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 CMOS 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.