Radio Shack EC-4000 Programmable Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: 1978-1979
name: label: maker
content: Texas Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: Radio Shack introduced this programmable handheld calculator in its 1978 catalog as “The First Low-Cost High-Powered Programmable.” It was manufactured in the United States by Texas Instruments and initially cost $79.95.
label: Description
content: The calculator has a black plastic case and an array of forty rectangular plastic keys. The ten digit keys take on only one meaning; most of the other keys have one meaning written on the key top and another inscribed above it. Programs of up to fifty steps could be entered into the calculator, although there is no provision for saving them.
label: Description
content: A mark above the keyboard reads: Radio Shack (/) Programmable. Next to it is a switch. Behind it is a twelve-character red LED display that shows results to eight significant digits. A jack for a power adapter is on the right side. An owner’s mark scratched on the back edge of the calculator reads: Kim Tracy. A sticker at the top of the back reads: Radio Shack CAT. NO. 65-650 (/) EC-4000 PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATOR (/) CUSTOM MFD. IN USA FOR RADIO SHACK, A DIVISION OF (/) TANDY CORPRATION, FORT WORTH, TEXAS 76102. Text molded into the back below the sticker reads: SERIAL NO. (/) 2143603 ATA2679 (/) ASSEMBLED IN USA.
label: Description
content: Below the serial number is a compartment for a battery pack. A sticker on the battery pack reads: BATTERY PACK BP-7 (/) See Owner’s Manual for description (/) and replacement. Use no substitutes.
label: Description
content: Below the battery pack is a list of U.S. patent numbers assigned to Texas Instruments that protect the calculator. The numbers range from 3819921 (1972) to 4014013 (1975).
label: Description
content: The calculator has a black power adaptor marked: Radio Shack (/) AC ADAPTER FOR (/) MODEL EC-4000 (/) CAT. NO. 65-650.
label: Description
content: Compare to the TI-57 calculator (1987.0435.02).
label: Description
content: Tracy, the former owner and donor of the calculator, obtained it as a high school student growing up on a farm in Missouri. He dates his acquisition to 1978 to 1979, for a price of about $80.00. Radio Shack catalogs list it from 1978 until 1981, with a price of $79.95 in 1978 and 1979 and $59.95 thereafter. Programming the calculator solidified Tracy’s desire to follow a career in computer science.
label: Description
content: The overall dimensions listed depend on the position of the cord.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, <i>1978 Catalog No. 289</i>, p. 147, accessed October 3, 2014, at radioshackcatalogs.com. Price listed $79.95.
label: Description
content: Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, <i>1979 Catalog No. 302</i>, p. 130, accessed October 3, 2014, at radioshackcatalogs.com. Price listed $59.95.
label: Description
content: Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, <i>1980 Catalog No. 315</i>, p. 168, accessed October 3, 2014, at radioshackcatalogs.com. Price listed is $59.95.
label: Description
content: Radio Shack, A Tandy Company, <i>1981 Catalog No. 328</i>, p. 164, accessed September 22, 2014 at radioshackcatalogs.com. Price listed is $59.95.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
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 Kim W. Tracy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2014.0179.01
label: accession number
content: 2014.0179
label: catalog number
content: 2014.0179.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; cord; keys; display cover; adapter cover material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (keyboard; circuitry material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (sticker material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 cm x 14 cm x 21 cm; 3 5/32 in x 5 1/2 in x 8 9/32 in
label: Measurements
content: calculator: 3.7 cm x 7.7 cm x 14.6 cm; 1 15/32 in x 3 1/32 in x 5 3/4 in