🖱️ ↗ 1964
X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System
U.S. Patent 3,541,541 · 1970
From the abstract
An X-Y position indicator control for movement by the hand over any surface to move a cursor over the display on a cathode ray tube, the indicator having means for translating movement of the indicator into appropriate movement of the cursor on the display.
Note
The mouse. Engelbart's prototype was a wooden block with two perpendicular metal wheels and a single red button on top; he and Bill English built it in 1964. Engelbart called it 'X-Y position indicator' in the patent because that's what it was; the lab nicknamed it 'mouse' because the cord coming out the back looked like a tail. The 'Mother of All Demos' (December 9, 1968) showed the mouse, hypertext, video conferencing, and collaborative real-time editing — all decades before they were commercially viable. Engelbart never received royalties; the patent expired before the mouse went mass-market.