source: Worst Case Scenario Workplace Calendar
This week in 1974, Texas Instruments was granted patent 3,819,921 for a "Miniature Electronic Calculator." TI engineers had been working on inventing one of these contraptions since 1965. Be that as it may, Hewlett-Packard and Intel had been working on similar projects since the late 1960's. Texas Instruments' 1967 application for a patent heated up the race to become the first company to release a commercial pocket calculator and thus won the race, releasing the Pocketronic in 1971.
Retail value then? $345
Retail value for a pocket calculator now: around $3
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