In this article, you will learn about the history of computer mouse as well as the names of those that invented the mouse.
Ever since the introduction of computer, several devices have been emerging just to make sure that computer device is used to the fullest and in the quickest and better ways.
The invention of the computer mouse makes most keyboard operations to be far faster when using the mouse. Take for instance you want to copy a file from one location to the other on the desktop, instead of using Ctrl+C to copy the file and Ctrl+V for pasting it is faster you just click and hold on the file then drag to the desired location. Isn't that simple?
Even in the gaming aspect, mouse makes it easy to communicate with the game interface. Most games fire missiles when you click so on and so forth.
In the world today, everything has a history because they were all invented by primitive humans and same with mouse. The best mouse device today didn't just surface, it was invented through inspection or thorough device analysis of the precedent.
This therefore take us to:
The first mouse that came into existence was invented by Ralph Benjamin in the year 1946 as the Second World War just stopped.
Ralph Benjamin was a military engineer who was working who was working under British Royal Navy Scientific Service as an aircraft future position predictor based on several input points. While in the service, as part of his project, Ralph Benjamin was using an analogue computer for the aircraft future position prediction using joystick as the input device.
However, not too long, Ralph Benjamin discovered that the joystick was hard to use due to its crude nature and therefore decided to invent something more easier to control. After his hardworking, he came up with an elegant device the. Known as the ball tracker.
While Charles Babbage was considered as the father of modern computers, Douglas Engelbart was also honored as the father of computer computer mouse.
In 1963, he attended a computer graphics conference and on getting home after the conference, he introduced a simple mouse design that comprised of wooden she'll, circuit boards and two wheels (served as point of contact when powered on).
Meanwhile, the design was further improved by Billy English, a worker at Xerox Alto and sametime Engelbart's partner. Billy replaced Engelbart's wheels idea with a ball which resulted to the current shape the mouse is having today. Billy's ball idea makes mouse more easier to use as the ball allowed the mouse to be move in any desired direction.
Looking into the usefulness of Billy's idea, Xerox Alto company where he was currently working develop the first computer to work with mouse and later lead to a huge success.
The first optical mouse was invented in the year 1980 by Steve Kirsch and Richard F. Lyon. It has sensors that can detect motion as well as capture the surface repeatedly. However, the first optical mouse sensors needed a customized mousepad that has the ability to track the mouse movement to work effectively as they couldn't work on some surfaces that are either too slippery or rough.
The Mouse System Optical Mouse invented by Steve Kirsch used a glass mousepad while Xerox Optical Mouse invented by Richard F. Lyon needs a paper mousepad in order to function.
However, these first generation of optical sensors did not work with typical surfaces. Instead, they needed a special mousepad that was customized to track the mouse movement.