Object Details
- Texas Instruments
- Description
- This is an example of an early handheld electronic calculator marketed by Texas Instruments under its own name. The 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.
- The back of the calculator has a compartment for storing either three rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries or four AA sized non-rechargeable batteries. According to Flamm, it is the presence of this compartment that distinguishes the TI-2500 from the TI-2500B.
- A sticker on the compartment cover reads: TI-2500B electronic calculator. It also reads in part: Datamath (/) electronic calculator (/) A Product of Texas Instruments Incorporated. It also reads in part: Serial Number (/) 2500B 564926. The sticker indicates that the calculator had a built-in battery that gave four to six hours of portable operation and could be fully recharged in ten hours using an AC9130 adapter/charger.
- Unscrewing three long screws on the back of the case does not reveal the chips.
- This modification of the TI-2500 was introduced in 1974 and discontinued the same year.
- 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
- 1974
- ID Number
- 1986.0988.190
- accession number
- 1986.0988
- catalog number
- 1986.0988.190
- Object Name
- electronic calculator
- Other Terms
- electronic calculator; Handheld
- Physical Description
- plastic (case; keys; feet; 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_334604
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-3749-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
