The EP-101 was the first ever electronic miniprinter for printing figures and symbols and was launched by Shinshu Seiki Co. (now known as Epson) in September 1968. It wasn't very big, being only 164 millimetres in width, 72 millimetres in height, 133 millimetres in depth and weighed just under 2.2 kilograms. It was created out of development work that Shinshu Seiki Co. did for Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd (now known as Seiko Instruments, Inc.) when they became the official time-keepers for the 1964 Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 Olympic games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

and needed a machine that could print out times they gathered from their time-pieces.

Epson's name comes from the next generation version of this printer - son of EP, or EP-son.