Victor Business Products, Inc.

Victor Technology LLC (also known as Victor Calculator) is a supplier of printing calculators, scientific calculators, financial calculators, basic calculators, and desktop accessories with headquarters in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Victor products are sold primarily throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico through independent office supply dealers.

Company history

Victor Adding Machine Co. was a fledgling company in 1918 when the operator of a chain of meat markets gave a Victor salesman $100, intending to buy an adding machine. Instead, he got 10 shares of the company's issued capital. In an effort to protect his investment, that man – Carl Buehler – became a director of Victor in September 1918 and was elected president of the company three months later. The first Victor adding machine, Model 110, was introduced in 1919.

In 1921, Carl selected his 24-year-old son, A. C., as Vice President of Operations and advised him to operate the company by "working like the devil, but treat the employees right and allow them to make some money." Carl also believed in reinvesting most of the profits so the company could grow. A.C. assumed control of the company on the death of Carl Buehler in 1932.

During World War II, Victor manufactured an aircraft compass, a B-24 bomber turret gunsight, and the Norden bombsight. After the war, Victor had all the necessary elements for success in the adding machine industry – quality products, a good research department, an efficient factory, an effective sales organization, and a dedicated service department. Therefore, it was no surprise that by 1947 Victor had become the world's largest exclusive manufacturer of adding machines, and five years later topped the million mark in units sold.

In 1953, Victor went into the cash register business, acquiring its long-time customer, the McCaskey Register Company. This purchase immediately contributed to sales and marked the beginning of a major expansion phase.

A. C. began to evaluate the computer market during the 1950s. He decided that the market had potential, but that he would stay out of it until he could find or develop a product suitable for both large and small businesses. The solution came in 1961 when Victor merged with the Comptometer Corporation, which produced calculating machines and a telecommunication device called the Electrowriter.

In 1965 Victor Comptometer Corporation produced the Victor 3900, a fully electronic calculator with multiple functions, three storage registers, and a small CRT display. The unit incorporated an early MOS integrated circuit for processing and storage. The unit was designed for desktop use, but was extremely large and heavy. Due to manufacturing difficulties, manufacturing was discontinued in 1967.

The newly formed Victor Comptometer maintained an aggressive stance towards product line expansion. In 1966, the cash register line, which had begun with a calculator on top of a cash drawer, was expanded to include the Hugin cash register. This Swedish-made product was distributed by Victor in the U.S. and Canada. By 1967, there were 75 basic models in the Victor line.

After 1967, Victor began designing electronics into Victor products. In 1971, the 1800 series was introduced as the first full line of electronic calculators. In 1973, a revolutionary electronic dot-matrix printer was introduced and sold as an OEM product. In 1974, a series of programmable calculators were introduced and quickly captured a large segment of the banking and small-business market. In 1975, Victor began producing a series of electronic cash registers.

Kidde, Inc. of Saddle Brook, New Jersey, acquired the company and renamed it Victor Business Machines in 1977. Under new ownership, Victor began to search for products for the office of the future. At the top of the list was to find a superior microcomputer product. Toward the end, Kidde made a deal with Chuck Peddle's Sirius Systems Technology, Inc. – a company recognized for manufacturing a technologically advanced, affordable desktop computer designed for the needs of small businesses, Sirius 1. It was an Intel 8088 based machine running MS-DOS and CP/M-86, but more powerful than IBM PC, released at the same time, regarding RAM, display, floppy disk, etc. They realized that the computer would fit perfectly into Victor's well-established network of 50 branches and 680 dealers. An arrangement was made for Victor to have exclusive domestic distribution rights for a three-year period. The computer was sold as the Victor 9000.

The Sirius machine quickly became the number one selling microcomputer in Europe, when IBM waited with the promotion of the PC on that market. Realizing the value of Victor's distribution channels, Sirius set out to acquire the Victor Business Products division from Kidde, Inc. The acquisition was completed in November 1982 and the new company was called Victor Technologies, Inc. Four months later, Victor became a publicly owned company.

The combination of rapid expansion of personnel, a large increase in the number of branch sales offices and sales that did not meet anticipated levels, caused the company to experience financial difficulties in 1983. In order to protect Victor Technologies, Inc. and at the same time find a way to meet its obligations to its creditors, Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings began in February 1984. As Victor sought to restructure and streamline its operations in the next year, the company continued to fill orders for both office and computer products.

In August 1984, an agreement was made with Datatronic AB of Sweden to purchase 90% of Victor Technologies, Inc. Datatronic was a diversified corporation with interests that included business microcomputers, software development, finance and consumer products and publications. The purchase was finalized on February 5, 1985. Victor Technologies, Inc. had begun its resurgence as a strong contender in the office products and business computer fields.

Victor redirected its marketing plan to place major emphasis on the calculator business in the United States and the computer business in Europe. During the next few years, both of these divisions grew and became quite successful. During this time period, Victor's parent company, Datatronic AB was sold to Proventus in 1989.

This sale left the successful Victor calculator business intact in the United States. The then current management team of Victor U.S.A. consisting of Dick Battalini, Marty Lent, and Joe Federman formed DMJCO, Inc., which then purchased the assets of Victor Technologies, Inc. in May 1991. Both Battalini and Lent had at that time over 25 years of experience with Victor in Sales and Marketing, and Federman, the then-President of Victor Technologies, Inc., had many years of experience in both public and corporate finance and corporate management.

In 2006 the assets of DMJCO, Inc. were acquired by the existing management team of Jordan Feiger and John Ringlein and the company's name became Victor Technology LLC.

In 2007 Victor Technology released the V12 financial calculator which competed with the long-established Hewlett Packard HP-12C financial calculator.

In 2008 Victor launched the PL8000 printing calculator. The PL8000 contained many industry firsts including an alphanumeric display, alphanumeric printer, Prompt Logic guides for the user, Loan Wizard, personalized text messages, reprint key, and HELP key. The PL8000 was also the fastest and quietest printing calculator available at that time.

In 2012, Victor launched the Midnight Black Collection of high-end desk accessories. The collection has since expanded to include Pure White, Classic Silver, Mocha Brown, and Heritage Wood color variations.

In 2015, Victor became the source for Sharp calculators in the United States and Latin America.

Products

108 - The 108 is a blue (with red and white buttons) 3.2 oz pocket calculator that is made of 50% recycled plastic and has a 10-digit LCD display. It uses AG10 batteries and has 3 key independent memory and has a hard shell cover. It costs $62.99 on the official Victor website for a 10 pack so 62.99/10 would be $6.299 for 1 calculator.

907 - The 907 is a black and grey/gray 1.6 oz portable calculator with a 10-digit LCD display with 20 built-in conversion functions. It includes a backspace key and has 3 key independent memory. It uses L1131 batteries. It sells for $13.99.

920 - The 920 is a black (with white, blue and orange letters/numbers) 1.6 oz scientific flat calculator with a 10-digit 9mm LCD display which comes with a protective hard case. It is able to do functions such as do statistics, logarithms, reciprocals, powers, roots, factorials, trigs and hyperbolic trigs. It is aimed at junior-high to high school students in General Math, Science, Algebra and Trigonometry (similar to the 940). It also features hex/dec/oct/bin and decimal degrees conversions. It uses L1131 batteries. It sells for $7.99 on the official Victor website.

940 - The 940 is a white (with blue, black, and orange letters/numbers) 3.2 oz scientific calculator with a 10-digit 9mm 2-line display. The keys are made out of plastic. It uses CR2032 batteries and can do 240 scientific functions. Aimed at junior high to high school students in General Math, Algebra 1 & 2, Science, Statistics, Trigonometry and Geometry (similar to the 920). It has a clear protective hard shell case. It can do fractions, includes Binary, Octadecimal, Hexadecimal, Decimal also known as Bin/Oct/Dec/Hex and can also do powers, roots, factorials, common or natural logarithms, reciprocals, polar/rectangular conversions, degrees, minutes, seconds, decimal degree conversions, trigs and hyperbolic trigs and statistical calculations. Other functions include quadratic and cubic equations, coordinate conversion, basic scientific functions and more. Sells for $10.99 on the official Victor site.

1000 - The 1000 is a black and grey/gray 3.2 oz. desktop calculator made with 50% recycled plastic and has an 8-digit angled LCD display and has 3 key independent memory.

1100-3A - The 1100-3A is a black and grey/gray 3.2 oz. desktop calculator made with 50% recycled plastic and has a 10 digit angled LCD display. It has 3-key independent memory and tax keys.

1180-3A - The 1180-3A is a 4.8 oz black desktop calculator with a 12 digit angled LCD display. It is made with 40% recycled plastic and it has cost/sell/margin keys. It has selectable decimal switch and rounding switch. It also has a grand total function, a backspace key and 3 key independent memory. The 1180-3A uses LR1130 batteries.

1190 - The 1190 is an 8 oz black desktop calculator with a 12 digit tilted LCD display. It is made with 40% recycled plastic. It uses GPA76 batteries. It has a selectable decimal switch and a selectable rounding switch, it also has 3 key independent memory, a grand total function and a backspace key. It also has cost/sell/margin keys. It costs $23.99.

1200-4 - The 1200-4 is a black professional desktop calculator with a 12-digit tilted LCD display and is made out of 50% recycled plastic. It has an autoreplay feature which enter, check and correct up to 99 entries and cost/sell/margin keys and 2 independent tax keys. It has selectable decimal and rounding switches, 4 key independent memory, a grand total function, a backspace key and a grand total key. It uses AG13 batteries and sells for $33.99.

2140 - The 2140 is a grey/gray 8 oz. desktop calculator with a LCD display that uses L1131 batteries. It also includes a Mark Up key, a PC touch key, selectable decimal and rounding switches and a backspace key. It has 4 key independent memory.

6400 - The 6400 is a grey/gray and white 6.4 oz desktop calculator with a tilted LCD display. It uses L1154 batteries. It also has a selectable decimal switch, a selectable rounding switch and a backspace key. It also has 3-key independent memory.

6500 - The 6500 is a grey/gray desktop calculator which includes Loan Wizard. It has a 12-digit angled display and automatic tax keys. It has a selectable decimal and rounding switch and 4 key independent memory. It has a backspace key and the ability to make a grand total. Loan Wizard is a tool that helps you answer loan questions, to use it, input any three-loan variable to compute the fourth and you have the option to change payment periods per year. It uses AA batteries. It costs $26.99.

6700 - The 6700 is a blue and grey/gray 6.4 oz desktop calculator. It uses CR2032 batteries. There is a selectable decimal switch and a selectable rounding switch. 3 key independent memory is also included. The 6700 also includes a backspace key, tax keys, mark up key and grand total key. It sells for $37.99.

9500 - The 9500 is a black 3.2 oz desktop calculator that uses LR1130 batteries. It has a selectable rounding switch and selectable decimal switch. This calculator also includes 3-key independent memory and is made with 50% recycled plastic.

9700 - The 9700 is a black 9.6 oz desktop calculator with a 12 digit tilted LCD display. It has cost/sell/margin keys and automatic tax keys. It includes 3 key independent memory and a selectable decimal switch and rounding switch. Also includes is a backspace key and grand total and mark up functions. The 9700 uses L1131 batteries.

99901 - The Tuffcalc™ 99901 is a black and white 6.4 oz. calculator with a 12-digit angled LCD display. It is water and shock-resistant and is washable with soap and water. It has an acrylic protected display, rubber keys and a rubber gasket. It has 3-key independent memory, a backspace key and grand total and mark up functions. It uses LR44 batteries.

C5000 - The C5000 is a 12.8 oz. non-printing yellow construction calculator with an 8-digit LCD 8mm display. It uses 2 LR44 batteries for power and does the same functions as the C6000. Different functions from the C6000 include, calculating gravel, bricks, boards, fencing, lumber, flooring, studs, tiles and paint. It has a shock-resistant and spill-proof hard-cover protective case and a pocket user guide. Sells for $16.99 on the official Victor site.

C6000 - The C6000 is an 8 oz. non-printing orange construction calculator with an 8-digit 8mm display. It is powered by 2 LR44 batteries, its functions are converting between feet, inches, and pounds. It can also calculate material costs and estimates and display results in fractional or decimal forms, area, volume or perimeter functions, weight calculations, roofing, rafter, framing solutions, concrete calculations, complete stair layouts, right-angle functions, circular calculations, building materials estimate: blocks, drywall, footing, concrete, margin of waste and cost calculations. Includes the ability to convert between US and metric dimensions. The C6000 is made out of rubber and sells for $52.99 on the official Victor site.

PL8000 - The PL8000 is a 3.2 lb white calculator with a 2 color backlit 14-digit 17mm dot matrix display. It can do cost/sell/margin, currency, installment loans and time calculations and it has a 8 lines-per-second (lps) thermal printer which prints on 2 1/4" thermal paper. It includes PROMPT LOGIC™ and a HELP key which guides the user with descriptions and functions. It has storage for up to 6 user-defined alphanumeric text messages that will print on the calculator's tape. There's also a revolving screen saver, two separate tax rates with different keys, an option to display the current time and date, currency conversion, 4 key independent memory, item count and the ability to add up previous totals into a grand total. It sells for $130.99 on the official Victor site. To power it, it uses an AC adapter.

V12 - The V12 is a 12.8 oz. non-printing financial calculator with an angled LCD display used to calculate loans, payments, interest, rates, standard deviation, TVM, NPV, IRR, cash flows, bonds, etc. It has over 125 programmable options and uses 2 AAA batteries for power. It is a clone of the HP-12C Platinum edition claiming to have the same functionality. Possible uses include finance, economics, real estate, accounting, statistics, banking and sales. Features include RPN or Algebraic Data Entry and is programmable up to 399 steps.

References

* Victor Technology Employee Manual. Internal publication to Victor Technology LLC.

{{Commons category

Electronics companies of the United States
Office supply companies of the United States
Mechanical calculator companies
Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois
Bolingbrook, Illinois
Electronics companies established in 1918
Manufacturing companies established in 1918
American companies established in 1918
Privately held companies based in Illinois
Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984

de:Sirius Systems Technology
sv:Victor (dator)