From the founding of the company, much of the internal test equipment Tektronix used was designed and built in-house. They continued to design and build internal test equipment if they could not acquire either the functionality or the performance they needed. This 130 L-C Meter is an example of one of their internal designs that eventually made its way to market as a product.
It was first introduced in 1954 for a selling price of $195. It continued for 21 years and made its last appearance in the 1975 catalog for a selling price of $400. We believe this is the longest running Tektronix product.
The Type 130 was designed by Cliff Moulton who started at the Hawthorne plant. The 130 underwent several "face lifts" with essentially the same circuitry. The museum has a very early Serial No. X3 in the brown louvered cabinet style and a later version Serial No. 11343 in the traditional blue side panel style. There were a number of accessories for the 130 including the S-30 Delta Standards used to calibrate the 130.
This February 1963 ServiceScope has some information on the 130 L-C Meter.
The early Serial No. X3 shows a typical and well done Tektronix-style construction with ceramic strips.
A complete restoration of a Type 130 was featured in three articles by Alan Hampel published in the June, July, and August issues of Silicon Chips magazine. Silicon Chips has granted the museum a release to post these articles which can be found on our 130 LC Restoration page.