Which multimeter or company started 830 design case that is so widely copied

[retiredcaps]

I'm just curious which company or multimeter started the trend of the black hard plastic case "830" design that is so widely copied by low cost manufacturers and commonly found on ebay?

See attached picture.

[Joshua]

They are probably all made in the same company. Thus one component steered the 'trend' and have caught onto it themselves. That's my impression at least.

[tom66]

It was probably Mastech. The DT830B is made by another company.

[Bored@Work]

That particular DT830 is probably made by E-Sun.

In general my guess would also be that Mastech came up with that design. But that is really just a guess, because the majority of 830's I have seen come from Mastech.

It could also be, again a guess, that this originated from some Chinese government-issued design for some standard multimeter, e.g. to be used in large quantities in education, military or certain applications.

[amyk]

I think the ICL7106-based 3.5-digit design originated from some kit in the 80s.

Here's a mention of the Elenco M-1005K in a book from 1998:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ncwNwKySETEC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&source=bl&ots=FP-0k-cp36&sig=DX2lYV4K1dzkLHZLh7UsJWxXIes&hl=en&redir_esc=y

The kit's instructions show a date of 1996:
http://www.tequipment.net/pdf/Elenco/m-1005k.pdf

I'm not sure if the 830 originated before or after that, but it's also available in kit form:
http://image.made-in-china.com/2f0j00JBcTPOvyyouC/Digital-Multimeter-DT830B-Teaching-Kits.jpg

[retiredcaps]

@Amyk, thank you so much for all the links.  I will study them.  I have 3 dead el-cheapo multimeters and I'm trying to learn more about electronics and how to repair them.

@tom66, Joshua, BoredAtWork, thanks for all the information and your feedback.  One of the dead ones above is a Mastech.

[nukie]

My 1992 meter based on the date code of the UMC UM7106 chipset is build by Mastech according to the PCB (model 831-2)