HP Classics: About Cases and Boxes

[PANAMATIK]

Hi Ignacio,

The brown leather like smooth pouches, which I really like, came in four different sizes. The first was designed for the woodstock models HP-21 to HP-29, then a bigger pouch for the HP-67 was made and of course the biggest for the HP-97 desktop calculator with printer. The last brown brown pouch was delivered with the HP-41C calculator some years later.

The woodstock pouch is 14,4 cm : 8,5 cm = 1.69 which is not bad, but the HP-67 hits the point: 17,3 cm : 10,7 cm = 1.61 which is exactly the golden ratio!

Unlike the woodstock pouch, the HP-41C is conically shaped, thick at the display part, flat at the bottom and it is longer than the woodstock. It ratio is 20,0 cm : 10,0 cm = 2.00, well, integer ratios cannot compete. It doesn't meet the golden ratio, and I don't like the flat part, although it perfectly follows the shape of the calculator itself.

Then please forgive me, but I cannot resist to confess: I personally think the grey plastic box is definitely the most ugly case I've ever seen. It is not my taste and I don't know why HP choose this color and look like for its most valuable items like HP-45, HP-80 and others.

At least the brown leather like pouch was indeed a very good choice.

Bernhard