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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 8:06 pm   #1
SiriusHardware
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Default First device you had which used LCDs?

Following on naturally from G6Tanuki's thread about LEDs, I wonder when we all first encountered LCDs?

For me, while I was still at secondary school, it was my second digital watch, the first having been the LEDs-behind-a black-face type. The brand was 'Trendtime', the metal watch body was a sort of fake gold colour which eventually rubbed off and had one of those expanding spring loaded metal straps which constantly nipped any hairs you might happen to have on your wrist.

Not long after that, I acquired my first LCD calculator, a solar assisted Casio 75? I think.

Possibly the most unusual early LCD-equipped device I had was a Realistic TRC-1005 walkie talkie, produced at a time when almost every other transceiver of that type still used 7-segment LEDs for the channel readout - in a portable set, the use of an LCD display made for a significant power saving, and it was also used for other display functions, such as the S-Meter.

The first time I USED an LCD in anything myself was when I bought a 'lucky bag' of miscellaneous components from Aitken Brothers in High Bridge (Newcastle) because I had spotted a 2 * 16 Alphanumeric display - then an exotic and expensive component - in amongst the other stuff in the bag. That one display was used in a series of microprocessor projects until they started to become so commonplace that I was able to start rescuing them from PCBs which had been scrapped at work.

The original one was the type which needed a minus contrast voltage, so every project it got used in had a 7665 positive-to-negative voltage converter in it as well.

Later types, typically with green rather than silver grey backgrounds, could manage with a contrast voltage of around, or just above, zero volts.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 8:17 pm   #2
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Like SiriusHardware says.

Secondary school 1974-ish. Someone had an LCD wristwatch as described, made popular, I believe, by Kojak on the telly. The first thing I bought that had an LCD in it was a Smith's wristwatch (made in the Philippines, not at Cheltenham).

Wasn't the twisted nematic display developed at Hull university?
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 8:18 pm   #3
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Mine was a watch in the late 1970s perhaps 1980.
It had a tiny filament bulb on a push button to see it in the dark.
It fell to bits after about 10 years. It had a solid chrome plated brass case.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 9:07 pm   #4
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
Secondary school 1974-ish. Someone had an LCD wristwatch as described, made popular, I believe, by Kojak on the telly. The first thing I bought that had an LCD in it was a Smith's wristwatch (made in the Philippines, not at Cheltenham).
Not many LCD watches around in 1974. You are thinking of the LED ones where you pushed a button to see the time. They were hitting the market in 74.

I was given a Seiko LCD chrono watch as a graduation present in 1978. I still have it, but the display went dim about 20 years ago.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 9:39 pm   #5
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

After a brief and unsuccessful dalliance with a plastic-cased Timex LED watch [battery only lasted a few weeks, scrapped after a few months when the case-lugs holding the strap fractured], I acquired a metal-cased Seiko LCD watch around 1975.

From memory it cost around £80 but I got a really good discount....

It was one of the few at the time that displayed 24-hour time (which always made more sense to me, specially when it was down to me to tell my parents when it was OK to phone our relatives in Australia/Canada).
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 9:45 pm   #6
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I think my Seiko was nearly £300. A couple of years later, similar functionality cost under a fiver.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 9:45 pm   #7
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Mmm, according to this article

https://www.pcmag.com/feature/296609...rief-history/3

...the first LCD watch was on the market in 1973, although it would have been at least two or three more years before they were priced sensibly enough for my long-suffering parents to stretch to one. At the time, I think I was the only one in our circle who had an LCD watch - I can't remember the year, but it was definitely a year or two before I went into the sixth form in 1979 - (I know that for reasons too complicated to explain here).
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 10:01 pm   #8
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I bought my LCD watch in August 1976. Had just started work, and didn't care about spending £40 on it. I can't remember the make. The battery died after about a year, and it was about two weeks before I got round to replacing the battery. I suddenly said to myslf "I've managed two weeks without a watch, I'll not bother".

I've never had a watch since.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 10:09 pm   #9
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

My first wristwatch was also my first LCD product, a Timex, and it still works perfectly! A few straps later of course. Dates from around 1980. Takes 2 batteries. One for the display and one for the bulb.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 10:18 pm   #10
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulsherwin View Post

Not many LCD watches around in 1974. You are thinking of the LED ones where you pushed a button to see the time. They were hitting the market in 74.
Yes - could be, Paul. When I left school and started my apprenticeship going to tech. college and night school in '75, a few lads wore those LED watches that ate batteries and required two hands to read the time. There were pages of adverts for them in the likes of Practical Wireless.

It may have been about '76 when I saw the LCD one. I bought my Smith's one about '78 (think it cost about £25 from Workington Co-op) and my pal had a Seiko LCD watch by then which cost well over a hundred quid. It lasted him years. Chap at work had an LCD watch that took two cells side-by-side but can't remember the make.

When I was at school in '75 we got our first calculator (reverse Polish-logic HP with LED display) and around the same time, lads were turning up with those Sinclair 'Black Watch' kits and the Sinclair calcs with optically magnified LED displays.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 10:52 pm   #11
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Like most people here it was a watch. The one I had was actually an LCD of an analogue face....instead of numbers it simulated hour, minute and seconds hand pointing to moulded numbers around the face. It seemed to use a non-standard battery since I had trouble finding one. After that around 1982 I bought a Casio calculator watch which also showed the date and adjusted the day according to the year selected. I thought it was very advanced since it coped with leap years as well. At the time it was advertised as having a 20 year calendar (from 1980) and I wondered what would happen when it got to midnight December 31 1999 (it couldn't be set beyond this since you could only adjust the last two year digits) so of course I had to find out..... It indicated 1 Jan 00....but it was 1900!
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 11:04 pm   #12
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

My had a chunky silver cased LCD watch for many years.

The original metal strap wore out & my Dad had it replaced with a leather one.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 11:27 pm   #13
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I don't think mass market LCD calculators arrived until the late 70s. In 74 and 75 they were normally VFD (which looked nice but ate batteries) and then were LED, usually powered by a PP3. I remember I bought a Casio VFD in 76, and a Commodore LED statistical calc in 78. You only started to see LCD calcs in any quantity around 1980.

I still have the Casio and Commodore calcs, and they still seem to work, though I haven't used either in anger for a very long time.
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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 11:37 pm   #14
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I suppose I must have owned an LCD watch or two on my way back from LED via quartz analogue to a Russian mechanical, but I can't remember any details. Around 1973-4, though, my father asked me to suggest a model of calculator that could live in his desk at work, and he took up my recommendation of this Sharp EL-8001: reflective liquid crystal display under a viewing hood with ambient light diffuser. Calculator prices had lately crashed and I think it cost a little under £20. Dad brought it home when he retired, and it's still fully functional on its four 'C' cells.

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Old 23rd Sep 2019, 11:49 pm   #15
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

That's an interesting early calc. I'm astonished the price was so low at the time, though of course £20 in 1973 was a significant sum.
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Old 24th Sep 2019, 1:14 am   #16
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Just seen this thread and it got me thinking about the first time I came across LCDs and I had to look out the old watch that I bought from Johnny Birketts in Lincoln, sometime in the mid 70s at a guess. I think these must have been some sort of manufacturers returns, or something like that. It's not been touched for decades and the only reason I knew where to find it was because I found it in a box of old electronic parts when looking for something else a couple or three years ago and put it to one side. I expect the two button cells date from the 70s and, as can be seen, have caused some corrosion. Having scraped the contacts and fitted a couple of fresh cells, I got some random results, but basically it no longer works and just shows random numbers - perhaps this is why I originally stopped using it. One cell powers the watch part and one cell powers the filament display light, which can be provoked to work with a bit fiddling with the contacts and side button. Basically it's had it, but it's still an artifact from the past and as far as I can remember, my first LCD display device. Some pictures just taken below:-
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Old 24th Sep 2019, 8:34 am   #17
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

yes I had my first LCD calculator around 1980-81, I was still at the 'little' school and we had a 'calculator day' where anyone who had one could bring them in and we had a maths quiz to see who could solve problems the quickest. I was the only one with LCD, the other hallowed calculator owners had LED types from sinclair, commdore, texas and casio.

Mine came from WH Smith. Still got it!
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Old 24th Sep 2019, 8:54 am   #18
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I had one of those old Beta watches, although mine used a single battery. I got it when a company I worked for used them for sales promotion as they were not common, although were beginning to flood the country. I used it for years but finally something more modern came so I relegated it. I do remember the light switch jammed on at one point and I had to remove it, just leaving the button in place. I sold it to a collector a couple of years ago. As far as I remember it still worked and I had removed the battery in case of leakage.

My first LCD calculator was a Casio FX-115 bought perhaps sometime in 1980's. I still use it daily. My first calculator was a VFD Binatone bought some years before. It still works but is not as useful as the FX-115 as it gobbles batteries or needs external power (it has a socket).

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Old 24th Sep 2019, 9:07 am   #19
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

Early 80s Casio watch for me although I don’t remember the model it was probably the same as this one which is my Dads and I have ‘borrowed’. About 1980 I believe, still working.

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Old 24th Sep 2019, 9:21 am   #20
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Default Re: First device you had which used LCDs?

I think the first LCD device I owned was also a calculator around 1980-1981. An HP41CV. Still have it, still works
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