Texas Instruments TI-55-II (Brazil)

Fellow collector Eduardo Gutierrez, Mexico donated recently this wonderful and rare TI-55-II manufactured in Brazil. Thanks! Please visit his website.

Comparing this beauty with the TI-55-II sold in other countries reveals immediately a great difference: The housing is much bigger and accommodates two AA-sized batteries instead the small coin shaped LR44 type found usually. The reason is simple: AA-size batteries are a common standard and available easily.

The Date code on the backside of the calculator reads 4482 CIB and gives some interesting information. The CIB abbreviation indicates that the calculator was manufactured by Texas Instrumentos Eletrônicos do Brasil Ltda. - Campinas. Other Texas Instruments calculators sold in Brazil like the SR-40 LCD were assembled by Indústrias Gerais da Amazonia S.A.. 

Fellow collector Lucas F. Vane donated recently pictures of a TI-55-II manufactured in the city Manaus, Amazonia, too. Thanks!

Production of Texas Instruments calculators was obviously moved from Campinas to Manaus somewhere between 1982 and 1983.

Campinas is a city and county (município) located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil with a population of approximately 1,017,000 (2004 est.). Campinas has been dubbed the Brazilian Silicon Valley, since it is home to many national and multinational high-tech industries (IBM, Motorola, Lucent, Nortel, Compaq, Celestica, Samsung, Alcatel, Bosch, 3M, Texas Instruments, General Motors, Honda, and many others), as well as to several research centers and universities (such as CPqD, EMBRAPA, UNICAMP, and PUCCAMP).

Don't miss the Money Manager manufactured by Texas Instrumentos Eletrônicos do Brasil Ltda. - Campinas, too.

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

© Joerg Woerner, June 5, 2005. No reprints without written permission.