Limited Stock

Texas Instruments SN74LS191N Vintage 1978 TTL 4-Bit Up Down Binary Counter DIP-16 Arcade Logic IC

ICs / Integrated Circuits • SKU RFB00527

$4.95

Vintage Texas Instruments SN74LS191N low-power Schottky TTL synchronous 4-bit binary up/down counter integrated circuit in a 16-pin DIP package. This original Texas Instruments example carries date code 7801, consistent with production during the first week of 1978.

The SN74LS191N is a synchronous reversible binary counter capable of counting upward or downward under control of a direction input. It provides four parallel binary outputs, count-enable control, asynchronous parallel preset capability, and cascading capability for constructing larger digital counting systems.

Designed for classic 5V TTL circuitry, the SN74LS191N was used across a wide range of electronic equipment including computers, computer peripherals, industrial control systems, instrumentation, communications equipment, test equipment, digital position systems, event counters, timing circuits, machine controls, display systems, and other digital electronics.

The exact Texas Instruments SN74LS191N is NOT obsolete. Texas Instruments continues to list the SN74LS191N 16-pin PDIP device as an active production component. This particular example is desirable as original vintage 1978 Texas Instruments production and as period-era replacement stock for restoration work.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

The 74LS191 belongs to the low-power Schottky generation of the classic 7400-series TTL family. During the 1970s and early 1980s, counter ICs such as the 74LS191 were fundamental building blocks in digital systems. Designers used individual counters to generate positions, addresses, timing sequences, control states, display values, and other changing binary information long before these functions were routinely incorporated into microcontrollers and programmable logic.

Its ability to count in either direction made the 74LS191 particularly useful in systems that needed to track changing numerical values or positions. Multiple devices could also be combined to create wider counters.

The 74LS191 has genuine documented vintage arcade history. Atari used the device in several important arcade platforms, including Asteroids, Lunar Lander, Football, and Battlezone. Early Atari vector and TTL-era game boards relied heavily on discrete logic devices such as counters, gates, buffers, and flip-flops to perform functions that later generations of arcade hardware consolidated into larger custom chips.

That arcade history makes an original late-1970s Texas Instruments SN74LS191N especially useful to technicians and collectors repairing period arcade boards. It is not an arcade-exclusive component, however, and its broader applications include computers, industrial electronics, instrumentation, communications equipment, test gear, and general digital control systems.