Bohn Instant Handheld Electronic Calculator

This hefty turquoise handheld electronic calculator has a plastic case, keyboard, keys, and screen.It fits in a black plastic, cloth-lined, zippered sleeve. It has an array of ten digit keys with a decimal point key, four keys for arithmetic operations, a total key right of these, a clear key, and a percentage key. A red button above the 7 key apparently allows one to switch between floating point arithmetic and dollars and cents. Above the keys are an on/off switch and a switch between the AC adapter and the battery. (The example presently has no adapter and no battery.) Behind this is an eight-digit green-tube display. A mark behind the display reads: Bohn Instant. On the back is a two-prong plug for an adapter. The back has two plastic feet and, at the base, a compartment that would hold five batteries.

A silver-colored sticker on the back reads: BOHN REX-ROTARY (/) MODEL-BOHN INSTANT (/) VOLTAGE-7.5 VOLTS, D, C, POWER-1.5 V. A. (/) SERIAL NO. 3715751-A (/) SERVICE CENTERS (/)475 S. DEAN ST. (/) ENGLEWOOD N. J. 07631. A second service center has address: 121 PALM ST. (/) ALHAMBRA CAL 91801. A mark on the back reads: MADE IN TAIWAN.

The Bohn Duplicator Company had distributed Danish adding machines and Rex-Rotary duplicating machines. For an example of one of the adding machines, see 1995.0018.01.

The date of about 1972 for the Bohn Instant is given by Ball and Flamm.

Reference:

Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, The Complete Collector's Guide to Pocket Calculators, Tustin, CA: Wilson/Barnett, 1997, p. 34.

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