Object Details
- Texas Instruments
- Description
- This is an example of the first model of an electronic calculator marketed by Texas Instruments under its own name. The handheld electronic calculator has a tan plastic case with a dark brown keyboard. It has an array of eighteen keys, sixteen of them square and two rectangular. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, a clear entry key, and a clear key. A switch at the right in the top row of keys may be set at “CHAIN” or “CONST.” A mark above this switch reads: Datamath. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LED display.
- A jack for a power outlet is along the back edge. An on/off switch is on the left side. A sticker on the back reads: TI-2500 electronic calculator. It also reads in part: Datamath (/) electronic calculator (/) A Product of Texas Instruments Incorporated. It also reads in part: Serial Number (/) 2500 582951. The sticker indicates that the calculator had a built-in battery that gave four to six hours of portable operation and was fully recharged in ten hours.
- Unscrewing three long screws on the back of the case allows one to remove the back. The inside has five chips. The largest reads: TMS 0119 NC (/) C 7335 (/) ZA 0072. This is a TMS0119 chip, manufactured in the thirty-fifth week of 1973. There is space for four soldered batteries.
- This appears to be the second version of the TI-2500, introduced in February of 1973 for a price of $119.95. The calculator initially was introduced in 1972.
- Compare 1986.0988.188, 1986.0988.189, 1986.0988.190, 1986.0988.342, and 1986.0988.359.
- References:
- Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 157.
- Online Datamath Museum, accessed May 13, 2015.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of John B. Priser
- 1973
- ID Number
- 1986.0988.188
- accession number
- 1986.0988
- catalog number
- 1986.0988.188
- Object Name
- electronic calculator
- Other Terms
- electronic calculator; Handheld
- Physical Description
- plastic (case; keys; switches; circuit board material)
- metal (circuitry material)
- paper (sticker material)
- Measurements
- overall: 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 1.27 cm x 6.985 cm x 13.97 cm
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Computers
- Computers & Business Machines
- Handheld Electronic Calculators
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_334602
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-4176-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
