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Sharp QT-8D Advertisement, Circa Fall, 1971
This is an unusual two-page advertisement for the Sharp QT-8D micro-Compet electronic calculator. It is interesting to note that the model number of the machine (QT-8D) is not mentioned anywhere in the advertisement, instead, the calculator is referred to as the "Micro". The QT-8D was indeed a breakthrough as the advertisement touts, in that it is the first successful electronic calculator marketed to utilize only Large Scale Integration (LSI) MOS integrated circuits for all of its calculating logic. The QT-8D utilizes four LSI MOS arrays developed and manufactured for Hayakawa Electric Co. (the name of the company before it changed its name to Sharp Corporation at the beginning of 1970) by the Autonetics division of North American Rockwell. The use of this highly advanced technology, hitherto only used in US top-secret military and national security systems, made the QT-8D the smallest and lightest electronic calculator on the market at the time. The advertisement also makes note toward the end of the ad concerning the follow-on calculator (then called the "Micro II") to the QT-8D, a cordless rechargeable battery-powered version which was given the model QT-8B. The QT-8B was among the earliest "handheld" (it would fit in a single hand and could be operated with the other hand, although it was quite a hand-full) cordless rechargeable battery-powered electronic calculators.