Computers & Business Machines

• RCA Automated Supermarket Checkstand

  Description

  By the late 1960s, minicomputers were sufficiently cheap to envision using them to automate much of the pricing and sale of groceries. RCA Corporation, working in conjunction with Kroger Company, developed a supermarket checkstand that linked to an RCA 6100 minicomputer. This is an example of the checkstand. It first operated at a Kroger’s store in Kenwood, Ohio, near Cincinnati, in July, 1972. The tests were quite successful, running for many weeks. However, the device relied on a different identification code than the Universal Product Code adopted the following year. RCA decided not to try to sell point-of-sale terminals.

  Reference:

  Stephen A. Brown, Revolution at the Checkout Counter:The Explosion of the Bar Code, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1970-1972

  maker

  RCA Corporation

  ID Number

  1974.309503.01

  catalog number

  309503.01

  accession number

  309503

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• Altair 8800 Microcomputer Disk Drive

  Description

  Floppy disk drive (8 inch) for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.

  Not long after Intel introduced its 8080 microprocessor, a small firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) announced a computer kit called the Altair, which met the social as well as technical requirements for a small personal computer. MITS succeeded where other, more established firms had failed, and it was their machine that inaugurated the personal computer age. MITS got its start in computing in 1971, when it introduced an electronic calculator kit. Several thousand sold before 1974, when the sharp reduction in calculator prices drove the company out of that market.

  H. Edward Roberts, the Florida-born former U.S. Air Force officer who headed MITS, decided to design a small, affordable computer around the Intel 8080. His daughter named the new machine after the star Altair. It was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers. In January 1975, a photograph of the Altair appeared on the cover of the magazine Popular Electronics. The caption read “World's First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models.” According to the magazine, the machine sold as a kit for $395, and assembled for $498. Roberts had hoped to break even by selling 200 Altairs. Within three months he had a backlog of 4,000 orders.

  Enthusiasm for the Altair and other personal computers spawned computer hobbyist clubs, computer stores, newsletters, magazines, and conventions. By 1977, a host of companies, large and small, were producing microcomputers for a mass market. This phenomenon was abetted by a design decision to make the Altair an "open" machine. In other words, it passed data along a channel called a bus, whose specifications were not kept a secret. That way both MITS and other companies could add memory cards, cards to control a printer or other devices as long as they adhered to the published standards.

  This particular Altair was collected by the Smithsonian because it documents how hobbyists would outfit the machine with additional parts and components. The user added his own keyboard, monitor, disk drive, and 17 plug-in boards to expand the computer’s capability. Unfortunately, the original owner of the kit is unknown. The computer was donated to the Smithsonian by a second owner, Mark Sienkiewicz, who purchased it as a collectable item and never used it.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  Date made

  1975

  maker

  Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems

  ID Number

  2007.0032.04

  catalog number

  2007.0032.04

  accession number

  2007.0032

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• Texas Instruments Model PC-100C Print-Security Cradle

  Description

  This device, used with a TI Programmable 58 or 59 calculator, performed a variety of functions. The printer could show the contents of the display at any time, list programs in program memory and the contents of data registers, print results from a running program, print each step of calculator operations, list program labels and location, print alphanumeric messages, and plot data. The PC-100C also served as a security cradle, providing a secure place to leave the calculator and also allowing recharging of the calculator while the printer was in use.

  The thermal printer, with its 2 ½ inch (6.4 cm.) wide tape, is on the left; the mounting bracket for the calculator is on the right. In front is a storage compartment for the battery pack from the calculator and for the cover of the mounting bracket. A lock (with key) is in the middle.

  A sticker on the bottom of the object reads in part: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS (/) MODEL PC-100C (/) PRINT/SECURITY CRADLE. Text below this reads: SERIAL NO. 293181 ATA2378. The object has a light gray plastic cover. The printer came with two extra paper tapes, which have museum numbers 1990.0609.02.1 and 1990.0609.02.2. It was used with calculator 1990.0609.01.

  For examples of printouts from this printer, see 1990.3166.04. An instruction manual stored with these programs indicates that the printer was purchased September 19, 1979 for $249.95.

  Compare to the PC-100A printer that is part of 2007.0179.02.

  Reference:

  [Advertisement], New York Times, November 7, 1982, p. 64. TI Programmable 59 selling for $169.95. Rebate of $20 from manufacturer brings price down to $149.95. PC-100C printer also sells for $149.95.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1978

  maker

  Texas Instruments

  ID Number

  1990.0609.02

  catalog number

  1990.0609.02

  accession number

  1990.0609

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Sholes & Schwalbach Patent Model for Improvement in Type-Writing Machines

  Description

  Inventors C. Latham Sholes and Matthias Schwalback of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, submitted this typewriter model with their patent application for an improved up strike key lever mechanism for printing onto paper. The inventors received number 182,511 on September 9, 1876. The typewriter has two rows of keys in roughly alphabetical layout as well as the numbers 7 and 8. When struck, the keys would rise up and hit the piece of paper lying horizontally on the platen of the typewriter. The carriage would have to be lifted for the typist to see their typed words.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1872

  patent granted by United States Patent Office

  1876-09-09

  licensee

  Sholes, C. Latham

  Schwalbach, Matthias

  patentee

  Sholes, C. Latham

  Schwalbach, Matthias

  ID Number

  1981.0359.02

  catalog number

  1981.0359.02

  accession number

  1981.0359

  patent number

  182,511

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Sinclair Cambridge Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This handheld electronic calculator has a plastic case and eighteen rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a clear/clear entry key, and a constant key. To the right on the top row of keys is an on/off switch.

  Text behind the keyboard reads: sinclair (/) Cambridge. Behind this is an eight-digit purple LED display. According to the instructions, the device would actually carry out calculations on numbers ranging from 10^-20 to 9.9999999 x 10⁷⁹, although the display of such answers required careful manipulation.

  The back of the calculator has a compartment for four AAA batteries. A mark on the lid to this compartment reads: Sinclair (/) MADE IN ENGLAND.

  The calculator has a black hard plastic carrying case. This fits in Styrofoam packing.

  For the instructions, see 1981.0403.01.2. These are dated 1974. Compare to the Sinclair Cambridge Scientific Calculator (1987.0435.18).

  Newspaper advertisements date from 1974. By 1975, Sinclair had introduced a form of the calculator with memory.

  References:

  [Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, February 19, 1974, p. C6. Sinclair Cambridge calculator advertised as previously priced at $99.95, on sale for $59.88.

  [Advertisement], Washington Post, July 9, 1975, p. 31. A Sinclair Cambridge with memory (not this model) advertised as regularly priced at $39.95, on sale for $34.88.

  David Renwick, “The Prince of Little: Inventor Clive Sinclair Thinking Big is Thinking Small,” Washington Post, October 17, 1984, p. D1.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1974

  maker

  Sinclair Radionics Ltd.

  ID Number

  1981.0403.01

  catalog number

  1981.0403.01

  accession number

  1981.0403

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Sinclair Cambridge Instructions

  Description

  This small pamphlet of instructions was published by Sinclair Radionics Limited of St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, England, for use with a Sinclair Cambridge handheld electronic calculator. For an example of the calculator, see 1981.0403.01.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1974

  maker

  Sinclair Radionics Ltd.

  ID Number

  1981.0403.01.2

  catalog number

  1981.0403.01.2

  accession number

  1981.0403

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Blickensderfer Model 8 Typewriter

  Description

  The Blickensderfer Model 8 typewriter was manufactured by the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company of Stamford, Connecticut beginning in 1908. The Blickensderfer was advertised as having one quarter of the parts that other typewriters used, allowing for easier operation, maintenance, and repair. Other features include a tabulator and a scaled with slots for carriage stops. Blickensderfer typewriters also had a patented type action using their patented “type wheel,” a metal wheel containing all the characters which would rotate and strike the paper to create the inked mark. The type wheel allowed for easier type alignment, less jamming, and an easier way to change type fonts. The simplicity of the Blickensderfer made it portable, and this model had a wooden cover with a leather handle for easy carrying. While QWERTY keyboards could be ordered, by default most Blickensderfer typewriters eschewed the QWERTY keyboard in favor of a “Scientific” keyboard that put the most used letters “D, H, I, A, T, E, N, S, O, and R” on the bottom row nearest the space bar to minimize hand movement.

  George C. Blickensderfer founded the Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company in Stamford, Connecticut in 1893. The Blickensderfer Manufacturing Company produced nine different models of typewriters, including an electric typewriter, and operated until George Blickenderfer’s death in 1917. The company was reformed as the Blick Typewriter Company for a few years before the Blickensderfer patents and designs were sold and manufactured by a variety of different companies.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  1981.0653.01

  accession number

  1981.0653

  catalog number

  1981.0653.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Sharp EL-8 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This compact Japanese electronic calculator straddles the border between desktop and pocket calculators. It is too large to fit in the pocket but considerably more compact than Sharp’s QT-8B. It does not require a cradle to recharge batteries.

  The calculator has an array of nine digit keys, with larger 0 and decimal point keys below. Right of these are a clear key, a key for indicating that multiplication (rather than addition) should be carried out, a key for indication that division (rather than subtraction) should be carried out, and a key for multiplication or division. The machine has an eight-digit capacity for all operations. In back of the keyboard is an eight-digit display. Above these are alarm and error indicators. A switch is on the side shifts between AC operation, off, and DC operation.

  A mark on the front reads: SHARP. A tag on the back reads in part: SHARP MODEL EL-8. It also reads: NO. 1021694 (/) SHARP ELECTRONICS CORPORATION (/) 10 KEYSTONE PLACE, PARAMUS (/) NEW JERSEY 07652 MADE IN JAPAN. An AC adaptor comes with the device and is assigned number 1981.0922.05.1. The dimensions given do not include the adaptor, the case for the adapter, or the case for the calculator.

  Inside the instrument are six nickel-cadmium batteries in a case, a calculator circuit board, a display circuit board, and eight tubes for the display. The four integrated circuits on the calculator board were made by North American Rockwell. A stamp below the calculator circuit board reads: 1021694.

  The battery cover is marked in part: SHARP MODEL EL-84 (/) NICKEL-CADMIUM (/) RECHARGEABLE BATTERY. It also is marked: SHARP CORPORATION OSAKA, JAPAN. Hayakawa Electric adopted the name Sharp Corporation in January of 1970.

  The SHARP EL-8 was widely advertised in the United States from early 1971 and sold for $345. This example was used by NMAH curator John White. An invoice received with the device (part of 1981.0922.05.2) indicates that he purchased it October 30, 1971.

  Compare a slightly earlier Sharp machine, the model QT-8B (2006.0132.22). Also compare three versions of the EL-8 (1982.0656.01, 1981.0922.05, and 1991.0154.01).

  References:

  Examples of the Sharp EL-8 are discussed online at the Vintage Calculators Web Museum, The Old Calculators Web Museum, John Wolff’s Web Museum and the Datamath Calculator Museum.

  Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, Calif.: Wilson/Barnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 136–137.

  J. R. Free, “Microelectronics Shrinks the Calculator,” Popular Science, 198 #6, June 1971, pp. 74–76.

  “How to Cut a Pocket Calculator in Half,” Electronics, 44. February 1, 1971, no page. An ad for the EL-8 (called the ELSI-8) appeared on pp. 12–13 of this issue.

  Sharp Electronic Calculator with ELSI Compet ELSI-8 Model EL-8 Instruction Manual, no date. This is 1981.0933.05.2.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1971

  maker

  Sharp Corporation

  ID Number

  1981.0922.05

  accession number

  1981.0922

  catalog number

  1981.0922.05

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  AC Adaptor for Sharp EL-8 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This black box for charging the battery on a Sharp EL-8 electronic calculator has two cords. One plugs into the wall, the other into the calculator. A tag on the bottom reads in part: SHARP MODEL EL-81. It also reads: 1016024. A tag on the top reads: SHARP (/) AC ADATOR. The device has a black plastic carrying case. Dimensions do not include case.

  See 1981.0992.05.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1971

  ca 1971

  maker

  Sharp Corporation

  ID Number

  1981.0922.05.1

  accession number

  1981.0922

  catalog number

  1981.0922.05.1

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Documentation, SHARP Electronic Calculator with ELSI Compet ELSI-8 Model EL-8 Instruction Manual

  Description

  This thirty-page instruction manual was received with electronic calculator 1981.0922.05. It presents the “space-age miniaturization” of the SHARP as the result of years of pioneering research in electronic engineering. Documents in the back of the calculator indicate that the calculator was purchased October 30, 1971.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1971

  maker

  Sharp Corporation

  ID Number

  1981.0922.05.2

  catalog number

  1981.0922.05.02

  accession number

  1981.0922

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Unisonic 1511L Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This handheld electronic calculator has a metal and dark brown and tan plastic case and an array of twenty square plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, a percentage key, a change sign key, an exchange key, and a clear entry/clear key. Above these is the on/off switch. Behind is an eight-digit red LED display. A mark at the back reads: Unisonic 1511L.

  A jack for a power adapter is along the back edge. At the top of the back is a compartment for two AA batteries. A sticker inside it reads: 142588. A sticker near the base of the back reads in part: Remove batteries if unit unlikely (/) to be used for more than 7 days. (/) Made in Hong Kong.

  Compare 1986.0988.245 and 1981.0922.06 (both examples of the Unisonic 1511L).

  References:

  [Advertisement], Los Angeles Times, Jul 29, 1976, p. OC_B9. On sale for $8.99.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  ca 1976

  maker

  Unisonic

  ID Number

  1981.0922.06

  catalog number

  1981.0922.06

  accession number

  1981.0922

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Woodstock "Electrite" Typewriter

  Description

  This Woodstock Electrite electric typewriter was manufactured by the Woodstock Typewriter Company of Chicago, Illinois around 1925. The Electrite was advertised as a typewriter that made “all typists experts.” The Electrite’s electric motor powered the strike mechanism and space bar, so that each key hit the paper with the same amount of force every time, resulting in uniform letters. In manual typewriters, a soft touch or mistype could result in printed text that was faint or hard to read.

  Like many typewriting companies, the Woodstock Typewriter Company went through several different corporate iterations. The Emerson Typewriter Company of Kittery, Maine began business in 1907, before it was purchased by the Sears, Roebuck, & Company of Chicago in 1910. Sears, Roebuck, & Company opened their typewriting company as the Roebuck Typewriter Company in Woodstock, Illinois, but soon sold their concern to the Woodstock Typewriter Company in 1914. The Woodstock Typewriter Company operated until 1950, when it was bought by R.C. Allen Business Machines.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  1982.0201.03

  accession number

  1982.0201

  catalog number

  1982.0201.03

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Royal Standard Typewriter

  Description

  This Royal Standard Typewriter was manufactured by the Royal Typewriter Company of New York, New York beginning in 1906. This typewriter is the original Royal Standard model, which was soon followed by a Royal Standard model number 1. The Royal Standard typewriter was a flatbed model with a QWERTY keyboard that featured visible writing. Early typewriters had upwards striking typebars that required the typist to lift the carriage to see what they had written.

  The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortunes Ryan and Edward B. Hess, with Ryan providing the capital and Hess providing the inventiveness. Hess owned over 150 patents, many of which were assigned to the Royal Typewriter Company. Hess’s most noteworthy patents related to increasing the ease of typing, including an accelerating typebar, anti friction roller escapement, Magic Margins, and selective touch control. In 1954 Royal merged with the McBee Corporation, operating as Royal Mcbee until 1964. In 1964 Royal McBee was acquired by Litton Industries, which used Royal as a brand until 1968.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  1982.0201.04

  accession number

  1982.0201

  catalog number

  1982.0201.04

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  American Model No. 7 Typewriter

  Description

  This model number 7 typewriter was manufactured by the American Manufacturing Company of New York, New York at the Williams plant in Derby, Connecticut during the early 20th century. The American Typewriter Company was located at 265 Broadway in New York, New York, and operated from 1893 until 1915. This model 7 typewriter is a blind writer with upwards striking type mechanism and a QWERTY keyboard.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  maker

  American Typewriter Company

  ID Number

  1982.0201.05

  accession number

  1982.0201

  catalog number

  1982.0201.05

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Naumann Erika Typewriter

  Description

  This Erika Modell M typewriter was manufactured by Seidel & Naumann of Dresden, Germany during the 1930s. The typewriter is a manual typewriter, with glass-covered QWERTY keys. The Erika model typewriters were made to be portable, and this model is inside a leather case, with a cleaning brush attached to the interior of the lid.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  ID Number

  1982.0202.01

  accession number

  1982.0202

  catalog number

  1982.0202.01

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Hewlett-Packard HP-35 Handheld Electronic Calculator

  Description

  The HP-35 was the first handheld electronic calculator to compute all the functions represented on a slide rule. It has a black plastic case and a total of thirty-five square or rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, and a pi key, all colored tan. In addition there are four arithmetic function left of the digit keys, a relatively long enter key, a change sign key, and enter exponent key, a clear x key, and a clear key, all in blue. Additional black keys are for powers, logs to base ten, natural logs, exponents, square roots, trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent and the inverses of these), simple inverses, exchange, roll down, store, and recall. Above the keys is an on/off switch. There is no hole next to the switch to indicate that the display is on, as there was in the very first HP-35 calculators. Behind the switch is a red LED display that shows results. Numbers with absolute value between one hundredth and 10 billion are given in decimal form. Smaller or larger ones appear in scientific notation, with the appropriate power of ten occupying the three rightmost digit places (two for digits, one for a sign). The negative sign for the result, if needed, is at the far left. A mark on the front edge of the calculator reads: hp HEWLETT•PACKARD.

  The back of the calculator has a plug for a three-prong power adapter, a compartment for a battery pack, four rubber feet, and a sticker entitled: HEWLETT•PACKARD MODEL 35 INSTRUCTIONS. Text below the sticker reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) 3.75V 500MW (/) MADE IN USA PATENT PENDING. A sticker inside the battery pack reads: HEWLETT-PACKARD (/) SER.NO. 1302A 27645. The portion 1302 of the serial number suggests that it was made in the second week of 1973. A red sticker on the lid of the battery pack reads: CAUTION (/) USE ONLY H. P. BATTERY PACK (/) MODEL NO 82001A (/) OTHER BATTERIES MAY DAMAGE CIRCUITS.

  In addition to the calculator, the gray plastic case contains a power adapter labeled in part HEWLETT - PACKARD (/) MODEL 82002A. It also has a carrying pouch, battery packs, and a battery case.

  According to the donor, Nicholas Grossman, he ordered the calculator when it was first announced and received it, paying $395 plus shipping, six weeks later. The HP-35 was first announced in early 1972.

  Received with the calculator were two documents, the HP-35 Operating Manual and HP-35 Math Pac.

  References:

  W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers , Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 36–39, 132.

  David G. Hicks, The Museum of HP Calculators, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July 2014.

  Thomas M. Whitney, France Rodé, and Chung C. Tung, “The ‘Powerful Pocketful’: an Electronic Calculator Challenges the Slide Rule,” Hewlett-Packard Journal, June 1972, pp. 2–9.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1972-1973

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1982.0222.01

  catalog number

  1982.0222.01

  accession number

  1982.0222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  HP-45 Owner's Handbook, Documentation for the HP-45 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This fifty-nine-page manual describes the operation of the HP-45 handheld electronic calculator. For an example of the calculator, see 2004.3053.01. For another version of the manual, see 2004.3053.02.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1973

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1982.0222.02

  catalog number

  1982.0222.02

  accession number

  1982.0222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  HP-65 Owner's Handbook, a Manual for the HP-65 Electronic Calculator

  Description

  This small orange spiral-bound notebook offers instructions on using the HP-65 calculator. It was received independent of a calculator. For an example of an HP-65, see 2011.0023.01. For other documentation on this calculator see 2012.3060.07 and 2012.3060.39.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1974

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1982.0222.03

  catalog number

  1982.0222.03

  accession number

  1982.0222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  Documentation - HP-67 Owner's Handbook and Programming Guide

  Description

  This spiral-bound 341-page document gives detailed instructions on operating the HP-67 programmable electronic calculator.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1976

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1982.0222.04

  catalog number

  1982.0222.04

  accession number

  1982.0222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

• 

  HP-55 Mathematics Programs, Manual

  Description

  This spiral-bound manual contains mathematics programs to be run on the HP-55 electronic calculator. According to the cover, it is a comprehensive guidebook, with “74 common programs in such areas as complex arithmetic and functions, linear algebra, trigonometry, geometry, business, and others.” It cost $10.00. A line on the back page reads in part: Rev C 5/75.

  For an example of the HP-55, see 1980.0813.01.

  Location

  Currently not on view

  date made

  1975

  maker

  Hewlett-Packard Company

  ID Number

  1982.0222.05

  catalog number

  1982.0222.05

  accession number

  1982.0222

  Data Source

  National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

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