Folks, This message might be borderline annoying to some, in which case I humbly apologize, but I really wanted to give it a bit wider distribution than its original list. I'd be very sad if they didn't sell and had to be trashed; not quite like "Save the whales!" Sales pitch follows, which you can happily ignore! Deleting is quite OK! This is an unusual opportunity to obtain an historic machine of at least some interest. These, as the message says, need cleaning up, but apparently most are in good shape internally. I have no connection with the seller, but believe him to be reputable; he made a similar offer several months back, and there have been no complaints at all about him on the List. (Cliff, you can ignore all of what follows; if I got anything wrong, feel free to holler, of course! (Cliff has an STW in tip-top condition.)) The Friden STW was the standard desktop calculator of choice, widely used, for scientists and engineers for several decades. It was the successor to the ST, which was probably first sold in the early 1930s. (Yes, the Depression! Friden started a successful company in Terrible Times. It took an acquisition by Singer to destroy it.) If you have any interest in historic calculators, this is an excellent and very representative example. These machines had a different architecture from today's electronic calculators, which I won't try to explain (the message is too long, already!). It's a motor-driven rotary machine with no printer, and a carriage. Its capacity was usually 10x10x20, which is to say that it could multiply two 10-digit numbers and display a 20-digit product. The Friden STWs were very reliable and trustworthy when properly cared for. It does all four operations of arithmetic automatically; also can do d=a+(b*c) and d=a-(b*c). (These can be chained, so that the new a is the old d, and new b and c are arbitrary, although either or both b and/or c can be the same as the previous.) (Super-slow DSP, anyone?!) Iirc, you can also display the sum or difference of two or more quotients. It's practical to compute square roots on it by at least two methods, I'm fairly sure. One uses a printed lookup table (hard to find); the other is a clever semi-mindless algorithm called the "fives method". There are severe limitations on automatic transfers of numbers within the machine; essentially, almost none. The numbers in the keyboards and the results dials can be kept for the next calculation, however. It has 10 columns of keys, 9 keys + a clear key in each column. You could consider this a parallel-entry keyboard. (It was called a "full keyboard.") The STW also has the unique, distinctive little 10-key serial-entry multiplier section. There are such features as selectively disabling the auto. clearing of the main keyboard, also of the accumulator and/or the cycle counter dials. Little knobs allow you to rotate the accumulator dials to preset them (such as for rounding numbers). Many clever applications were worked out based on accessibility of the individual parts of the machine, so to speak. Decimal points are not calculated by the mechanism at all, but there are markers to keep things simple. Speed is 600 cycles per minute. One limitation is that subtracting one from the LSD of all zeros does not give a string of 20 nines; you get about 14, iirc, on a standard machine. "Full carryover" was an option. I think there is a warning bell to signify an accumulator "sign change". Just about sure that a stock Belden power cord will fit, but not sure Belden still sells that particular item. (Sorry; don't have a Belden catalog any more.) (It has three round pins, male on the calc, iirc, and the center pin is offset and probably longer. It was a standard until the rectangular-pin IEC connector so well known in computers supplanted it.) Hmmm... budding free-lance ad copywriter? (Heaven save us!) No doubt, some work will be needed; it would be much wiser to remove the covers and try to cycle the machine by hand to see that it doesn't jam. The main driveshaft has a female threaded hole in the end for a handcrank that you could make. If the machine jams under power, there is a fiber gear (so I'm told by an experienced Friden tech.) that might become damaged; he says it's a Major Pain to replace if you can get the part, and parts are hard to come by! There is a crude safety clutch (makes a terrible racket!), but it may not disengage before the fiber gear strips. Again, my apologies for the intrusion. |* Nicholas Bodley *|* Electronic Technician {*} Autodidact & Polymath |* Waltham, Mass. *|* ----------------------------------------------- |* nbodley(a)tiac.net *|* The personal computer industry will have become |* Amateur musician *|* mature when crashes become unacceptable. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 08:19:35 -0400 From: Julian Burke <julianb(a)ESPER.COM> To: CALCLIST-L(a)TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL Subject: Friden STW's for sale Hello All, I'm not in this for profit but want to see these units go to the right hands for collecting. I have a huge quantity of Friden STW's for sale @ $30 each. These are as-is complete, dirty from long term storage, might be missing a button or two and NO power cords. $30 + shipping and packing from Knoxville, Tennessee. They will weigh 44 pounds each packed, so consult with UPS for shipping prices from ZIP code 37909. If interested, I have "worse" (needing more cleanup or for parts) for less and better units for more. Most people who have purchased from me before say the insides look great and after a good "typewriter bath", they survived very well. Hurry while selection is good. I have hundreds of calcs for possible trade (cash also) and am looking for a WANG 360SE at this time. (Suitcase with 4 slave calcs To unsubscribe send the command: unsubscribe CALCLIST-L to LISTSERV(a)techunix.technion.ac.il The email address of this list is : CALCLIST-L(a)techunix.technion.ac.il --- You are currently subscribed to collectorz as: [rax(a)warbaby.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to unsubscribe-collectorz(a)lists.tmn.com -- Warbaby The WebSite. The Domain. The Empire. http://www.warbaby.com The MonkeyPool WebSite Content Development http://www.monkeypool.com Dreadlocks on white boys give me the willies.