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The History of TV Remote Controls (continued)
 The
aluminium rods were very carefully cut to lengths that would generate four
slightly different frequencies. They were excited by a trigger mechanism --
similar to the trigger of a gun -- that stretched a spring and then released it
so that a small hammer would strike the aluminum rod. The device was developed
quickly, with the design phase beginning in 1955. Called "Zenith Space
Command," the remote control went into production in the fall of 1956.
The
original Space Command remote control was expensive because an elaborate
receiver in the TV set, using six additional vacuum tubes, was needed to pick up
and process the signals. Although adding the remote control system increased the
price of the TV set by about 30 percent, it was a technical success and was
adopted in later years by other manufacturers.
 In
the early 1960s, solid-state circuitry (i.e., transistors) began to replace
vacuum tubes. Hand-held, battery-powered control units could now be designed to
generate the inaudible sound electronically. In this modified form, Dr. Adler's
ultrasonic remote control invention lasted through the early 1980s, a quarter
century from its inception.
By the early
1980s, the industry moved to infrared, or IR, remote technology. The IR remote
works by using a low frequency light beam, so low that the human eye cannot see
it, but which can be detected by a receiver in the TV. Zenith's development of
cable-compatible tuning and teletext technologies in the 1980s greatly enhanced
the capabilities and uses for infrared TV remotes.
 Today,
remote control is a standard feature on other consumer electronics products,
including VCRs, cable and satellite boxes, digital video disc players and home
audio receivers. And the most sophisticated TV sets have remotes with as many as
50 buttons.
Zenith developed the world's first wireless
trackball TV remote control, called Z-Trak. The remote works like a computer
mouse - click the ball and a cursor appears on the TV screen. Roll the ball and
the cursor activates control menus hidden in different corners of the screen.
Then, activate something from those menus - bass, treble, contrast, color
temperature, channel... whatever.
Manufacturers used to only make remote controls
that operated one TV set. However, they are now making universal remote controls
that can operate any TV set. Experts predict that someday remote controls will
control almost every device in the home.
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