Texas Instruments TI-2500B (Datamath) Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1974
name: label: maker
content: Texas Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: This is an example of an early handheld electronic calculator marketed by Texas Instruments under its own name. The calculator has a tan plastic case with a dark brown keyboard. It has an array of eighteen keys, sixteen of them square and two rectangular. These include ten digit keys, a decimal point key, a total key, four arithmetic function keys, a clear entry key, and a clear key. A switch at the right in the top row of keys may be set at “CHAIN” or “CONST.” A mark above this switch reads: Datamath. Behind the keyboard is an eight-digit LED display.
label: Description
content: A jack for a power outlet is along the back edge. An on/off switch is on the left side.
label: Description
content: The back of the calculator has a compartment for storing either three rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries or four AA sized non-rechargeable batteries. According to Flamm, it is the presence of this compartment that distinguishes the TI-2500 from the TI-2500B.
label: Description
content: A sticker on the compartment cover reads: TI-2500B electronic calculator. It also reads in part: Datamath (/) electronic calculator (/) A Product of Texas Instruments Incorporated. It also reads in part: Serial Number (/) 2500B 564926. The sticker indicates that the calculator had a built-in battery that gave four to six hours of portable operation and could be fully recharged in ten hours using an AC9130 adapter/charger.
label: Description
content: Unscrewing three long screws on the back of the case does not reveal the chips.
label: Description
content: This modification of the TI-2500 was introduced in 1974 and discontinued the same year.
label: Description
content: Compare 1986.0988.188, 1986.0988.189, 1986.0988.190, 1986.0988.342, and 1986.0988.359.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, <I>The Complete Collector’s Guide to Pocket Calculators</I>, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 157.
label: Description
content: Online Datamath Museum, accessed May 13, 2015.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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: 1986.0988.190
label: accession number
content: 1986.0988
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0988.190
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
label: Other Terms
content: electronic calculator; Handheld
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; keys; feet; circuit board material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (circuitry material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (sticker material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 1.27 cm x 6.985 cm x 13.97 cm