National Panac 883 (JE-883)

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After Matsushita's first hand-held calculator, which won a Good Design award, was a great success, they tried to transfer some characteristics from its very unique design to their newer, increasingly smaller pocket calculators. The upper part of the JE-870 and JE-883 models, released in 1974, echoes the more curved design of the JE-850 series. For the buttons of the JE-883, the contrast between dark and light is decisive; the earlier, more angular version of the keyboard fits perfectly with the rounded corners and straight lines of the entire calculator. Internally, it is identical to first model built with Matsushita’s own integrated circuit, the JE-880. Later models bear less and less resemblance to these types; the use of wire-drawn aluminum plates slowly took over, which went hand in hand with increasingly angular shapes.