DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments TI-5040

Date of introduction:	1976	Display technology:	Fluorescent
New price:	$149.95, £109.95 DM 498.00	Display size:	10
Size:	9.5" x 9.2" x 2.7"	Printer technology:	Thermal
Weight:	3 pounds 5 ounces	Serial No:	1409135
Batteries:		Date of manufacture:	wk 20 year 1981
AC-Adapter:	120 V	Origin of manufacture:	USA
Precision:	10	Integrated circuits:	TMC0261
Memories:	1 + 1
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner
		Download manual:	(US: 6.0 MByte)

It took a long time between the first calculator based on TI's thermal printer technology - the Canon Pocketronic - and this universal printing desktop calculator. Introduced 1976 it features both a 10 digit flourescent display and a quiet, convenient thermal printer. Together with a 4-key memory this calculator defined the standard in its class.

This calculator was a great success for Texas Instruments, it was produced more than 5 years before the TI-5142 was introduced. Later models like the TI-5040 II or the TI-5130 had shorter life cycles.

The style of the keyboard and some design elements of the TI-5040 were adopted both by non-printing calculators like the TI-5100 and print-only calculators like the TI-5015.

The TI-5220 printing desktop calculator with similiar specifications but sporting a 12 digits display was introduced in 1977 together with its huge sibbling TI-5225. Don't miss the TI-5135 introduced in 1980.

The first portable printing calculator TI-5050 appeared one year earlier on the market.

Even Texas Instruments never mentioned the rare TI-500, a printing calculator introduced already in 1974.

Printer paper:

The thermal paper used with this printer (TP-30250 1-1/2" wide and 14 Feet length) was discontinued long time ago. In 2008 Appleton (Appleton, WI) manufactured with the Alpha 700-2.4 paper still a compatible paper.

Find here an excerpt from the Texas Instruments Incorporated leaflet CL-199J dated 1981:

TI-5040

Offers the best of two worlds. An easy-to-read display. A printed tape.

For quick calculations use the large bright green 10-digit display, with commas and a floating decimal point. Or when the tape is needed, the whisper-quiet thermal printer delivers a crisp, clean copy of your calculations.
Special features to help solve business calculations or auditing problems include: A four-function memory. An independent add register (to simplify extensions, cross-footing and invoices). An automatic constant. A percent key. This combination of memory and independent add register results in a powerful "dual memory" capability.

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.