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Hoffmann-La Roche FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER

Date of introduction:	1982	Display technology:	LCD
New price:		Display size:	8
Size:	2.8" x 6.0" x 0.30" 71 x 153 x 8 mm³
Weight:	2.8 ounces, 79 grams	Serial No:
Batteries:	2*LR44	Date of manufacture:	mth 11 year 1983
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	Taiwan
Precision:	8	Integrated circuits:	NEC uPD1831G
Memories:	3
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

Hoffmann-La Roche, a Swiss multinational healthcare company, launched in 1981 during a press conference in a New York City the Fitness 3 program as segment of the Vitamin Education Program. The three parts of the Fitness 3 program were fitness, nutrition, and health. Fitness 3 was established when Hoffmann-La Roche received the results of a national/exercise survey conducted for them by a large market research firm. The study indicated that Americans have a great deal of interest in fitness and quality of life. However, their perceptions of the benefits and the meaning of exercise, a good diet, and health habits differ greatly from actual behavior in these areas.

Hoffmann-La Roche applied on July 13, 1981 for a trademark for the phrase FITNESS 3. We assume that the FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER was related to the trademark.

Dismantling the featured FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER manufactured in November 1983 by National Semiconductor in Taiwan reveals a printed circuit board (PCB) marked with 103C-12. Obviously a reference to the NS103A Data Checker introduced in 1980 and its sibling Novus Electronics NS101A sporting just one Memory.

Please find an overview of the PCB-Marks we discovered so far on Account Manager calculators.

Comparing the FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER with the NS101A reveals two basically identical products with just cosmetic differences: The [1], [2] and [3] keys correspond to the [DEP/M+], [CHK/M-] respectively [BAL/MR] keys. The red [%] key is labeled CALORIC RATIO with the FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER and even the [DS] key to toggle between two entry modes is still present:

• Indicator (--) Floating decimal with manual insertion of the decimal using the [.] key
• Indicator (AM) Add mode with the decimal automatically put in the dollars and cents position (0.00

The featured FITNESS 3 MICRO COMPUTER reveals a clean design centered around a NEC uPD1831G single-chip calculator circuit powered by two LR43 batteries. We located the uPD1831G chip in the Texas Instruments TI-18 calculator, too.

Learn more about single-chip calculator circuits used in Account Manager Calculatorss.

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