The Cascio Brothers - Four Wizards of the Golden Age of Electronics

“Necessity is not the mother of ingenuity, ingenuity is the mother of need,” read the inscription at the entrance to Toshio Kahio’s house, which now houses a museum, freely. Taking pride of place in the building, located in Tokyo's sleepy suburb of Setagaya, is a low desk where one of Casio's four famous founding brothers reportedly came up with most of his ideas.

Toshio, the second oldest of the four Casio brothers, was guided by the idea of ​​creating things that "the world has not yet seen." The inventor, who had adored Thomas Edison since childhood, was obsessed with the idea of ​​replacing traditional abacus with a device based on modern technology, according to the family. However, his first successful invention was a small pipe - a mouthpiece attached to a ring on his finger (the so-called jubiva). This allowed workers in post-war Japan to smoke their cigarettes to the tip, minimizing waste.

The four Kashio brothers in their youth

When you have nothing, rent a stroller

The Casio brothers' father first grew rice. He and his family then moved to Tokyo and became construction workers, working to rebuild the city after the devastating 1923 earthquake. To save money, he walked to and from work for a total of five hours a day.

During World War II, his son Tadao, who was not accepted into the army for health reasons, produced aircraft equipment. However, the end of hostilities brought dramatic changes to Casio's family life. American bombers destroyed their house, their well-functioning production fell apart, they stopped ordering military goods. The brothers, who returned from the army, could not find work. Suddenly, Tadao came across an offer to buy a very cheap milling machine. With such equipment, it was possible to produce many useful household items such as pots, stoves and heaters, things that were in great demand in these poor post-war times. The problem, however, was that the milling machine was in a warehouse 300 km from Tokyo. Head of family, father of brothers

Kashio found a solution. He rented a two-wheeled cart somewhere and, attaching it to a bicycle, transported a milling machine weighing about 500 kg along the road to Tokyo. This went on for several weeks.

In April 1946, Tadao Kashio founded the Kashio Seisakujo Company, which made many simple movements. He invited his brother Toshio to join his company and received a positive response. Initially, only Tadao and Toshio were involved in the activity, but when Kazuo completed his English course at Nihon University in Tokyo in 1949, the brothers began to work as a trio. The youngest, Yukio, completed this quartet in the late 50s.

As a sign of filial respect, the brothers initially made Cascio's father president. However, since 1960, the company was led by the oldest and most talented technician Tadao, who later became the official president of Casio. While Toshio was inventing new inventions, Kazuo - the most open of the four to people - was in charge of sales and marketing, and later became the next president after Tadao. The younger of the brothers, Yukio, was known as a gentle and calm engineer who brought Toshio's ideas into production.

Toshio's home office, where he came up with most of his ideas, is now a museum.

Idea straight from the theater

In 1949, Tadao participated in a kind of theatrical performance at a trade fair in Ginza, Tokyo. On the stage there was a competition in quick counting between an American soldier armed with a huge electric calculator and a Japanese accountant who had a classic abacus at his disposal. Contrary to what might have been expected, the public openly supported the soldier. At that time in Japan there was an irresistible desire to become famous not only for samurai achievements, but also in the field of scientific and technological progress.

Apparently, it was during this speech that Tadao came up with the idea of ​​​​mass production of calculators. He began to ask a talented inventor - Toshio to build such a machine. In 1954, after testing dozens of prototypes, they finally developed Japan's first electric calculator. 

They presented their device to Bunshodo Corporation, which sells office equipment. However, Bunshodo representatives were not satisfied with the product and stated that its design was outdated. Therefore, Tadao Casio took out a bank loan and continued to improve the computing device with his brothers.

In 1956, the gentlemen of Cascio had a new type of calculator almost ready. In order to reduce its size and allow mass production, Tashio decided to completely redesign it. He adopted the relay circuits used in telephone exchange switchboards, eliminating among other things the coils and reducing the number of relays from a few thousand to 341. He also developed his own relay, more resistant to dust. As a result, the new calculator did not rely on mechanical components such as gears and was equipped with ten number keys, just like modern handheld devices.

At the end of 1956, the brothers decided to present their equipment in Sapporo. However, when loading the calculator onto the plane at Haneda Airport, it was found to have exceeded it.

allowable baggage size. Airport officials asked that the top of the calculator be detached. The brothers tried to explain that this could damage him, but in vain - the car had to be disassembled for transportation. 

Upon arrival in Sapporo, the fully assembled calculator stopped working and the brothers had to present their product on slides. They were very upset, but when they returned home, they were contacted by a representative of Uchida Yoko Co., who was present at the ill-fated show. He asked Tadao Kashio to come to the office and once again demonstrate the operation of the innovative device. When this time everything went well, the company offered to conclude an agreement with an exclusive dealer.

In 1957, the brothers released the first compact all-electric calculator, the Casio 14-A, which weighed 140 kg, was the size of a table, and cost as much as a car. It soon began to enjoy great success - these were the days before the revolution in miniaturization.

From calculator wars to super clocks

The same year the 14-A calculator was released, the brothers decided to change the name of the company to Casio Computer Company, which they thought sounded more Western. The idea was to increase the company's attractiveness in post-war world markets. Over the following decades, Casio diversified its offering by introducing musical instruments, digital cameras, projectors, and digital watches. However, before it gained a global position, in the 60s and early 70s the company had to change the so-called war calculator.

Then Casio was one of more than forty brands in Japan, the US and Europe that fought for the palm in the market for pocket electronic calculators. When the brothers introduced the Casio Mini in 1972, the competition was left behind. The market was eventually dominated by Japanese companies - Casio and Sharp. By 1974, the brothers had sold around 10 million Mini models worldwide. The competition was won by another model, the world's first credit card size calculator.

Since the 80s, the company has systematically expanded its product range. She began to produce temperature and atmospheric pressure sensors, compasses, fitness equipment, TV remote controls, MP3 players, voice recorders, digital cameras. The company has finally released the world's first GPS watch.

Currently, watch sales, primarily the G-Shock line, account for about half of Casio's revenue. Like the previous calculator, the April 1983 model revolutionized the market. An anecdote from the company says that employees of the Hamura headquarters, passing under the building, had to watch for G-Shock prototypes falling from the top floor, which were thus tested by designers.

Of course, this famous model was supported by powerful advertising campaigns. It has been featured as a product in many popular films, such as Men in Black or another box office hit, Mission: Impossible. Last August, the XNUMXth millionth copy of the G-Shock line of watches was sold.

Of the four brothers, only Yukio remained ...

The future will wear?

When Kazuo died in June 2018, only his younger brother Yukio (5) survived. Three years earlier, in 2015, his son Kazuhiro took over Casio. As the heir to the company's tradition said, although the popularity of the G-Shock line helped Casio survive and cope well with the era of smartphones, the company faces considerable challenges. There are currently no other strong assets in the consumer electronics market other than watches. Kazuo's son believes that Casio should look for its future in the so-called wearables or wearables market.

So perhaps a third revolution is needed. The descendants of the Kashio brothers must offer a product that will be a breakthrough in this market. As before, it happened with a mini calculator or a super-resistant watch.

Kazuhiro Kashio, Kazuo's son, takes over