HP 17B Pre-Production Prototype

[kelvinpnw]

I'd like to share this, and this seems to be a good place for it.

From 1977 until 2006, my father worked for Hewlett Packard ('77-'92 in the calculator division). From his time there, I have an HP 17B pre-production unit. Below, I've taken some photos highlighting the notable physical differences between it and a production unit.


In the photos below, the left calculator is the pre-production unit and the right is a mainstream unit.


(full size here: https://kelvin.pw/photos/hp/IMG_9123.JPG)
In this image, some of the notable differences are:

• There is no rough texturing on the pre-production unit.
• Rather than saying "Business", like on the mainstream units, it is marked with "Business Consultant"
• The top row of keys is a row of rounded triangles, as opposed to upwards-facing chevrons on production units.
  

(full size here: https://kelvin.pw/photos/hp/IMG_9124.JPG)
On the reverse, some notable differences are:

• No rough texturing
• No serial number, the only marking identifying it are a "356" written in the serial number area.
  

(full size here: https://kelvin.pw/photos/hp/small/IMG_20...001753.jpg)
Inside the battery cover, you can see that there is no silver backplate and the gold contacts are visible; it also has no glyph showing batteries.



/ks

[Eddie W. Shore]

Very nice. Does the prototype have the full operation of the HP 17B?

[kelvinpnw]

(04-01-2017 07:40 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  Very nice. Does the prototype have the full operation of the HP 17B?

I believe so, I'm going to pick up some batteries next time I'm in town. It's from late in development, so it should.