Sinclair Oxford was a range of low-cost

scientific calculator A scientific calculator is an electronic calculator, either desktop or handheld, designed to perform mathematical operations. They have completely replaced slide rules and are used in both educational and professional settings. In some area ...

s manufactured and sold by

Sinclair Radionics Sinclair Radionics Ltd was a company founded by Sir Clive Sinclair in Cambridge, England which developed hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments. History After raising funds to start the business by writing articles ...

in England from 1975 until 1976.

History

In November 1974,

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The ...

wanted to enter the consumer electronics market, so consulted Sinclair, who designed for them the ''Gillette GPA''. Whilst the GPA was released, Gillette put the product on hold after a short time due to economic and pricing uncertainties. Sinclair would use the GPA design for the Oxford range, the development and tooling of which had been paid for by Gillette. The first model was the ''Oxford 100'', launched in Spring 1975 for (all prices exclude VAT); and essentially the same as the GPA. Both the Gillette GPA and Oxford 100 models used 8 digit displays with red

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light ( ...

s (LEDs), 4 functions, 9 volt PP3 batteries, and measured .

Models

All the Oxford models were similar in appearance; the 150 was introduced in 1975 introducing the ability to calculate percentages and square roots. The ''Oxford 200'' included

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

and sold for £19.95. The ''Oxford 300'' was a scientific model with a limited number of functions (such as sin, cos, tan), which sold for £29.95, much lower than the competition. The last two models, the ''Oxford Scientific'' (1976) and ''Oxford Universal'' were the most advanced of the range. The high power consumption of the calculators, which drew 40 mA while in operation, four times the recommended limit of the batteries, meant a short battery life. '' Computer Digest'' recommended using a much larger PP3 battery, but that meant losing the portability of the calculator.

References

{{Authority control Computer-related introductions in 1975 Sinclair calculators