BlueStar
Another Japanese machine, from the Tokyo Electrical Company. There are later model, very similar looking machines which are sold under both the Bluestar and Toshiba label, with the shape and colour of the handles as "signature feature".This "Burustar" is in really nice condition, and very clearly closely inspired on the Odhner machines, either as a blatant copy, or as a license build. It has a few puzzling differences that show it is at least partly a proper Japanese development. The first thing which is immediately obvious is the fact that the top and back cover form a single part, that is bent and cut from sheet steel. The second thing is that the counter register only has tens' carry over five places, there is no extension on the carry so it will extended over the full register - 5 carries should be enough for anyone, right? This makes the carriage mechanism much easier, and the machine a lot easier to (dis)assemble and maintain, so it does make sense in a way.
These are some pictures of the BlueStar (top), next to the equivalent Odhner 24 (bottom):
This is the Odhner:
and this is the Bluestar:
The differences in the tens carry mechanism are also obvious from the back of the carriage - Odhner:
and Bluestar, with extra carry teeth operated by the four gears in the main body of the machine.
Now for some pictures of this machine. The Nippon Jimuki Co was probably the company that sold this calculator to the end customer. They still exist, but are now an IT and management consulting company.
