit liquid crystal display is above and to the left of the keyboard. A mark below it reads: CASIO- MINI CARD (/) ELECTRONIC CALCULATOR (/) LC-78. A mark on the back reads: CASIO-MINI CARD (/) BM 1.5V x 2 (DC) 0.0006W (/) CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD. (/) LC-78 MADE IN JAPAN.

A screw on the right side of the back holds it to the front. Unscrewing it reveals the circuitry and a space for two squat cylindrical batteries. A sticker on the inside of the back of the case reads: 4595189. A mark on the chip reads: B6.

According to an October, 1978, advertisement in the Los Angeles Times, the Casio LC78 was regularly priced at $29.99 and then on sale for $26.99. A December, 1978, advertisement in the same newspaper is entitled “For someone you love who loves being accurate: the math machines.” It describes several calculators, including the LC78. It gives a price of $29.99. By June 1980, the Washington Post lists a sale price for the Mini Card of $14.99.

References:

Los Angeles Times, October 18, 1978, p. F12.

Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1978, p. A26.

Washington Post, June 13, 1980, p. A29.

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