Subj : In 1970 a patent for an obscure computer device was granted - and
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Thu Nov 20 2025 01:30:08

In 1970 a patent for an obscure computer device was granted - and it changed 
personal computing forever

Date:
Thu, 20 Nov 2025 01:28:00 +0000

Description:
Adoption of the computer mouse took time, but pioneering Silicon Valley 
figures helped spur it forward.

FULL STORY
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In November 1970 a patent was granted for a device dubbed an X-Y position 
indicator for a display system. 

Amidst the plethora of patents granted that year, you wouldve been forgiven 
for not realizing its importance, but the newly-patented device would 
transform personal computing forever, giving users a more accessible means of 
navigating computer interfaces. 

The computer mouse was on its way. Enter the mouse 

Developed by a team of researchers led by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford 
Research Institute, some had already seen this device in action years prior. 

The mouse was initially designed in 1964 by Bill English, a fellow computer 
engineer at the research institute. Made from redwood, it was a primitive 
device but did the job. 

English later went on to work for Xeroxs Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), 
where he also developed a ball mouse for the companys personal computer 
device. His work here would prove vital in years to come when an 
up-and-coming tech mogul came knocking. The mother of all demos 

Circling back to Engelbarts patent and the dawn of the computer mouse, an 
early demo by the team showed exactly how revolutionary the device would 
eventually be. 

A video excerpt from a presentation by Engelbart at a computing conference in 
1968, which can be found on YouTube , detailed how the device would work in 
action. 

The demo showed attendees a rather clunky, not exactly ergonomic device, but 
one that nonetheless would transform human-computer interaction. 

Researchers at the institute had been using it in their daily activities, 
Engelbart noted, and it had delivered marked benefits in terms of 
accessibility and ease of use for staff. The mouse takes off 

With the huge rise of personal computing in the late 1970s and 80s, the 
computer mouse quickly became a staple bit of kit for any computing device. 
Apple, in particular, led the charge on this front, with Steve Jobs keen to 
equip Macintoshs with the handy devices. 

His interest in this handy little device came from a demo he saw at Xerox 
some years earlier, with English having gone on to help pioneer the 
development of the mouse at the company. 

In Walter Isaacsons biography of the tech visionary,  Steve Jobs , he noted 
that Jobs wanted to build on Xeroxs device with a more simplistic, 
user-friendly design. 

The Xerox mouse had three buttons, was complicated, and cost $300 apiece, and 
didnt roll around smoothly, Isaacson wrote. A few days after his second Xerox 
PARC visit, Jobs went to a local industrial design firm, IDEO, and told one 
of its founders, Dean Hovey, that he wanted a simple single button model that 
cost $15. 

When Apple launched its Lisa computer in 1983, this marked the first time a 
commercial computer device was released complete with a mouse, per reports 
from Wired . 

While the Lisa device wasnt exactly a hit - cost was a major factor in its 
failure - later computers released by the blossoming tech giant featured a 
mouse, setting in stone its place as a staple in the world of personal 
computing.



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Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/in-1970-a-patent-for-an-obscure-computer-device-
was-granted-and-it-changed-personal-computing-forever


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