DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments Concept III distributed by Zayre Corp.
| Date of introduction: | March 1976 | Display technology: | LED-stick |
| New price: | Display size: | 8 + 2 | |
| Size: | 5.8" x 3.2" x
1.3" 147 x 81 x 32 mm3 |
||
| Weight: | 5.7 ounces, 163 grams | Serial No: | 0017847 |
| Batteries: | 3*AA | Date of manufacture: | wk 08 year 1976 |
| AC-Adapter: | AC9180 | Origin of manufacture: | USA (LTA) |
| Precision: | 8 | Integrated circuits: | TMS1016, 2*SN27882 |
| Memories: | 1 | ||
| Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner | |
| Download manual: | 
(US: 4.3M 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.
Following the path of the Slide Rule (SR) calculators like the wonderful SR-16, the CONCEPT III was called Advanced Slide Rule.
If
you explore the calculator deeper,
you'll immediately catch the similarities to the
SR-16 II. The only differences are the coloring
schema of the faceplate and the size of the letters. The slightly oversized
keyboard printing was continued later with the TI-1255.
Dismantling
this Zayre CONCEPT III manufactured in February 1976 by Texas Instruments in
Lubbock, Texas reveals no differences to the SR-16-II, the printed circuit board (PCBs)
of the two calculators are 100%
identical.
Both
the SR-16-II and this rare CONCEPT III calculator are based on a
TMS1016
single-chip calculator circuit, a member of the famous TMS1000
Microcomputer family developed already in 1974.
The backside
of Kirk Muri's calculator revealed a small surprise: A serial number with
three leading zeroes! Let us assume that production numbers kept well beyond
the marketing expectations.
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.