Water Pik Countdown Handheld Electronic Calculator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1977
name: label: maker
content: Teledyne Water Pik, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: This battery-operated special purpose handheld electronic calculator is designed to help in weight loss. It has an on/off switch on the front left, a button on the front right, and a blinking light between them. A chart above the display gives space for listing “daily bite limits” for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Further spaces give room for checking off the meals in a week.
label: Description
content: According to operating instructions on a sticker on the back, a diner was to turn on the device, place it near the dinner plate, and take a bite of food. He or she then pressed the black button and began chewing at the same rate as the blinking light (twenty-four blinks in twenty-two seconds). If the user was still chewing then the light stopped blinking, the next bite was to be smaller. The display recorded the number of bites taken. When it stopped blinking, the diner took another bite, repeating the process until he or she had reached the “bite limit” for the meal. Then the device was turned off and the fact that the meal had been eaten was checked.
label: Description
content: Text at the bottom of the sticker on the back reads in part: 1977 Teledyne Water Pik, Fort Collins, CO (/) 80521 (/) Patent Pending.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: “Water Pik sets Countdown for Dieters,” <I>Chicago Tribune</I>, July 8, 1977, section 4, p. 11. Countdown product to launch the next week and sell for $20 to $30.
label: Description
content: Marion Burros, “Push-Button Dieting,” <I>Washington Post</I>, November 3, 1977, p. E16, E17. Countdown system to sell for $24.95.
label: Description
content: “Countdown – Teledyne Water Pik,” <I>Mother Jones Magazine</I>, vol. 3 #7, August 1978, p. 51. Notes product available.
label: Description
content: George Lazarus, “Countdown ‘to bite off’ that fat,” <I>Chicago Tribune</I>, November 1, 1977, p. C13.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I> Los Angeles Times</I>, June 15, 1978, p. SF11. Countdown system selling for $14.99.
label: Description
content: [Advertisement], <I>Chicago Tribune</I>, June 7, 1978, p. G7. Countdown system regularly $19.99, on sale for $16.88.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Colorado, Fort Collins
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: 1986.0988.341
label: catalog number
content: 1986.0988.341
label: accession number
content: 1986.0988
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; button; switch material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (circuitry material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (sticker material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/8 in x 2 5/8 in x 3 3/8 in; 2.8575 cm x 6.6675 cm x 8.5725 cm