DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
Texas Instruments TI-3510
|Date of introduction:||December 1973||Display technology:||Panaplex II|
|New price:||$99.95 (October,1974)||Display size:||10|
|Size:||8.4" x 6.2" x 2.5"|
|Weight:||2 pounds||Serial No:||0003272S|
|Batteries:||Date of manufacture:||year 1974|
|AC-Adapter:||120 V||Origin of manufacture:||USA|
|Precision:||10||Integrated circuits:||TMS0106, National Semiconductor MM5314|
|Program steps:||Courtesy of:||Joerg Woerner|
|Download manual:||(US: 1.9 MByte)|
The rare TI-3510 appeared shortly after the formal introduction of the TI-2500, TI-3000 and TI-3500 in September, 1973. At a first glance it combines the wooden keyboard foil known from the Exactra 31 with a metal frame for the ON/OFF switch. Exploring this switch reveals a surprise: The TI-3510 is always powered:
Reads the time in hours and minutes.
C-Position Normal calculator function known from the TI-3500.
Dismantling the TI-3510 gives the answer to the "How was it possible" question. A simple clock chip manufactured by competitor National Semiconductor is wired in parallel to the calculator chip. The former ON/OFF switch simply selects which of the two Integrated Circuits is connected to the power.
Today it s difficult to understand why Texas Instruments used a clock chip from a 3rd party manufacturer, the later TI-70 and TI-71 alarm clocks used an own design.
The above pictures of the Panaplex display demonstrated clearly the main problem of the TI-3510: Within some years of use the segments of the four digits used by the clock faded out. We assume that a lot of TI-3510 were trashed and together with a low production volume - this one is 0003272S manufactured late in 1974 - it is very rare today.
The TI-3510 was introduced few month after the Corvus 305, a combination of a 10-digit calculator with clock and date function. But these competing twins were not the winner in the calculator-clock combo race, don't underestimate the rare Garrett 2002.
It took another 15 years till Texas Instruments introduced
their second commercial desktop calculator with a built-in clock, don't miss the
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© Joerg Woerner, September 28, 2002. No reprints without written permission.
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