Brand Showcase

Franklin. Reference devices, since 1981.

The handheld electronic dictionaries, bilingual translators, and calculators that have sat on classroom, office, and traveler's shelves for four decades. Samsonic Trading Co. distributes the active Franklin line in the United States.

The handheld reference, still in the hand.

Franklin is a name most American households recognize. The talking Merriam-Webster dictionary tucked into a desk drawer, the English-Spanish translator that survived every family vacation, the basic calculator on the classroom tray — odds are it was a Franklin.

The brand was born in 1981 as Franklin Computer Corporation, a pre-Apple-II clone-maker that stumbled into the reference-device business almost by accident. The 1986 Spelling Ace — the first handheld electronic spellchecker anywhere — redirected the company, and the product line has stayed in that category ever since: electronic dictionaries, translators, thesauruses, calculators, and spell-correctors.

The devices still sell. Not like they did in 1998, but they sell — in classrooms, in office-supply stores, on the shelves of Barnes & Noble and B&H Photo, and through Amazon. They do one thing, they do it offline, and they don't need a battery the size of your phone to do it.

The Franklin Timeline

1981

Founded in Mount Holly, NJ

Franklin Computer Corporation is founded by Barry Borden, Russell Bower, and Joel Shusterman to build affordable personal computers — the ACE 100 and ACE 1000, early Apple II-compatible machines.

1983

Apple v. Franklin

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals rules that object code is copyrightable — one of the landmark cases establishing modern software IP law. The Franklin ACE line is withdrawn.

1986

The Spelling Ace

Franklin launches the Spelling Ace, the world's first handheld electronic spellchecker. It redefines the company's trajectory. Electronic reference is the new business.

1989

The Electronic Bible

Franklin introduces the handheld Electronic Bible — KJV, NIV, and RSV editions. A cultural moment for the brand, then as now.

1995

The Bookman Platform

Franklin launches Bookman, a modular reference device that accepts cartridge-based content — dictionaries, thesauruses, Bibles, medical references, law libraries. Sold globally through the 1990s and 2000s.

2009

Going Private

Franklin Electronic Publishers exits the public markets through a merger with Saunders Acquisition Corporation and reorganizes as FEP Holding Company, LLC. The product line narrows to the talking dictionaries, bilingual translators, and calculators that still define the brand today.

Today

Distributed by Samsonic Trading Co.

Franklin devices remain in active retail distribution across the United States — on shelves at Office Depot, Barnes & Noble, B&H Photo, and through Amazon. Samsonic Trading Co. is the U.S. distributor for the Franklin line.