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How old is your Datamath Version 1?

About 30 years! If you are satisfied with this short answer you could skip this article. If you want a more accurate answer, you'll find enough information to do a good estimation of the production date of your Datamath Version 1.

Do you really own one of the rare Version 1 calculators? Please compare your Datamath with the left picture. Only the Version 1 got a keyboard with the CE/D-key on the upper left position. The later models got either the CE-key or the C-key on that position.

Okay, your Datamath is a Version 1. This gives you a production date between June 1972 - the unofficial introduction in the Neiman-Marcus and Sanger-Harris department stores in Dallas, TX - and January 1973. The formally introduction of the Datamath took place on September 21, 1972, the Version 2 was introduced February 1973.

In a next step you need the manufacturing facility, this could be either Dallas, TX or Italy. Usually you find on the bottom a sticker with the Dallas, Texas information. The Italy sticker is pictured on the right.

Datamath_V1_2.jpg (90541 Byte)If you own a Dallas manufactured Datamath you should read the serial number and compare it with the following table. Take the picture to the right as reference for typical labels.

Serial number Date Comment
D0000-00xxx April 1972 Pre-Series (White)
D0000-0xxxx June 1972 Pre-Series (Tan)
D0000-xxxxx July 1972 - September 1972 First production batch
2500-xxxxx September 1972 - October 1972 Second production batch
(maybe another facility)
2500-xxxxx October 1972- June 1973 Third production batch
(maybe another facility)
D1000-xxxxx August 1972 - September 1972 First Longines production batch
D1000-xxxxx October 1972 - January 1973 Second Longines production batch
D1000-xxxxx January 1973 - February 1973 Third Longines production batch (tan)

Datamath_v1_Molds.jpg (111251 Byte)In the case that your calculator lost the label on the backside you could remove with two screws the battery compartment and use the mold of the housing to determine the production batch: 

The mold of the left calculator is from the Pre-Series (White or Tan), it uses small inserts for the 
   two screws and misses the additional grooves.
The mold of the middle calculator is from the frist production batch, it uses small 
   inserts for the two screws and features four rectangular grooves. 
The mold on the right is from the second production batch, please note the rounded 
   shape of the four grooves left and right of the batteries.


If you remove the bottom of the housing with the four remaining screws you trigger the last step in determining the age of your calculator.
The large MOS integrated circuit is the famous "calculator-on-a-chip" announced by TI in September 17, 1971. The first line TMS0110 (on the very early calculators) or TMS0119 gives you the designation of the part, the second line the production date. Using the Datecode explanation you get a four digit code to define the week and year of manufacturing.

Example:  7235 reads as 35th week of the year 1972
During production of the Datamath calculator this integrated circuit was in most cases on the "critical path". The manufacturing date of the calculator should be one or two weeks after the production date of the TMS0119. Just for your reference, the lower printed circuit board was found in the Italian Datamath Version 1.

 

   

Dear fellow Datamath Version 1 owner. I like to add a correlation table between the serial number and estimated production date to this page. Please drop me a short line with the serial number, the mold type and datecode of the TMS0110 (empty) TMS0110 (ZA0049)  or TMS0119 (empty, ZA0052 or ZA0072). 
Thanks in advance.  Joerg Woerner

Serial Number Origin Calculator 
MOS-IC
MOS-IC
Datecode
Mold Owner
D0000-00080 USA TMS0110 7217 left Joerg Woerner
D0000-00141 USA TMS0110 7218 left Nance L. Briscoe
D0000-00252 USA TMS0110 7218 left Dean Winter
(Edward Carier)
D0000-00497 USA TMS0110 7218 left Joerg Woerner
D0000-00518 USA TMS0110 7218 left Joerg Woerner
D0000-00537 USA TMS0110 7218 left Kirk B.Muri
D0000-00599 USA TMS0110 7218 left eBay: sony.818
D0000-01538 USA      left Gene Williams
D0000-03061 USA TMS0110
ZA0049
7221 left Jan Treise
D0000-03211 USA      left Doug Mendez
D0000-03770 USA TMS0110 7223 left  
D0000-05818 USA TMS0110
ZA0049
7224 left Zoltan
D0000-06535 USA TMS0110 7224 left Frank Boehm
D0000-07644 USA TMS0110 7226 left Jim Fidler
D0000-07968 USA TMS0110 ???? middle eBay: birdsnest45
D0000-08483 USA TMS0110 7229 left Ken H. Meine
D0000-09015 USA TMS0110 7230 middle Mark Fischer
D0000-10803 USA TMS0110 7231 middle Geoffrey Wang
D0000-12818 USA TMS0119   middle Tim Kelley
D0000-12876 USA TMS0119   middle Michael Zak
D0000-14088 USA TMS0119 7232 middle Kirk B.Muri
D0000-14158 USA TMS0119 7235 middle Ken H. Meine
D0000-16146 USA TMS0119   middle Joerg Woerner
D0000-17590 USA TMS0119 7235 middle Joerg Woerner
D0000-18229 USA TMS0119 7235 middle Malcolm Talley
D0000-18414 USA TMS0119   middle Gunnar Fossum
D0000-18619 USA TMS0119   middle eBay e_topia
D0000-18885 USA TMS0119
ZA0052
7238 middle Scott Reynolds
D0000-19927 USA TMS0119   middle Joerg Woerner
D0000-20640 USA TMS0119 7237 middle Jim Wright
D0000-21864 USA TMS0119 7237 middle Larry Bracht
D0000-22320 USA TMS0119   middle eBay ppiar
D0000-22612 USA TMS0119   middle Thomas Schurmann
D0000-23916 USA TMS0119 7235 middle David Biles
D0000-24876 USA TMS0119 7235 middle Scott Reynolds
D0000-25523 USA TMS0119 7235 middle James R. Sonday
D0000-25592 USA TMS0119   middle ebay sagavanirktok
D0000-25615 USA TMS0119 7237 middle Matthew Gorr
D0000-25692 USA TMS0119 7232 middle Kirk B. Muri
D0000-25759 USA TMS0119 7237 middle Carl Waite
D0000-26530 USA TMS0119 7232 middle Kirk B.Muri
D0000-29073 USA           Russ
2500-30576 USA TMS0119    middle Eric Dansky
2500-33389 USA TMS0119 7240 middle Joerg Woerner
2500-34818 USA TMS0119 7238 middle Max Feuchter
2500-36513 USA TMS0119 7241 middle Frank Boehm
2500-36621 USA TMS0119   middle cal@dawndollsplus.com
2500-38469 USA TMS0119 7239 middle George Aalto
2500-38550 USA TMS0119 7239 middle Joerg Woerner
2500-41180 USA TMS0119   middle eBay kirschstrasse
2500-43822 USA TMS0119 7241 middle Wirewrapper
2500-47151 USA TMS0119     eBay donation4
2500-48888 USA TMS0119     Nick Cinalli
2500-53934 USA TMS0119 7246 right Steve Vandenberg
2500-55091 USA TMS0119 7238 right Cyrille Carrasco
2500-55847 USA TMS0119 7245 right Frank Boehm
2500-56085 USA TMS0119     Paul Hamill
2500-56677 USA TMS0119     eBay pqb_partners
2500-60492 USA TMS0119 7245 right Frank Boehm
2500-61904 USA TMS0119 7245 right Mark Mehall
2500-62538 USA TMS0119 7246 right Frank Boehm
2500-63387 USA TMS0119 7246 right Robert Adam
2500-63416 USA TMS0119 7246 right Joerg Woerner
2500-65380 USA TMS0119 7247 right Jose Datamath
2500-65598 USA     right eBay geo-sell
2500-67315 USA TMS0119 7247 right  
2500-67961 USA TMS0119 7238 right Joerg Woerner
2500-68749 USA TMS0119 7238 right Ken H. Meine
2500-68990 USA TMS0119   right Scott reynolds
2500-69021 USA TMS0119 7248 right  George Aalto
2500-69953 USA TMS0119 7248 right  
2500-72137 USA TMS0119 7249 right Joerg Woerner
2500-79973 USA TMS0119 7249 right Mark Mehall
2500-81425 USA TMS0119 7252 right Joerg Woerner
2500-82287 USA TMS0119 7252 right Joerg Woerner
2500-84316 USA TMS0119 7242 right Thomas Kusch
2500-84675 USA TMS0119 7250 right Frank Boehm
2500-84833 USA TMS0119 7252 right Frank Boehm
2500-85207 USA TMS0119 7252 right Joerg Woerner
2500-85354 USA TMS0119 7241 right Mark Bollman
2500-90141 USA TMS0119 7249 right Joerg Woerner
2500-95584 USA TMS0119   right  eBay: dejur
2500-96098 USA TMS0119     Terry Palmersheim
2500-97471 USA TMS0119 7307 right Jürg Salvisberg
2500-99391 USA TMS0119 7307 right eBay ab2015_1
2500-99426 USA TMS0119 7237 right Kai-Uwe Rommel
2500-99570 USA TMS0119    right Otto R. Herzig
2500-100822 USA TMS0119 7250 right Ken Goldberg
2500-104076 USA TMS0119 7418 (!) right  
2500-105162 USA TMS0119
ZA0072
7316 right Ken H.Meine
2500-105698 USA TMS0119
ZA0072
7313 right  
2500-108605 USA TMS0119 7313 right Serge Roube
2500-110649 USA TMS0119 7313 right  
2500-110877 USA TMS0119 7313 right David Olson
2500-110962 USA TMS0119 7325 right  
2500-116190 USA TMS0119   right  
A002924 Italy TMS0119 7235 middle Terry Stanfield
A003621 Italy TMS0119 7235 middle Peter Muckermann
A004795 Italy TMS0119 7238 middle Andrew Butterfield
A005846 Italy TMS0119 7235 middle Stefan Klaes
A011003 Italy TMS0119 7244 right Kirk B.Muri
A015042 Italy TMS0119 7247 right Joerg Woerner
A015827 Italy TMS0119 7247 right Joerg Woerner
A019493 Italy TMS0119   right Joerg Woerner
A020188 Italy TMS0119 7250 right Ken Meine
A020688 Italy TMS0119   right eBay provinzler_kaufen_alles
A021208 Italy TMS0119 7301 right Ken Meine
A022295 Italy TMS0119   right David Lundholm
A022583 Italy TMS0119 7301 right Christian von Lettow-Vorbeck
A023496 Italy TMS0119 7235 middle Mike Dennis
A023717 Europe TMS0119 7238 right Nick Goddard
A025121 Italy TMS0119 7235 middle Michael Osteroth
A026323 Italy TMS0119 7250 right Joerg Woerner
A001204 Europe TMS0119 7238 middle Stephan Weiss
A001914 Europe TMS0119 7331 (!) middle Stephan Weiss
A005435 Europe TMS0119 7244 middle Frank Boehm
A023717 Europe TMS0119 7238 right Nick Goddard
A019181 Europe TMS0119 7301 right Frank Boehm
018443 Europe TMS0119 7247 right Rudolf van Tricht

The Longine Symphonette's in the green housing

Serial Number Origin Calculator 
MOS-IC
MOS-IC
Datecode
Mold Owner
D1000-02676 USA TMS0110 7232 middle Frank Boehm
D1000-02822 USA     middle eBay ddigalbo
D1000-03812 USA TMS0119 7232 middle Joerg Woerner
D1000-04235 USA TMS0119 7244 (!)  right(!) Mark Bollman
D1000-04479 USA TMS0119 7235 middle Joerg Woerner
D1000-06365 USA TMS0119 7235 left Joerg Woerner
D1000-07822 USA TMS0119 7238 right Kirk B.Muri
D1000-07932 USA TMS0119
ZA0052
7242 right Scott Reynolds
D1000-08277 USA TMS0119 7252 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-09474 USA TMS0119 7246 right  
D1000-10347 USA TMS0119 7306 middle Paulo R. Alves
D1000-11810 USA TMS0119 7301 right Peter Muckermann
D1000-12216 USA TMS0119 7301 right Doug Mendez
D1000-12271 USA TMS0119 7301 right Kirk B. Muri
D1000-14569 USA TMS0119 7250 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-15191 USA TMS0119 7301 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-16391 USA TMS0119 7301 right Hans Bloemen
D1000-17051 USA TMS0119 7301 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-17072 USA TMS0119 7301 right CollectriC
D1000-18006 * USA TMS0119 7307 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-19992 * USA TMS0119 7301 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-20495 * USA TMS0119 7307 right Frank Boehm
D1000-20541 * USA TMS0119 7247 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-20564 * USA TMS0119 7247 right Joerg Woerner
D1000-21610 * USA TMS0119 7249 right Frank Boehm
D1000-21646 * USA TMS0119 7249 right Kai-Uwe Rommel

(*) The Longine Symphonette with the late serial numbers D1000-18006 and higher uses the tan colored housing of the original Texas Instruments Datamath instead the usual olive green housing. We assume that only 18,000 Symphonette's were ordered and they need some extra calculators for repair exchanges.

Sometimes nothing fits! If you discover a date code like the 7418 on the Datamath 2500-104076 search for the "class E" stamp to indicate a reworked product.

Datamath™ is a trademark of Texas Instruments.

 

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

© Joerg Woerner, December 23, 2001. No reprints without written permission. Courtesy of the pictures is Michael Osteroth, Mike Sebastian and Kirk B. Muri. Thanks !