DATAMATH

DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments Discovery Depot

Date of introduction:	1994	Display technology:
New price:		Display size:	n.a.
Size:	13.0" x 12.0" x 4.7"
Weight:	2 pounds 6 ounces	Serial No:
Batteries:	4*C cells	Date of manufacture:	year 1994
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	Singapore
Precision:		Integrated circuits:	TSP50C14
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner
		Download manual:	(US: 1.2M Bytes)

The Discovery Depot is another wonderful toy with lots of activities for the youngsters.

Main attraction is the moving train in the center of the game. Pushing the yellow throttle makes the train moving. The other activities include (clockwise from the handle):

• Shatterproof mirror - "Peek-A-Boo. I see you."
• Friendly conductor - "I'm the conductor. Tickets, please."
• Yellow whistle - Sounds like a train whistle.
• Shapes - "Circle, Square, Triangle."
• Red note - Plays 6 different songs.
• Blue bell - "Ring-a-ling!"

Dismantling this Discovery Depot manufactured in 1994 by Texas Instruments in Singapore reveals a unique design within Texas Instrument's Educational Toys product line. In addition to the TSP50C14 speech synthesizer - tracing back to the legendary Speak & Spell introduced more than 15 years earlier - did we locate a small electric motor to move the train.

The rather small printed circuit board (PCB) of the Discovery Depot is centered around a TSP50C14 Voice Synthesis Processor (VSP) known from the various Touch & Talkies:

• TSP50C14/CSM14xxx: TSP50C50 VSP (Voice Synthesis Processor) with 8-bit microcontroller and 16k Bytes Mask ROM for both program and voice and 64 Bytes + 16 Nibbles RAM

The toy is intended for toddlers ages 9 to 36 month. Other toys for toddlers are the Listen & Learn, Magic Clown, Magic Sorter, My Own Playphone, Peek-A-Boo Zoo and the Talking Storytime Sorter.

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