Hand-held Calculators

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Hewlett Packard HP-35

Hewlett Packard  HP-35 Hewlett Packard  HP-35
Hewlett Packard  HP-35 in hand

Hewlett Packard HP-35

Display is scientific, 10 digits mantissa and 2 digits exponent, red LED.

Scientific, using Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) - as evidenced by the lack of an "=" key.

Main integrated circuits in this example - Mostek MK6020, MK6021, MK6022, MK6023, MK6024, which comprise three ROMs, a control and timing chip, and a register and arithmetic chip. This chip set was also second-sourced by AMI.

3.75v (3 x AA re-chargeable).

79 mm x 147 mm x 34 mm (3.1" x 5.8" x 1.4").

Introduced February 1972, cost $395 (about £165 Sterling).

Made in U.S.A. & Singapore.

The article "The HP-35 Calculator: The first Electronic Slide Rule", in the Collecting Calculators section of this site, has further information about the HP-35.

There is a very interesting article "Made in the USA ... finally" about the development of the HP-35 on Rick Furr's calculator site at http://www.public.usit.net/rfurr/hp-35.htm .

If you would like to try out the "Reverse Polish Notation" operation of a very realistic virtual HP-35 visit Neil Fraser's site at http://vv.carleton.ca/~neil/hp-35/ and download his excellent Javascript simulation.

This was the first hand-held scientific calculator. Hewlett Packard calculators were very well made, and reliable, and their electronics instruments had (still have) a very good reputation. Together with the high specification, this made their calculators the models of choice for many professionals. 300,000 HP-35 calculators were sold ("New Scientist", Feb. 1975).

While nearly all of the other calculator manufacturers concentrated on reducing the cost of their calculators, Hewlett Packard kept the cost high and increased the functionality. They introduced the HP-65, the first hand-held programmable calculator, in 1974, and they are one of the few companies to continue making calculators from the early 1970s to the present day.

HP 35s

July 2007: Hewlett Packard launches Retro HP 35s to Commemorate 35th Anniversary of First HP Handheld Calculator. More information on the Vintage Calculator News page.

Photograph of HP35s used with permission of HP.

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Hand-held Calculators

Sharp QT-8B
Sanyo ICC-0081 Mini Calculator
Canon Pocketronic
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Sanyo ICC-82
Minolta Minolcom
Brother PRO-CAL 408
Bowmar 901B
Ragen Microelectronic
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Royal Digital III & IV
Busicom LE-100A handy
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Hewlett Packard HP-35
Canon LE-10
Rapidman 800
Texas Instruments 2500
Lloyd's Accumatic 100
Sinclair Executive
Casio Mini
Sanyo ICC-809
Sharp EL-801
Texas Instruments SR-10
Sperry Remington 661D & 661
Olympia CD 81
apf Mark V
Ramsgate M-11
Iain Jones International Mini A
Hewlett-Packard HP80
Heathkit IC-2009
MITS 150
Summit Ko9V, K16 & SE88M
Unicom 102
Victor 85
Elka 101
RFT minirex 75
Sharp EL-120
Sharp EL-805
Bowmar MX-55
Keystone 88 & similar
Hewlett-Packard HP-65
Casio fx-10
Calcu-pen
Casio AL-8 & family models
Commodore 776M & 796M
Novus 650
Rockwell 8R
General Instrument EZ3000
Check, billfold, wallet calculators
Edmund Scientific 1945
Texas Instruments Spirit of '76
Pulsar Calculator Watch
Compuchron Calculator Watch
Adler Lady & Sir
Elektronika C3-15
Speech+
Commodore S61
Sharp EL-8026
Texas Instruments TI-30
Canon Multi 8
Casio ST1
Texas Insturments TI 58
Wrist Calculators
Kosmos I & Kosmos Astro
Hanimex Calculator-Recorder
Navigation Calculators
TI58 Special Function Calculators
Sandvik 842S Coromant
Panasonic Electronic Ruler
Teal Photon
Sharp EL-825
Casio Mini Card LC-78
Feet & inches calculators
Elektronika MK-33
Sharp PC1211/Tandy TRS80 PC1
Curta
Slide Rule
Otis King L

Vintage Calculators

© Text & photographs copyright Nigel Tout  2000-2008 except where noted otherwise.