Hewlett-Packard HP-41X Handheld Electronic Calculator, Engineering Model
date: label: date made
content: ca 1982
name: label: maker
content: Hewlett-Packard Company
notes: label: Description
content: This is an engineering prototype for an improved form of the HP-41CX, one of the first forms of an Hewlett-Packard handheld electronic calculator that could show letters as well as numbers in the display. The HP-41 series included the HP-41C (introduced 1979 – code name coconut), the HP-41CV (introduced in late 1980), and the HP-41CX (introduced in 1983). In the course of the 1980s, Hewlett-Packard engineers devised a way of building the calculators with fewer chips that cut the cost in half and improved reliability. These were codenamed “halfnut” calculators. This is a model for the “halfnut” version of the HP-41CX, made in about 1985.
label: Description
content: The prototype has a translucent plastic case, and four rubber feet. A plastic template covers the keyboard. This keypad is marked with the functions of the calculator in orange, white, and blue. A latch just below the display releases the template. Under the template are thirty-five plastic keys, marked in white and blue. The calculator lacks the usual keyboard under the keys, having a transparent one instead.
label: Description
content: Four buttons behind the keys are for turning on the machine, setting user determined key functions, setting programming mode, and setting alphabetic mode. Behind this is the LCD display.
label: Description
content: The top edge has four slots for additional memory or devices. One of these is empty, one of them has a chip encased in plastic, and two of them have plastic frames but no circuitry. The chip enclosed in plastic is a prototype for an infrared “blinkie” transmitter linking the calculator to a printer. Such a transmitter originally was envisioned for calculators in the HP-28 series, but a Hewlett-Packard engineer suggested that HP-41 calculators also could link to the printer.
label: Description
content: A mark along the front edge of the calculator reads: hp HEWLETT • PACKARD 41CX. Text at the top of the back reads: SERIAL NO. However, there is no serial number.
label: Description
content: The donor of this model, David Rabinowitz, was an employee of Hewlett-Packard from 1975 until 1989 and worked on the design of the halfnut form of the HP41CX calculator as well as on HP’s infrared printers.
label: Description
content: The 41C and 41CV sold until 1990, the 41CX until 1991. (another source (http://www.hpmuseum.org/hp41.htm) gives dates of discontinuation of 1985 for the HP-41C, 1990 for the HP-41CV and 1990 for the HP-41CX).
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: W.A.C. Mier-Jedrzejowicz, <I>A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers </I>, Tustin, California: Wilson/Burnett Publishing, 1997, pp. 65–66, 133.
label: Description
content: David G. Hicks, <I>The Museum of HP Calculators</I>, http://www.hpmuseum.org/, accessed July, 2014.
label: Description
content: Accession file.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Oregon, Corvallis
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 David Rabinowitz
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2004.0165.01
label: accession number
content: 2004.0165
label: catalog number
content: 2004.0165.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: electronic calculator
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (case; keys; circuit board; template; display cover material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (circuitry material)
label: Physical Description
content: ceramic (display circuit board material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.3 cm x 7.8 cm x 15.3 cm; 1 5/16 in x 3 1/16 in x 6 1/32 in
label: Measurements
content: module: .5 cm x 3 cm x 3.8 cm; 3/16 in x 1 3/16 in x 1 1/2 in