Kings Point SC-44 Handheld Electronic Calculator

Description:

By the mid-1970s relatively inexpensive scientific calculators were available. Kings Point Corporation of Jersey City, New Jersey, distributed this Korean-made machine. The calculator has a tan and black plastic case, a black metal keyboard, and forty rectangular plastic keys. The four rows of keys at the bottom include ten digit keys, a pi key, a decimal point key, four arithmetic function keys, a total key, a summation key, a power key, and a clear key. Above this are orange store and recall keys, a register exchange key, a change sign key, and an EEX key. Function keys above this include a key for switching between radians and degrees, as well as trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, logarithmic, exponential, power, factorial, inverse, squaring, square root, and power keys.

Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit vacuum fluorescent display that has additional places for indicating the exponent (up to two digits), the sign of the entry, and the sign of the exponent. A jack for recharging the battery pack and the on/off switch are on the back edge. This example has no battery pack and no power cord. A sticker on the front reads: Kings Point SC-44f. A sticker on the back gives instructions for tending the calculator. Text reads in part: Made in Korea Number 3061B0151.

A 1976 advertisement lists the Kings Point SC-44F calculator as having a regular price of $39.95 and a sale price of $34.88; one from 1977 gives a sale price for the SC-44F of $18.88.

Compare Kings Point scientific calculators 1986.0988.011, 1986.0988.298, 1986.0988.299, and 1986.0988.214.

References:

[Advertisement], New York Times, October 23, 1975, p. 20. The SC-44 advertised as scientific calculator with remarkable range of features selling for only $49.95.

[Advertisement], Washington Post, September 10, 1976, p. A26. Kings Point SC-44 listed as selling for $39.95.

[Advertisement], Chicago Tribune, December 2, 1976, p. B20. Lists Kings Point SC-44F as on sale for $34.88, with a regular price of $39.95.

[Advertisement], Science News, 11, #23, June 4, 1977, p. 367. Advertisement lists SC-60 as having regular price of $59.95 and sale price of $49.88. This model has “scientific and statistical functions.” The SC-40 is “fully scientific” and has a regular price of $39.95 and a sale price of $28.00. The SC-44F is also “fully scientific” and costs regularly $49.95, with a sale price of $28.00.

[Advertisement], Washington Post, November 20, 1977, p. 38. Lists Kings Point SC-44F as on sale for $18.88.

Date Made: ca 1976-1977

Distributor: Kings Point Corporation

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: Korea

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Computers, Computers & Business Machines, Handheld Electronic Calculators

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of John B. Priser

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1986.0988.011Catalog Number: 1986.0988.011Accession Number: 1986.0988

Object Name: electronic calculatorOther Terms: electronic calculator; Handheld

Physical Description: plastic (case; keys; display cover material)metal (circuitry material)glass (display material)paper (stickers material)Measurements: overall: 1 3/4 in x 6 3/4 in x 3 1/4 in; 4.445 cm x 17.145 cm x 8.255 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-35c4-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_334425

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