Texas Instruments TI-1890 Converter Kit

This interesting machine based on a TI-35 is really a converter. Giving the US citizens a chance to work with the International SI units, it converts easily between old-fashioned yards, inches, gallons and ounces to the modern meters, centimeters, liters or grams. The TI Converter has 194 built-in conversions and was delivered together with the "Calculator and Converter handbook" that guides step-by-step through common household and work related projects.

Success in the United States? I don't think so, I used this machine to give you the above data in inches and ounces.  
Comment from the editor: "I lived in Germany till June 24, 2006"

Interested in converting calculators? Have a look on the Cessna Sky/Comp.

Within the Datamath Museum the TI Converter is placed due to the housing and calculator chip in the "Scientific Calculators" album, nevertheless the number TI-1890 is the name of a BASIC calculator. Four years later the converter functions were really adopted to basic calculators, view the TI-1889.

The first calculator performing metric conversions was introduced already in 1974 with the Canon FC-80.

Recently fellow collector Stefan Klaes discovered an early TI-1890 Converter with a date code of ATA3781 (manufactured in Abilene, TX during week 37 of the year 1981). Dismantling this calculator reveals with the CD4509 single-chip calculator circuit the "buggy" version of the later CD4559 found in the pictured model on the left. Read more about the TP0455 and TP0456 C-MOS calculator chips here.

The TI-1890 Converter is featured in the Texas Instruments Incorporated leaflet CL-199M dated 1983.

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

© Joerg Woerner, January 3, 2002. No reprints without written permission.