DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments CONCEPT II (Version 1) distributed by Zayre Corp.
Date of introduction: | March 1976 | Display technology: | LED-stick |
New price: | SRP $17.77 | Display size: | 8 |
Size: | 5.5" x 2.8" x 1.4" 138 x 70 x 35 mm3 |
||
Weight: | 3.9 ounces, 110 grams | Serial No: | 1032920 |
Batteries: | 9V | Date of manufacture: | wk 08 year 1976 |
AC-Adapter: | AC9180 | Origin of manufacture: | USA (LTA) |
Precision: | 8 | Integrated circuits: | TMS0972 |
Memories: | 1 | ||
Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner | |
Download manual: | (US: 1.1M Bytes) |
Zayre Corporation was founded in 1956 by Stanley and Sumner Feldberg in Hyannis, Massachusetts as a discount department store chain. Zayre launched already in August 1975 the CONCEPT series of portable electronic calculators with the introduction of their first
CONCEPT 24.
The Zayre CONCEPT Calculator Series culminated in
March 1976 with the introduction of the Texas Instruments
CONCEPT I, CONCEPT II, and CONCEPT III calculators based on the
TI-1200, TI-1250, resp.
SR-16 II but disappeared already in August 1979 with the clearance sales of the
CONCEPT COMPACT calculators.
You
have to look twice to catch the differences between this rare CONCEPT II and
the TI-1250 calculator. The only differences between
the calculator is the color scheme of the faceplate.
Dismantling
the featured CONCEPT II calculator with
Date code 0876 LTA and manufactured in
February
1976
in Lubbock, Texas reveals a very efficient and cost-optimized design with a
single-sided printed circuit board (PCB) centered
around a TMS0952 single-chip
calculator circuit based
on the TMS1000, the World's first Microcomputer.
The
TMS0952
used with the original TI-1200/TI-1250 was soon replaced with the
TMS0972,
a pin-compatible design dropping the additional resistors and capacitor and
further reducing the manufacturing costs of the
calculators.
Learn more about the evolution of the TI-1250 between
June 1975 and its discontinuation in 1977.
Learn more about the different
Product Labels used with the TI-1250
- here at the Datamath Calculator Museum we classify the featured CONCEPT II as
Hardware Version 2, PCB Type 2 Cost Reduction and Product Label Style 3, Concept
II.
The CONCEPT II calculator was introduced in March 1976 and discontinued already in January 1977 with the blow-out sales of the CONCEPT I, CONCEPT II, CONCEPT 10, and the 2nd and 3rd design of the CONCEPT 24 calculators.
Fellow collectors - if you own a Zayre CONCEPT calculator, please report us the serial number and date code from the back of the calculator for our Database.
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, December 5, 2001. No reprints without written permission.