NOT REQUIRED; BUT
IT WOULD BE FUN TO COLLECT OLD REMOTES TO HONOR DR.
ADLER.
ADDITIONALY, IF
YOU NEED AN OLD REMOTE PLEASE TAKE ONE.
(Pictures would
be fun also) (Dove that means your remote…)
Remembering the
Remote Control
Dr. Robert
Adler leaves legacy of first wireless channel
changer
By Randy
Frank, contributing editor
Couch potatoes around the world should have a moment to
silence for the passing of Dr. Robert Adler, the co-inventor of the
TV remote control, who died on Feb. 16, 2007, at the age of 93
(http://rbi.ims.ca/5387-535). Adler’s invention of the “Space
Command” ultrasonic remote control for television, the first
practical wireless remote control device, was introduced by Zenith
in 1956. The unit pioneered the way for the myriad of remote
controls that are part of everyday life. A 1956 Zenith ad
proclaimed the Space Commander 400 was the one and only thing new
in television.”
Surprisingly, the first remote control was a mechanical and not an
electrical device. During the development phase, input from
Zenith’s sales people discouraged the use of batteries. They
thought that with a dead battery, customers would infer that
something was wrong with the TV. So Adler used ultrasonic
technology to send signals to the receiver in the TV Pushing, or
more appropriately triggering, one of the unit’s buttons caused a
spring-loaded hammer to strike one of four separate aluminum rods
and create a unique frequency signal. One button controlled the
on-off. The second lowered the tuner to the next available channel
and the third raised the tuner. The fourth button turned the volume
on or off. The audible sound produced by pushing the button was
more like a click and resulted in the unit being called the
“clicker.” While the remote sending unit was mechanical, the
receiver in the TV used six vacuum tubes to decipher the four
signals, relays to apply power and a motor to drive the mechanical
tuner to higher or lower channels. The cost of the system added
more than 30 percent to the cost of the black and white TV.
Among the unique design aspects of
the remote was a latch mechanism for mounting and easily removing
the unit from the TV It was never meant to be left on the coffee
table or lost between the cushions on the couch. Once transistors became popular in
the 1960s, Adler’s mechanical ultrasonic technique yielded to
battery-powered electronic audio signals and ultimately to infrared
wireless control. However, more than nine million remotely
control TVs were sold by the industry
during the 25-year life cycle of the ultrasonic versions. Fifty
years after the first remote control appeared, more than 99 percent
of all TV sets and 100 percent of all VCRs and DVD players sold in
the U.S. are equipped with a remote.
The remote control was perhaps
Adler’s most memorable invention, but he was a prolific inventor
with more than 180 issued patents. On Feb. 1, 2007, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office published his most recent patent application
for advances in touch-screen technology
VISIT THE GALLERY BELOW FOR
PICTURES OF THE ORIGINAL CLICKER