Mechanical Pencil Calculator?

[ndzied1]

I saw this image in a video where the user was looking through the November 1957 issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine. Has anyone seen such a thing?

   

[Ren]

No, but now I want one!
B^)

[trojdor]

Here's the patent for it...
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2777636A/en

You can read his description of the invention, and if you click on the image a couple of times and enlarge it, it's a pretty good resolution .png file...

mike

[bbergman]

I had something like this in the 80's (or was it 90's)? Thick pen with buttons down the length, and a tiny LCD screen that only showed 4-5 digits. Wasn't too useful, but it was unique. It lasted maybe two months and became junk...

[Dave Britten]

Back in the mid '90s, I had a (very thick) pen that would flip open to reveal a little LCD inside the door, and a keyboard integrated into the pen body. It was a calculator and simple databank type of device, and the keys were so tiny that you were advised to use the end of the pocket clip on the cap as a stylus to push them! It was more of a novelty than anything genuinely practical.

[bbergman]

(02-09-2022 05:39 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Back in the mid '90s, I had a (very thick) pen that would flip open to reveal a little LCD inside the door, and a keyboard integrated into the pen body. [...]

Dave, I think we had the same pen!!

[Dave Britten]

(02-09-2022 05:41 PM)bbergman Wrote:  

(02-09-2022 05:39 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  Back in the mid '90s, I had a (very thick) pen that would flip open to reveal a little LCD inside the door, and a keyboard integrated into the pen body. [...]

Dave, I think we had the same pen!!

Could be! I only faintly recall the details, but I think mine was some sort of garish magenta color - the sort of design sensibility that you'd expect from electronics marketed toward adolescents in the mid-'90s.

[KeithB]

While I am sure that your electronic-calculator-in-a-pen is cool, note that the pen in the OP is a mechanical calculator!