An Early Novus

Collectors will often run across calculators manufactured by National Semiconductor, especially those carrying the name "Novus."  This name was adopted by the company for calculators in the mid-1970's to sell along with its NS Electronics and National Semiconductor brands; the conventional thinking (see Ball & Flamm) is that the different brand names allowed the company to market similar calculators at slightly different price points.

I've turned up an oddball Novus, seen here, that is pretty unusual in that it has no model number whatsoever, front or back.  The calculator simply is named NOVUS.

The calculator is a basic four function machine with an = key, which is not what's usually found on the cheaper end of the Novus line.  This machine also has a K (constant) feature and auto-display shutoff at 25 seconds of inactivity; the D key is used to restore the display.  The serial is 022588.

Unfortunately the calculator came just as you see it here - that is, no box, instructions or receipt.  It does work however and displays two hallmarks of either early or else very cheap calculators.

Above we see the display of the Novus after switching on.  This calculator does not automatically clear itself on startup; the user must use the C key to clear it before attempting any calculations.  While a range of E's as seen here is common the display may be blank or filled with random digits on startup.  

The Novus also has the "negative zero bug."  This means that the calculator will display the value zero with a negative sign attached.  To test for this, use the calculator to subtract to a value below zero and then add back up to exactly zero.  If the calculator retains the negative sign, it has what has been called the "negative zero bug."  This was designed out of later / more expensive calculators which test for a result of zero and then remove the carried-along negative sign.

So when was this made?  Well, advertising is almost wholly absent, but we do have some hints.  Inside the calculator however, on the circuit board section supporting the LED display we find two part numbers as seen here which may be of some help:

The stylized NS emblem (associated with the NS Electronics brand) seen on this card first was used by the company, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office, on September 5, 1973.  (I am assuming that the two part numbers are for using this particular part in either Novus or NS Electronics branded calculators.)  Novus brand calculators began using a stylish emblem which resembles a 'swoopy' letter N in June, 1975.  These two dates almost certainly bracket Novus serial 022588 here, and adding in hints from sparse advertising data it might be safe to guess that this calculator appeared in 1974.  It also might well be the first model carrying the name Novus, although this is not an entirely safe guess.  The calculator's gold face plate is not unlike that seen on some early Novus 650 and/or Mathbox calculators, it should be noted - and it should also be noted that this calculator fairly closely matches the known Novus 820 model except that the 820 has a silver face plate and has only a C key, not a CE/C.  The Novus 822 "The Professional" appears to have developed from this Novus and the Novus 820.  

What is safe to say is that this Novus is unusual in having no model number - and for that we're glad to have it here!  If you can add any information, please do so in the comments.