Canon Palmtronic LE-84

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

Hi everybody,

I know I'm a bit off-topic, but I need some collector's help.

I've just come across a Canon Palmtronic LE-84, a very beautiful basic calculator (no roots, no %, no memory), with red phosporescent numbers in a 8-digit display (image from Datamath).

Its Serial Number is 659870.

Now, I assume that 6 is the year number: 1976 (I retrived the dacade from Datamath - TI Related models), and 5 is the month (May).

Am I right? Anyone can clarify this point about SN and production dates for Canon calculators?

If another source is available, please, address me there.

Thanks in advance

-- Antonio

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

> Am I right?

Actually - no.
The LE-84 has been made in 1974.
I have yet to find some kind of logic in their serial number scheme - they might have changed the first digit when manufacturing a new bunch. They certainly didn't start at 100000000 with each model, so there is probably another hidden trick :)

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

Do you mean that production started and ended in 1974?

-- Antonio

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

mine are datecoded 7407 to 7413 (CPU datecode), so that's probably mid 1974 production date, I'd expect an manufacturing timeframe of no longer than a couple of months - 1973 is highly unlikely, maybe until 1975, but unlikely

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

Please, Frank, write the Serial Numbers of your LE-84s. Just to check against mine.

Thanks.

-- Antonio

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

I have listed 7407: 673942 and 7413: 785973; no datecode for 768370 (which means the datecode was between 07 and 13). I probably have a couple more of these, but haven't noted down the ser#

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

Ok, thanks

So, interpolating:

SN = 785973 has a chip datecode = 7413

SN = 673942 has a chip datecode = 7407

SN = 659870 should have a datecode around 7406.

This should also mean that the calculator has been produced in February-March 1974 (since the chip is form 6th week of 1974, that is mid February).

Do you agree, Frank?

-- Antonio

Edited: 2 Sept 2006, 7:34 a.m.

[Frank Boehm (Germany)]

The datecode on the CPU is not the date of manufacture; I'd estimate 4-8 weeks between CPU manufacturing date (made in USA) and calculator manufacturing date (made in Japan). You should consider two other points as well:
- they probably made production runs, probably only a couple of days per month for several months
- CPU date code can easily be misleading/out of order, as different lots get mixed up

After all, you cannot determine the exact date of manufacture, I'd say April/May is a good guess here...

[Antonio Maschio (Italy)]

Right. I assume May 1974 on your word.

Thanks a lot.

-- Antonio