Someone collects old pocket calculators?

I don't really collect 'em but I do have a couple old HP's around here. I have one of these from about '74, handed down from my dad, then there's this one that got me through every math class I took in high school and college. Cool little gadgets, and they're fairly powerful, too, although they (the 15C especially) are quite difficult to use.

And BTW, that site I linked for the pics has more information on those old HP's than you could possibly want to know, if you're researching the subject...
 
I was in college back in 74, and I do remember the HP35 and 45s. I had a TI SR50 myself. Easier to use and figure out. When someone mentioned "Reverse Polish Notation" I first thought he was telling one of those stupid jokes making fun of ethnic groups. :no:
 
I used the HP 25http://www.hpmuseum.org/25.jpg calculator in engineering school.

I'd been using the old TI calculators that were a bit cheaper ($45 vs $60 for the HP) but I reasoned that if HP thought Reverse Polish Notation was good enough to engineer it into their calculators then there ought to be something in it for me. I can still remember that night as I went through the manual learning about the functions just cackling with laughter thinking about how much faster I'd get out of EE school tests.

My professor - a great guy - insisted that we all learn how to use a slide rule *and* that he could out-calculate any student with his big slide rule. The HP did polar to rectangular coordinate conversions - the first calculator to be able to do so - and that was his downfall. He prided himself on giving tests that lasted a full 3 hours, with all of us plebes busting our buns to meet that limitation and get all the problems worked out. I left after 45 minutes with the HP 25! He never let me forget it but finally began to accept that calculators were "probably ok" for his classes.

I kept it until the old batteries leaked all over the case.

BTW, I've now been with HP for over 20 years and can recommend to anyone who might be in the Palo Alto, California area to visit the HP Museum in the HP corporate headquarters at 3000 Hanover St. Its quite an impressive walk through the past. The wierd part for me is that I have used, worked on or am familiar with over half of the stuff they've got in there.

Cheers,

David
 
As a retired 30 yr HP tech in the Frequency $ Time Div., I am fully familiar with HP calcs. I have several, starting with the 45, 25 ,the logic 16C and many others. Got em all at HP empl. discount. I'd like to sell most of em to a collector.
 
Yes, I collect them, and I have WAY too many

I really like to find the old ones with displays not found today, such as LED, the blue or green "fluorescent" type, or nixies. I have an old, old Sharp which is large, and uses numerals which are now non-standard, including the half-size zero. They also take up less space than my audio gear!

Laz
 
I have a couple of HP45CX (or is it HP-41) with card readers, bar code reader wand, printer, some magnetic cards, manuals...

Cool stuff!
 
I am a huge fan of HP calculators! Only Reverse Polish Notation for me... :thmbsp:

I have an HP-41CX with a few program pacs for it - Standard Applications, HP-41 Advantage, and Stress Analysis. Those stress analysis programs were awesome for Statics and Strength of Materials in college. It still works great and is a joy to use. Lots of quality in that hp stuff.

I have been using an HP-48SX as my main calculator since 1992. I had to get it for the graphic capabilities. Just amazing at the time. I used to have Pac-Man and Joust on it back in the day, but that stuff just took up too much memory. Man, the tests that thing got me through in grad school...

Speaking of grad school, we used an HP-71 in the hydraulics lab to collect and log flow data. We had the big Data Acquisition box, the thermal dot matrix printer, and a disk drive! Major geek factor! :yes:
 
The "status symbol" when Yr Fthfl Srvnt was a senior in Ice cool was a Texas Instruments TI-100. Mine got lost in the shuffle between moves back & forth to college & so forth. Wish I still had it. The earlier calcs w/Nixie tubes were kewl, but try finding replacements now...-Sandy G.
 
I own an an old "Felix" CE 845 Romanian scientific pocket calculator (manufactured about 1980) with fungry leds display (the claculator works with an 9 Volts battery). Unfourtnely I don't have the 220V-9V addaptor.
The computer haves no "=" mark
Here are some mote vintage calculators
http://www.vintagecalculators.com
 
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Im not that old but I use a TI-82 (1991) and now in Egineering School I use a HP 28S (1986)
28ss.jpg
 
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Huh...I have an HP35 that I got in abount 1973, an HP67 from 1976, and an HP92 from the same time. I still use the 92 all the time, but it's not really a "pocket" calculator. Confession: I had no idea people collected these!
 
This Sunday I got my hands on a "Panasonic" JL-8801, an "Commodore" GL-989R, and a "Craig" 4517, all Made in Japan and LED display. Unfourtnley, only the "Panasonic" is in good working condtion.
 
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