Sharp Model EL-8 Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1971
name: label: maker
content: Sharp Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: 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 also does not require a cradle to recharge batteries.
label: Description
content: 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 on the side shifts between AC operation, off, and DC operation.
label: Description
content: A mark on the front reads: SHARP. A tag on the back reads in part: SHARP MODEL EL-8. It also reads: NO. 1098161 (/) SHARP ELECTRONICS CORPORATION (/) 10 KEYSTONE PLACE, PARAMUS, N. J. 07652 (/) MADE IN JAPAN. This example lacks its AC adapter.
label: Description
content: 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: 1098161.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: The SHARP EL-8 was widely advertised in the United States from early 1971 and sold for $345. This example was given to the Smithsonian by calculator collector Guy D. Ball.
label: Description
content: 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).
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, <I>The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators</I>, Tustin, Calif..: Wilson/Barnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 136–137.
label: Description
content: J. R. Free, "Microelectronics Shrinks the Calculator," <I>Popular Science</I>, 198 #6, June 1971, pp. 74–76.
label: Description
content: “How to Cut a Pocket Calculator in Half,” <I>Electronics</I>, 44. February 1, 1971, no page. An ad for the EL-8 (called the ELSI-8) appeared on pp. 12–13 of this issue.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Japan: Ōsaka, Ōsaka
topic: label: Subject
content: Business
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
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content: Computers & Business Machines
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content: Desktop Electronic Calculators
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Guy D. Ball
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0154.01
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0154.01
label: accession number
content: 1991.0154
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case, keys, circuit boards material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (tubes material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (wiring material)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 70 cm x 10.2 cm x 15.8 cm; 27 9/16 in x 4 1/32 in x 6 7/32 in