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Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla presented the idea of a “Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles” which we now call a remote control. His first was a wireless radio-controlled ship that he called a “Teleautomaton” which could be used remotely to blow up targets. -
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Remote Control Span
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U.S. Patent 613809
Nikola Tesla was finally granted this patent on his invention of a radio control. this made him successful in the future because now he could sell his ideas to other people in need of something to be controlled remotely instead of manually. -
Steam Launch
A Windermere steam launch- named Bat, and invented by Jack Kitchen- was controlled using experimental radio control. These steam launches were useful to people who steered ships because they would not have to be in the control room at all times. -
Radio Controlled Torpedo
The French inventor Gabet demonstrated a radio controlled torpedo. He called it the "Torpille Radio-Automatique." These torpedos were much more efficient than torpedos that had to be set of manually because you could send them where you wanted without being in range of the explosion. -
World War One
During WWI, the German Navy developed radio-controlled motor-boats to ram enemy ships, so that their troops would not risk their lives to battle. -
Radio Control on an Aircraft
The head of the RFC Experimental Works, Archibald Low, was the first person to use radio control successfully on an aircraft. His idea was to use this aircraft as a guided missle. Through his experimentation with guiding this missle, Low learned how to control the air craft to a crash landing at a particular site. This invention was considered very dangerous to his current government. -
Child Remote
When TV's were first introduced into the American home, the children were the remotes. While sitting in his chair, Dad would sometimes tell his child to change the channel and this would be his form of a remote: he would not have to get up but he would command for the channel to be changed. The children would sit up close to the TV set on the floor for easy access to the buttons on the TV. -
Remote Controlled Teletanks
The Soviet Red Army used remote controlled teletanks during the Winter War against Finland and at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. -
Remote Controlled Aircraft: Queen Bee
The Britains developed the radio controlled Queen Bee, a remote controlled unmanned Tiger Moth aircraft for firing practice. A new aircraft called the Queen Wasp was later built. It was a target aircraft of higher performance than the Queen Bee. -
Garage Doors
In the 1940s, garage door openers were creating using remote controls so that it would be more of a convinience to park one's car in the garage without having to first get out of their car and open the door manually. -
World War Two
During WWII, radio-controlled bombs and other remote-controlled wepaons were used, so that troops would not run the risk of going into dangeroous situations with live bombs in their hands in order to attack the enemy. There were motor boats filled with missles that could be set of from a distance by a remote control. -
"Lazy Bones"
Zenith Radio corporation created the first ever remote control that was not wireless: it was attatched to the television by a cable. It could turn the television on and off and could change channels but caused frequents trips, which is why it did not last for a long period of time. -
"Flashmatic"
A Zenith engineer, Eugene Polley created this wireless remote that shined a light like a flashlight on photocells on the TV that activated it's power and channels; however, on sunny days, this innovation was rendered useless because the sunlight would sometimes change the channels without the viewer's consent. -
"Zenith Space Command"
This remote control started in production and was designed based on ultrasonics by Doctor Robert Adler. These remotes used no batteries and worked using ultrasound waves. -
Vacuum Tubes
The recievers in the televisions using the Space Commander remotes required six vacuum tubes that raised the price of televisions. -
Transistors
Transistors were invented by scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratories that would replace the bulky, energy consuming vacuums used in televisions. -
Size and Efficiency of Remotes
After the invention of the transistor, remote controls were now cheaper, smaller, battery operated, and soon, hand-held. Over nine million of these remotes were sold! -
Infared
After about 25 years of the Zenith Space Commander remote, infared was introduced into the industry. This light is not visible by the human eye but can be picked up by a receiver in the television. -
More Than One Remote
Multipal remote controls were soon introduced into homes with one or more televisions. These remotes could be individually used for controlling VCRs, cable and satellite boxes, digital video disc players and home audio receivers. Some remotes even had up to 50 advanced buttons! -
Wireless Trackball TV Remote
Zenith developed the world's first wireless trackball TV remote control, called Z-Trak. The remote used a mouse-like sysytem where a cursor appeared on the screen and one could choose from multiple menus or items. -
Universal Remote
Today, intelligent electonic experts are making universal remotes that can be hooked up to multiple devices in the home and operate them simutanuosly with only one remote in hand.
