Dataking LC-800 Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1974
name: label: maker
content: Rockwell International
label: maker
content: Dataking, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Early handheld electronic calculators used vacuum fluorescent or light emitting diode displays. The Dataking LC-800 was one of the first to use a liquid crystal display, reducing the power required for calculations. Rockwell International actually manufactured the calculator, a fact openly acknowledged in advertisements. The same calculator also sold as the Ibico 86 and the Lloyd’s 40.
label: Description
content: The calculator has twenty cream-colored rectangular keys with an on/off switch above the keyboard. In addition to ten digit keys, a clear key, a decimal point key, a percentage key, a total key, and four arithmetic function keys, there are two memory keys that are operated in conjunction with the arithmetic function keys. A mark next to the switch reads: DATAKING.
label: Description
content: At the back is the liquid crystal display, with a window behind it to illuminate the display. There is no provision for a power adapter as the calculator operated only on batteries.
label: Description
content: The bottom of the back has a compartment for two nine-volt batteries. A sticker above this reads: DATAKING LC-800 (/) DATAKING, INC. (/) DC 18V. (/) SERIAL NO. 145160 (/) assembled in MEXICO (/) primarily of UNITED STATES parts.
label: Description
content: Unscrewing four screws allows one to remove the back of the case. The circuit board covers the chip.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>New York Times</I>, May 12, 1974, p. 48. Calculator has a national introductory price of $59.95 and a suggested retail price of $99.95.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>New York Times</I>, June 2, 1974, p. B4.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>Washington Post</I>, June 16, 1974, p. L4.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>Los Angeles Times</I>, August 13, 1974, p. E16.
label: Description
content: Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, <I>The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators</I>, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 66.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Mexico
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: Handheld Electronic Calculators
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John B. Priser
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1986.0988.141
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0988.141
label: accession number
content: 1986.0988
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
label: Other Terms
content: electronic calculator; Handheld
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; display; keys material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (circuitry material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (stickers material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 3/4 in x 3 3/8 in x 6 in; 4.445 cm x 8.5725 cm x 15.24 cm