HP "pre-Agilent" engineer's coffee cup

[Ben Bradley]

I just happened to see this while making a junk run at a thrift
store a while back and just now got around to taking pics (today is a
"10 cent listing day"). Surely there's some interesting history to
this thing, anyone know anything about it???

http://www.frontiernet.net/~benbradley/hpcup1.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~benbradley/hpcup2.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~benbradley/hpcup3.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~benbradley/hpcup4.jpg
http://www.frontiernet.net/~benbradley/hpcup5.jpg

 

[Tilmann Reh]

I just happened to see this while making a junk run at a thrift
store a while back and just now got around to taking pics (today is a
"10 cent listing day"). Surely there's some interesting history to
this thing, anyone know anything about it???

I also have one of these. It must have been about the early 90's when HP
offered them to enginers for free (I think I had to request it).
Maybe it was a marketing gag, maybe they wanted to collect addresses of
qualified engineers.

However, since coffee gets cold rather fast in this cup, I didn't use it
very often...

 

[Barry Lennox]

I just happened to see this while making a junk run at a thrift
store a while back and just now got around to taking pics (today is a
"10 cent listing day"). Surely there's some interesting history to
this thing, anyone know anything about it???

I, and some colleagues had them, at least till mine got dropped. HP
sales folks used to give them away, perhaps around 1987-1990. IRIC it
was a little before the freebie (to good customers) 50th anniversary
HP32S calculators with the little gold badge in the top RH corner. And
their magnificent no-cost-spared Xmas functions. Ahhhh-, those were
the days!

Barry Lennox

 

[Ben Bradley]

I also have one of these. It must have been about the early 90's when HP
offered them to enginers for free (I think I had to request it).
Maybe it was a marketing gag, maybe they wanted to collect addresses of
qualified engineers.

However, since coffee gets cold rather fast in this cup, I didn't use it
very often...

Thanks, guys, that's kind of what I figured. There's at least one
person on eBay who's committed to paying at least $5 + shipping for
mine. (shameless plug, #6239890995).

I recall a late-90's blurb for the HP Test and Measurement Catalog,
the thing opened up to three panels, showing a life-size bookshelf
with every edition of the catalog for the previous 20+ years. It was
probably the very next year their name got changed to Agilent.