Keyboard for Green Machine Prototype Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1964
label: date received
content: 1978
name: label: maker
content: Osborne, Thomas E.
notes: label: Description
content: As a graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, Thomas E. Osborne began thinking about the design of a desktop electronic calculator suited for calculating the very large and very small numbers encountered in scientific work. In January of 1964, he formed the firm Logic Design, Inc., to develop his ideas. By late 1964, he had built this prototype keyboard and display, as well as a prototype logic unit (1978.0311.02).
label: Description
content: The keys are of plastic, the case of balsa wood painted green. The prototype is known as “the green machine” from the color of the paint.
label: Description
content: The model has an array of nine digit keys on the right front, with zero, decimal point and exp keys above them. On the left are twelve keys for arithmetic operations, clearance, and memory access. After damage to the case, it was reconstructed by Osborne before it came to the Museum.
label: Description
content: For related objects, see 1978.0311.02. For related documentation, see invention notebooks and photographs by Osborne (1978.0311.03 through 1978.0311.14). For purchase orders of components used in the prototype, see 1985.0264.01. Elements of the green machine were incorporated in Hewlett Packard’s first commercial electronic calculator, the HP9100. For a prototype of that machine, see 1978.0311.03.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Bernard M. Oliver, “How the Model 9100A Was Developed,” <I>Hewlett-Packard Journal</I>, September, 1968. A copy of this article is at the HP Museum website.
label: Description
content: The website of the University of Wyoming contains biographical information about Osborne.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Berkeley
topic: label: Subject
content: Business
label: Subject
content: Invention
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
label: See more items in
content: Computers & Business Machines
label: See more items in
content: Desktop Electronic Calculators
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hewlett-Packard Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1978.0311.01
label: catalog number
content: 1978.0311.01
label: accession number
content: 1978.0311
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator prototype
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: balsa wood (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (keys material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16.5 cm x 21.5 cm x 40 cm; 6 1/2 in x 8 15/32 in x 15 3/4 in