The Computer Mouse — Invented 30 Years Before Anyone Cared

This patent describes a device that moves across a surface and translates that physical movement into x-y coordinate changes on a display screen. The original device had two perpendicular wheels that rolled on a desktop surface — as the device moved, one wheel tracked horizontal movement and the other tracked vertical movement, and the position of a cursor on the screen updated accordingly. A button on the device allowed the user to signal selections or commands. The entire assembly was connected to the computer by a cable — which Engelbart's team thought looked like a tail, which is why they called it a mouse.

The clever bit

Engelbart invented the mouse at SRI (Stanford Research Institute) in the 1960s as part of his larger vision of 'augmenting human intellect' — using computers to help people think more effectively. The mouse was just one piece of a complete system he demonstrated on December 9, 1968, in what became known as the Mother of All Demos. In 90 minutes, Engelbart showed a live audience: a word processor, hypertext links, video conferencing, collaborative real-time editing, and the mouse. Every single thing he demonstrated exists in some form on your computer today. Yet his demo was largely ignored by the computing establishment of 1968 — computers were for batch processing, not interactive work. It took another 15 years for Apple to put a mouse on the Macintosh and make the idea mainstream.

What it does not cover

• ×Optical mice — the original design used mechanical wheels, not optical sensors tracking surface texture
• ×Wireless mice — all connections in this design are wired
• ×Multi-touch trackpads — the patent covers a discrete pointing device, not multi-finger gesture surfaces
• ×Touchscreens — direct-touch interfaces without a cursor are a separate paradigm