HOURS
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Friday and Saturday
CONTACT THE MUSEUM
Ed Sinclair
Phone: (503) 209-5894
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.vintagetek.org
www.vintagetek.org
Here at VintageTEK Museum we are preserving the early history of Tektronix by exhibiting
displays of real working Tektronix analog CRT oscilloscopes. Our main goal at VintageTEK is to
share our knowledge and history and to captivate our youth with science and technology—to
challenge them to become the technologists of the future.
EDUCATION IS OUR DREAM
Our future plans include raising $5M - $7M to fund academy learning programs, acquire
land and our own building, and continue to solicit endowments to fund an electrical
engineering design chair at a major Oregon University. HOW CAN YOU HELP?
YOUR GENEROSITY WILL HELP US REALIZE OUR DREAM
Consider giving cash donations to the VintageTek Museum. We are a charitable,
tax exempt, public organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal
Revenue Code.
VINTAGE HARDWARE
Donate key electronic subassemblies from your (circa 1945 – 1985) defense or
space development programs—machines that are still capable of producing
input/output signals that we can display with vintage Tektronix scopes.
PROGRAM CONTENT NEEDED
Provide our museum with printed vintage program materials, brochures,
manuals, and advertisements that we can use in our displays and
promotional materials.
is located in Portland, Oregon
The original home of Tektronix
4620A SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.
Portland, Oregon 97221
TEKTRONIX AND THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY
VintageTEK Board of Directors
Images contained within this
informational publication are used
with permission or courtesy of AlcatelLucent/Bell Labs, American Airlines,
Centronics Corp., Digibarn Computer
Museum, IBM Corp., Intel Corp., MITRE
Corp. NASA/Courtesy of nasaimages.org,
Tektronix, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.,
US Army Aberdeen Proving Grounds, and
VintageTEK Archives
Edward B. Sinclair III, Board Chairman
Stan Griffiths, President & Board Member
Lawrence Mayhew, Board Member
John Winkleman, Board Member
VintageTEK Museum is a
501(c)(3) charitable organization
“The oscilloscope is probably the most important instrument in the analog laboratory.”
~Jim Williams, Linear Technology Corp (1983-2001)
In the decades following WWII (1945–1985) Tektronix partnered with the movers and shakers of the
technological age, to design, test, manufacture and deploy systems that fueled the greatest expansion of
technology in the twentieth century. VintageTEK Museum has taken on the task of preserving the early
history of Tektronix. How better to do that than with a technology museum! By featuring live displays of
vintage Tektronix instruments in our museum, and promoting educational programs and other key
objectives, we hope to inspire future generations of students to pursue careers in the fields of electrical
engineering, science, and technology.
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KEY PROJECTS
produced by these military programs became the
basis for future civilian and consumer activities.
For example, the Semi-Automatic Ground
Environment System or SAGE (managed by MIT
Lincoln Labs, IBM, and Western Electric) was an
automated control system for tracking and
intercepting enemy bombers.
SAGE led to great advances in online systems,
interactive computing, real-time computing, and
data communications using modems. Beginning in
the early 1960s SAGE technology was successfully
adapted to civilian air traffic control in the US and
elsewhere. Until very recently air traffic control
centers strongly resembled SAGE in their
architecture, equipment and operation. IBM utilized
these same technologies, to create the SABRE airline reservation system for American Airlines.
At the beginning of the Cold War, our country's
immediate goals for defense were met with
massive funding for military and defense
equipment that would later become major
defense programs. The technological advances
The United States space program benefitted
the American economy for decades. On May 25,
1961, President John F. Kennedy announced his
FORTY YEARS OF TEK
During the span of time from 1945–1985, it
would be difficult to find an aspect of electronic
design that did not include a Tektronix scope.
Tektronix addressed many market segments,
but none were as well funded as the defense
and space programs. During this era, transportation, telecommunications, energy, and
consumer electronics experienced rapid
expansion; technology became essential to
the medical and health segments; the
semiconductor and computer industries have
grown exponentially in the decades since their
founding and are certain to be the drivers of
technological growth in the near future.
TEK AND THE SPACE RACE
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“I believe that this nation should commit itself to
achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him
safely to the earth.” ~President John F. Kennedy
support for the Apollo Program, and redefined the
ultimate goal of the space race in an address to a
special joint session of Congress.
The space program required the capabilities of
a broad US technical community and relied on
Tektronix oscilloscopes for the success of their
projects. Boeing, North American Aviation, and
Douglas Aircraft, for example, were all prime
contractors for the Saturn Rocket—each for a
separate stage. Rocketdyne was responsible for
the rocket engines and IBM for the instrumentation. Jet Propulsion Lab, Langley Aero Lab,
Ames Aero Lab, Lewis Flight Propulsion Lab, Naval
Research Lab, Marshal Space Flight Center, and
the Army Ballistic Missile Agencies, along with
dozens of other US government entities, were
called upon to participate in this single project.
Every electronic design of the United States
Space Program required an accurate oscilloscope
for viewing electronic signals—for design, test,
manufacturing and subsequent repair.
Tektronix was
there every step
of the way
INNOVATIONS (left to right)
1982 Cell Phone Service
1961 Saturn Rocket
1970 Dot Matrix Printer
1954 SAGE Computer
1985 Intel 386 Processor
1977 Global Positioning Satellite
1969 Apollo Moon Landing
1954 SAGE Core Memory
1960 MosFET Transistor
1960 SABRE Reservation Desk
1979 Digital Signal Processor
1962 TELSTAR Satellite
1981 IBM PC