Victor MEC calculators from the early 1970's

[Don Shepherd]

(08-26-2015 01:25 AM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(08-25-2015 10:31 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote:  These are beautiful machines and the fact that they still work after 43 years is testimony to how they were built--to last.

Nice looking machines, thanks for sharing and posting the pics Don. Although one can see the 70's in the design (especially the Orange/Red scheme), there is also something timeless about the clean, clear design and excellent display.

How is the keyboard design? Do they feel much the same, unit to unit?

What is the "SET" function - number of decimal places to display?

Lastly, no factorial??

Thanks Bob.

Yes, the keyboard layout and design is essentially the same from unit to unit. There is no click to the keys, but they are easy to press and register 100% of the time. These three models have a memory where you can store intermediate results. There are other MEC models that don't have the memory, and they were cheaper originally. On those models, the memory keys on the right-hand side just have a plastic cap (from the pictures I have seen).

Except for the MEC/2, the key in the lower right-hand corner is interesting. It combines the two functions of the equals key and the memory+ key into a single key. This is very useful if you are extending invoice line items and want a grand total. You will notice that the key is labelled += on one model and =+ on the other. At first I thought this was a change by Victor during their production runs, but Katie dispelled that notion (I'll let her explain, if she wants, why they are different).

The SET key with the curve is for setting the number of decimal places in the display, from 0 to 9, and rounding to that decimal place.

No factorial. I guess Victor didn't think that was necessary in a businessman's calculator in the 1970s. There is no raise-to-a-power key either, although 3 to the 4th power would just be 3 X = = =.

Interestingly, the equals key is only used for multiplication and division, not for addition and subtraction, like most calculators of that era. A seller on Ebay sold one of these for parts only because she thought the equals key did not work; she keyed in something like 2 + 3 = and the display showed 0. I wrote her and told her that the equals key probably works fine, you just don't use it for addition and subtraction.

I like the simplicity and classic good looks of these models.