Radio Shack EC-380 Handheld Electronic Calculator
Radio Shack EC-380 Handheld Electronic Calculator
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- Description
- This handheld electronic calculator has a case in two shades of brown and an array of twenty-three rectangular plastic keys. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys. The leftmost column of keys includes %, square root, clear, and clear entry keys. The on/off switch is at the top of the keyboard, next to three memory keys. Behind this is an eight-digit vacuum fluorescent display. A mark above this reads: Radio Shack. A power jack is on the back edge.
- The back of the calculator has a compartment for two AA batteries. Below this is a sticker that reads in part:
- CAT. NO 65-616 (/) MODEL EC-380 (/) Radio Shack A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION (/) DC 3V(“AA” CELL X 2). (/) FOR 120V AC OPERATION (/) USE ADAPTER 14-854. It also reads: 8A6 (/) JAPAN.
- Compare 1986.0988.040 (Radio Shack EC-231) and 1986.0988.46 (Radio Shack EC-380).
- Reference:
- Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, 1977 Catalog No. 276 , p. 152, accessed September 22, 2014, at radioshackcatalogs.com. The price listed is $24.95.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- electronic calculator
- Other Terms
- electronic calculator; Handheld
- date made
- 1977
- maker
- Tandy Corporation
- place made
- Japan
- Physical Description
- plastic (case; keys; display cover material)
- metal (circuitry material)
- paper (sticker material)
- Measurements
- overall: 3/4 in x 3 in x 5 1/4 in; 1.905 cm x 7.62 cm x 13.335 cm
- ID Number
- 1986.0988.046
- catalog number
- 1986.0988.046
- accession number
- 1986.0988
- Credit Line
- Gift of John B. Priser
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Computers
- Handheld Electronic Calculators
- Computers & Business Machines
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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Comments
I received one of these as a gift in 1977, and it was my favorite calculator until I went off to college in 1982, at which point I needed something more powerful. My EC-380 had a curious feature: if I pressed the square root and change sign keys simultaneously, the calculator would enter the value of Pi on the screen. I discovered this quite by accident by fat-fingering those two keys one day. I never knew if this was a bug or a feature, and I'd be curious to know if your sample does this.
I think my EC-380 met its demise either because of a battery leak or a liquid spill.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about this calculator, although the fact of the matter is that other than that one obscure function, there's not a whole lot of mystery here; what you see is what you get.
Mark Lebowitz
Tue, 2019-05-14 08:07
Ian MacSpadden
Tue, 2020-07-14 09:02