<s>
A	O
Lightguide	B-General_Concept
display	I-General_Concept
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
an	O
edge-lit	O
display	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
obsolete	O
electronic	O
mechanism	O
which	O
was	O
used	O
for	O
displaying	O
alphanumeric	O
characters	O
in	O
electronic	O
devices	O
such	O
as	O
calculators	B-Application
,	O
multimeters	O
,	O
laboratory	O
measurement	O
instruments	O
,	O
and	O
entertainment	O
machines	O
such	O
as	O
pinball	B-Application
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
digit	O
read-out	O
arose	O
with	O
electronic	O
computers	O
in	O
the	O
1950s	O
with	O
many	O
independent	O
inventions	O
,	O
both	O
in	O
edge-lighting	O
,	O
nixie	B-Application
tubes	I-Application
and	O
other	O
technologies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
employs	O
the	O
same	O
principle	O
used	O
in	O
optical	B-Architecture
fibers	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
