Tektronix history

The redesign took 12 months, but in May of 1947 Tektronix sold the first "portable" oscilloscope to the University of Oregon Medical School.

In 1948 Tektronix also sold its first oscilloscope overseas, to the L. M. Ericcson Telephone Company of Sweden.

By 1950, Tektronix was manufacturing its seventh generation of oscilloscopes, the model 517.

Miles Tippery was one of the four founders of Tektronix and worked only 8 years until 1953 when he had to leave due to health issues.

The plug-in oscilloscopes, introduced in 1954, were an instant success.

Wireless World published an article in their September 1955 issue with an overview of Tektronix and a review of the 517 and 535 oscilloscopes.

In 1956 Tektronix passed Du Mont for leadership in the market.

In 1961, Tektronix sold its first (possibly the world's first practical) completely portable oscilloscope, the model 321.

Despite significant growth under Davis and the formation of the company's first foreign subsidiaries, by 1962, Vollum was persuaded to re-assume control.

The company's IPO, when it publicly sold its first shares of stock, was on September 11, 1963.

In 1964 Tektronix developed a way to retain an image on a cathode ray tube (CRT) for up to 15 minutes, instead of the split second that images normally lasted before they needed to be regenerated.

In 1966, Tektronix brought out a line of high frequency full function oscilloscopes called the 400 series.

The company continued to bring out more advanced testing equipment, and by 1969, Tektronix controlled 75 percent of the world's market for oscilloscopes.

Unfortunately, the first terminals, introduced in 1970, were over-engineered and costly.

Earnings fell for the first time in fiscal 1971, by a devastating 34.7 percent.

Vollum recovered, but he resigned as president in 1972.

In 1974, the company acquired 256 acres (1.0 km) in Wilsonville, Oregon where it built a facility for its imaging group.

By 1975, Tektronix controlled 50 percent of the market, and the $50 million a year in terminal sales represented about 15 percent of the company's total business.

By 1976, the company employed nearly 10,000, and was the state's largest employer.

The company's 7834 storage oscilloscope gained accolades for Tektronix by winning a prestigious annual industrial research design award that identified it as one of the top one hundred technical innovations of 1977.

One model the 7104 (introduced 1978) was a true 1 GHz bandwidth oscilloscope.

The company passed the $1 billion mark in sales in 1981.

In 1982 competitors had begun offering fully integrated CAE work stations, which threatened the market for Tektronix's stand-alone graphics terminals and electronic testing equipment.

In 1984 Business Week reported: "Now Tek must come from behind again, in what is likely to be the most critical recoup in its 38-year history," as the company belatedly entered the market for computer-aided engineering (CAE) work stations.

Early in 1985 Tektronix acquired CAE Systems Inc.

At the time, Jean Vollum, the widow of co-founder Howard Vollum, who had died in 1986, was the largest single shareholder with about 8.1 percent of the outstanding shares.

David Friedley, a marketing-oriented Tektronix division manager, succeeded Wantland as president in November of 1987.

A financial analyst for Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc., told Business Week that meetings with Tektronix "were like watching the grass grow." The anticipated shake-up came in March of 1990, with the company headed toward a $92.5 million loss (largely due to restructuring) for the fiscal year.

But when Meyer reported on the results of his first full year at Tektronix, for fiscal 1992, the company was again in a slump.

In the TDS models, the lower priced models replaced the last of the 2000 series analog scopes and featured monochrome display while the higher end models were color LCD models which were more like the older 400 series scopes in performance.

On November 21, 2007, Tektronix was acquired by Danaher Corporation for $2.85 billion.

400 series oscilloscopes were still being used as of 2013.

Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Tektronix, in 2016 to create Fortive.