Cathode-ray tube amusement device
Cathode ray tube, oscilloscope |
The cathode-ray tube amusement device is the earliest known
Gameplay
The cathode-ray tube amusement device consists of a
History
The cathode-ray tube amusement device was invented by physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. The pair worked at television designer DuMont Laboratories in Passaic, New Jersey specializing in the development of cathode ray tubes that used electronic signal outputs to project a signal onto television screens.[1][4] Goldsmith, who had received a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University in 1936 with a focus on oscilloscope design, was at the time of the device's invention the director of research for DuMont Laboratories.[5] The two inventors were inspired by the radar displays used in World War II, which Goldsmith had worked on during the war.[1][6] The patent for the device was filed on January 25, 1947 and issued on December 14, 1948.[2] The patent, the first for an electronic game,[7] was never used by either the inventors or DuMont Laboratories, and the device was never manufactured beyond the original handmade prototype.[8][9] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers historian Alex Magoun has speculated that Goldsmith did not make the prototype with the intent for it to be the basis of any future production, but only designed the device as a demonstration of the kind of commercial opportunities DuMont could pursue.[3] Video game historian Alexander Smith has also speculated that DuMont's ongoing financial issues prevented any investment into a new product.[4] Goldsmith did not work on games after the invention of the device; he was promoted to vice president in 1953 and left DuMont—by then split up and sold to other firms—to become a professor of physics at Furman University in 1966.[3][6] Goldsmith kept the device and brought it with him to Furman; in a 2016 interview fellow physics professor Bill Brantley recalled Goldsmith demonstrating the game to him.[3]
Despite being a game that used a graphical display, the cathode-ray tube amusement device is generally not considered under many definitions to be a candidate for the first video game, as it used purely analog hardware and did not run on a computing device; some loose definitions may still consider it a video game, but it is still usually disqualified as the device was never manufactured.[3][4][10][11] Nevertheless, it is the earliest known interactive electronic game to incorporate an electronic display, as no prior games, such as the 1936 Seeburg Ray-O-Lite or Spotlight Golf, had such a display or primarily used electronic components—ones which modify an electrical signal, rather than simply using electricity as power. This makes the cathode-ray tube amusement device a forerunner to other games in the early history of video games.[3][4][10][11] As the device was never manufactured or widely shown it did not directly inspire any other games and had no impact on the future video game industry.[1][3][8] The patent itself was not discovered again until 2002, when David Winter, a French electronics collector, while searching for evidence of early prototypes of the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey console, found the patent in a set of documents in an archival warehouse originally compiled for a 1974 lawsuit by Magnavox against several arcade game companies.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d Cohen, D. S. "Cathode-Ray Tube Amusement Device". Lifewire. Dotdash Meredith. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
- ^ a b c US patent 2455992, Goldsmith Jr., Thomas T. & Mann, Estle Ray, "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", issued December 14, 1948
- ^ Hearst Corporation. Archivedfrom the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
- ^ a b c d Smith, pp. 140–141
- ^ "3 Promoted by DuMont; Officials of Laboratories Are Made Vice Presidents". The New York Times. November 23, 1953.
- ^ a b "IEEE History Center: Thomas Goldsmith Abstract". IEEE History Center. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. May 14, 1973. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
- ISSN 0162-7325.
- ^ a b Wolf 2012a, pp. 1–2
- ^ Donovan, p. 7
- ^ a b Kowert, Quandt, p. 3
- ^ a b Wolf 2012b, p. 218
- ^ Audureau, William (January 27, 2017). "La rocambolesque redécouverte du plus vieux brevet de jeu vidéo" [The incredible rediscovery of the oldest video game patent]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved March 10, 2020.
Sources
- Donovan, Tristan (April 20, 2010). ISBN 978-0-9565072-0-4.
- Kowert, Rachel; Quandt, Thorsten (August 27, 2015). The Video Game Debate: Unravelling the Physical, Social, and Psychological Effects of Video Games. ISBN 978-1-138-83163-6.
- Smith, Alexander (November 27, 2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry. Vol. 1: 1971 – 1982. ISBN 978-1-138-38990-8.
- Wolf, Mark J. P. (June 5, 2012). Before the Crash: Early Video Game History. ISBN 978-0-8143-3450-8.
- Wolf, Mark J. P. (August 16, 2012). Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming, Volume 1. ISBN 978-0-313-37936-9.