An article in the newspaper on August 16, 1972 by
columnist Sylvia Porter was devoted to the joy she was experiencing because she
had just purchased a new calculator in 1970 (battery operated and from Japan)
that could do all her calculations and be carried in her purse. It was about 5
inches by 9 inches. The price at that time was $390.00. In the fall of 1972 an
American company was producing a similar calculator for about $100.00. Sylvia
also went on to explain how to use the calculator and also gave a number of
calculations to try in the new machine to make sure it was accurate. On a side
note – in 1972 at Christmas when I was working for Kmart one of the hottest
gifts was a similar portable calculator on sale for $89.99 (each). We could not
keep them in stock. Another item at the same time was an LED watch that only
told the time for the same price, $89.99.
Minot Memories is a blog that pertains to the city of Minot, ND. It is brief glimpses of people, places, things and events of Minot's past that will provide some insight into the history of Minot. This photo Main Street looking south from the railroad tracks about 1940
I remember getting the first desktop calculator... with a screen and an electric plug as I recall. It has no paper facility. It cost over $500. All of us in the accounting department stood around looking at it and commenting on how useless it was because it didn't have paper. It wasn't that many years later (2? 3?) that you could get them free at KMart if you spent x-amount of dollars. (or buy them for $10)
ReplyDeleteConnie (from the Class of '66) :-)