Limited Stock

Fairchild 9366 74193 Obsolete 4-Bit Up Down Binary Counter DIP-16 1974 Vintage Arcade TTL IC

ICs / Integrated Circuits • SKU RFB00531

$6.95

Vintage Fairchild Semiconductor 9366 / 74193 standard-TTL synchronous 4-bit binary up/down counter integrated circuit in a 16-pin DIP package. This original Fairchild device is marked 9366 / 74193 with PCF7439 production markings, with the 7439 date code consistent with manufacture during the 39th week of 1974.

The Fairchild 9366 is the company’s implementation of the classic 74193 synchronous four-bit binary up/down counter. It provides separate UP and DOWN clock inputs, four binary outputs, asynchronous parallel loading, master reset, and terminal-count outputs for cascading multiple counter stages.

The device was designed for classic 5V TTL digital systems and could be used anywhere circuitry needed to increment or decrement a binary value. Typical applications included computers, computer peripherals, industrial controls, instrumentation, communications equipment, test equipment, digital displays, position counters, timing circuits, event counters, sequence controls, machine-control electronics, and other digital systems.

The exact original Fairchild 9366 / 74193 represented by this device is OBSOLETE and DISCONTINUED legacy production. Fairchild no longer manufactures this original device. Later 74193-family implementations exist, but substitutions should always be checked for logic-family characteristics, timing, drive capability, package, pinout, and circuit requirements before installation.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

Fairchild Semiconductor was one of the pioneering manufacturers of integrated circuits and played a major role in the development of early TTL digital logic. During the early 1970s, Fairchild marketed many devices under both its own 9300-series numbering system and the increasingly standardized 7400-series numbering system. The 9366 was identified alongside the 74193 as an up/down four-bit binary counter.

Counters such as the 9366 / 74193 were important building blocks at a time when digital systems were commonly assembled from dozens or even hundreds of individual logic ICs. The ability to count in either direction made this type of component valuable for tracking positions, credits, addresses, machine states, timing events, numerical values, and other changing digital information.

The 74193 function also became important in early coin-operated arcade electronics. Midway Pac-Man documentation shows a 74193 in the optional credit multiplier circuit, where binary counting was used as part of the game’s coin and credit handling system. Atari also used 74193-family counters throughout classic arcade hardware for timing, control, and other digital functions.

This genuine arcade history makes an original 1974 Fairchild 9366 / 74193 desirable repair stock for vintage arcade PCB technicians and collectors. It was not an arcade-exclusive IC, however, and was also widely applicable to computers, industrial electronics, instrumentation, communications systems, test equipment, and other TTL-era hardware.