Ever since the remote control’s co-inventor Robert Adler passed away a few weeks ago, I’ve wanted to own one of the first remote controls. After trolling through eBay every now and then, I finally have in my hands a piece of the history of the button. But there’s a mystery: which piece?
Here’s the Space Commander 300. Just two buttons, one for Channel, one for Volume. Push the Channel button to go lower one channel. Want to go higher? Sorry, you have to go lower until you go all the way round the circle. Similar for Volume, three settings for Low, Medium, High, Off.
Here’s the Space Commander 600. Now with four buttons! Two for Channel Lower and Channel Higher, far more civilized. One for Volume. One for Mute. Plus, as the remote says, “adjust hue after pushing mute.” Yes, you have to mute the TV to adjust the color. That’s a classic example of the danger in overloading buttons.
The next thing I had to do was open them up to look inside. Just four little screws. What could go wrong?
Inside the Space Commander 300. All these early remotes are purely mechanical. No batteries at all. When you push the button, a small hammer strikes an aluminum rod, triggering a sound above our hearing range that’s picked up by the TV. Each rod is a different length, thus a different frequency, thus distinguishable by the TV. Damn clever.
Note also the two empty slots in the middle. The case is ready for the next model. They had a product roadmap in mind.
Inside the Space Commander 600. Now with four aluminum rods, one for each button. Notice how all the parts are identical to the 300. They planned the manufacturing out well in advance so they could simply use the same molds in production.
But the mystery is, are these really the first remote controls?
There were two remote control products prior to the Space Command. The Zenith Lazy Bones came out in 1950, but it was wired, a wire running across the living room from couch to TV, tripping Grandma along the way. In 1955, Zenith produced the Flash-matic, basically a flashlight at a specific frequency, but ambient sunlight sometimes changed the channel. Then in 1956, the Space Command which used ultrasonics as we saw above.
So did I have the first Space Command?
I wanted to learn which years the various Space Command models were released, so I tried using this new thing on the World Wide Web called Google. Have you seen it yet?
I was assuming that the Space Commander 300 I had was the first. Look at this listing from PC World’s 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years.
Yes, that’s pretty clearly the same remote I have, the Three Hundred. But the first clue that something was amiss was the article described four buttons, yet this had two.
The mystery deepened. Look at this Zenith ad from 1957 featuring George Burns.
And then this image from a great write-up on Adler’s passing at Design News.
Uh oh. That is also a Space Commander 400. Yet there is another Space Commander 400 in the same form factor as the 300 and 600 shown above. Zenith used the exact same name for different products, one of the cardinal sins in product marketing. So now what?
My inner information architect wants them to have different names, so let’s name them. How do we distinguish them? Button shape will do. The buttons in the top version look like ovals. The buttons in the second version look like gas pedals in a car. Oval. Pedal. Now we can actually have a conversation about them.
Both Oval and Pedal use the name “Space Commander.” Pedal uses numbers to describe the model (300). Oval uses words (Four Hundred).
The Wikipedia page on remote controls shows an image of Oval, but we all know the dangers of trusting Wikipedia as a solid source of knowledge.
Then I spotted this 1964 Zenith Space Command TV on eBay. There’s the Oval remote control. (If you look closely, I Love Lucy is on the TV.)
I have a feeling I was duped, but I wasn’t the only one. The Oval model is almost always used in articles that discuss the Space Commander as the first wireless remote control. But it seems that the Pedal model may really have been the first. My hunch is that Pedal was used from around 1956 to 1958 and then Oval was used from 1958 to 1965ish. After that, other models of Space Commander showed up. Zenith just kept using the same name over and over. Very confusing.
I’m hunting for good forums of early TV collectors to ask them. They’re the experts. I’ll let you know what I find out.
I know you won’t be able to sleep until then.
Fun.
Updated. Read the follow-up where the answers are revealed:
Zenith Space Command, the first 20 years.
Awesome sleuthing. As I’m sure I’ve posted here before, I grew up with a Zenith Space Command - we had the two-button remote, and the TV was around before I was, and well into my teens. Color TV - what’s that?
Now you need to find a matching TV so you can do the “jingling the keys” trick. I have first-hand experience, it totally works.
Ah, memories. We didn’t have a TV with a remote when I was a kid, but a friend of mine had one. We took the thing apart one day to see how it worked. It took a good deal of head-scratching, but we finally figured out that the aluminium bars were, in effect, tuning forks that produced sound too high to hear. This wasn’t a complete surprise, since you can sort of feel what is happening when you use the unit. You can tell that something mechical is hitting something else when you hit the button. Also, you hear a “klink” noise that was quite distinctive.
Luckily, we got it all back together before his dad came home (this was in about 1970, it was pretty old hat by then).
[…] History of the Button | Zenith Space Command: unboxing a mystery Acquisition and disassembly of early TV remotes, the “Zenith Space Commander” models 300 and 600. The signaling mechanism must be seen to be believed. (tags: buttons protohistorical remote control mechanical audio control-machines) […]
My father worked for Zenith from the 40’s through the early 70’s in production control. We had the ‘64 model shown above. We also had a Flashmatic, the generation before Space Command which used a (if I remember correctly) a dark green pistol grip flashlight that used C cells and the TV had 4 discrete photocell receptors, one at each corner. One on/off, one channel up, one channel down, and one mute (if I recall correctly). I remember we had to turn the TV so the direct sun wouldn’t activate the photocells. Otherwise it worked very well as long as the batteries were fresh.
I recall father telling me about the technique of planning all of the model types so that one chassis or molding could be used per model. I know that Zenith used this method in their radio production before the TV was invented (My Grandmother was a shop-steward in production at Zenith starting in the ’20’s).
[…] out, Gracie! With Zenith Space Command TV I can change programs from across the room”, so awesome. Via Daring […]
Back in the late 60s my girlfriend had a zenith TV console with the remote you described. We would be sitting there watching a show when the channel would change on its own . I finally noticed that it happened whenever her huskey would shake his head. She sometimes left the chain collar on him. Apparently the sound generated by the rattling chain was changing the channel.
There were only a few channels back then, so an up-only remote was not so crazy.
Hoyt, a friend of mine in college had a Zenith television with one of these remotes (and, yes, it was an old TV at the time, I’m not THAT old). Anyhow, we would play around with various things (jiggling keys, etc.) to see what frequencies we could produce to effect changes on the television. It was funny what would trigger it (though we didn’t have a dog)!
Heh, we had one of those, and we used to mess with my dad by jingling car keys and switching the channel.
Hehe, it also dates me that I still occasionally call the remote “the clicker”.
True story: As a kid my grandparents had a TV which “used” the Space Commander 600. The device was kept in a liquor cabinet since, when used, it had a tendency to also raise/close the automatic garage door on the other side of the wall. Anyone verify this feat was possible?
- Stanton
Really fine article. You probably want to change this, for simplicity and clarity:
“Both Oval and Pedal use the name “Space Commander.” Pedal uses numbers to describe the model (300). Oval uses words (Four Hundred).”
to this:
Both Oval and Pedal use the name “Space Commander.” Pedal uses numbers to describe the model (400). Oval uses words (Three Hundred).
My parents had a small TV with a sonic remote control, but it had only one button. (For the channel only, and it moved the dial “up”.) I don’t recall if it was a Zenith, perhaps it was a knock-off from another mfg.
My grandfather had one of these. I seem to recall that you could also invoke the “Channel Down” function by carefully operating a Slinky - the ka-zink-ka-zink sound from the Slinky would change the channel.
Sometimes when I can’t find my current remote I wish I had a backup Slinky.
[…] The Zenith Space Commander, one of the very first wireless TV remotes. “When you push the button, a small hammer strikes an aluminum rod, triggering a sound above our hearing range that’s picked up by the TV. Each rod is a different length, thus a different frequency, thus distinguishable by the TV.” © 1999-2007 Justin Blanton e v e r y t h i n g i s r e l a t i v e In partnership with DreamHost […]
Sets these old would have had mechanical tuners. Those of us old enough remember the chunka-chunka-chunka that accompanied a trip to the next station.
These sets must have had a motor to move the tuner around?
I vividly remember my father and uncle in London in 1979 competing to see who could make the TV change channel by ripping the tab off cans of beer. Must have been a similar setup (and by that stage a fairly old TV too I guess)
If you pardon the fully intended pun, I have to chime in here.
In the late 80’s I picked up a Zenith TV at a yard sale, it was free because the screen stayed black. Pulling off the back cover revealed a previously unaccessible knob, labeled Master Brightness. A quick twist et voila, free TV!
It came with a two button Space Commander remote. Unfortunately I don’t recall exactly what it looked like. But I do recall the day I dropped my roommate’s heavy cast iron pan on the floor and the channel changed.
From then on we had 2 remotes for the TV, one was much more of a work out than the other… let’s say it had *impact*.
Jimmy? You out there?
I don’t know if it the practice existed in those days, but have you tried looking inside the bezel/case that you took apart for an extrusion date on the plastic? You might be able to sleuth the date of manufacture most reliably that way (for your particular models anyway)
[…] of the Button » Blog Archive » Zenith Space Command: unboxing a mystery History of the Button » Blog Archive » Zenith Space Command: unboxing a mystery Ever since the remote control’s co-inventor Robert Adler passed away a few weeks ago, I’ve […]
Thank you for this informative review, i had no idea that remotes were mechanically-driven at one point. In 10 years time, remotes will be replaced by use of brain-waves; it will be insane at first, but in no time we will be unloading & downloading data from/to our brains.
We had a 19″ Zenith TV in the mid-1960s that had a clicker, and my mother discovered that whenever she vacuumed the TV would go on. That finding came in handy when the clicker broke. My father had had polio, walked with canes, and it was difficult for him to get up and turn the TV on. So we just kept the vacuum next to my father’s chair–he’d turn on the vacuum and “poof,” the TV would turn on as well.
My folks bought a Zenith colour TV in 1975 (I remember the exact date because it was the week my little brother was born) that still used a tuning fork remote. Over the years we had a lot of fun experimenting with sounds that would activate the remote functions. In addition to the jingling keys that many have mentioned, we discovered that whenever Mom was ironing the clanging of the wire coat hangers would change the channel … and the best trick of all … if you sneezed just right you could turn the TV off!
Incidentally, although no one is currently using it, this 32-year old set STILL WORKS!
The family dog worked just as well! Whenever our pooch walked through the living room she would cause a channel or voume change when the two or three dog tags she had banged together.
I bought a house about 4 years ago, and I found a “Zenith Space Commander” with only one button in it. On the back it says “U.S. Patents 2,817,025; 2,821,954; 2,821,956; and 3,070,736″. Does anybody have any info on it?
ew thats ugly an tv, thank goodness for the progress
While Zenith was first out the gate, there was a flood of other brands that followed. Tough to call them knockoffs as it was an idea whose time had come, and anybody in the TV business had to have a wireless remote to be competitive. Once Zenith showed the way, it was just a matter of brief time before all the others found their own solutions. Some to include Admiral and Philco used the mechanical acoustic hammer scheme much like Zenith and probably licensed from Zenith. Packard-Bell had a variation that used rotary wheels that activated the hammers. Admiral had one especially inventive variation on the theme which featured a revolving cylinder of 4 hammers; the m.o. was to preselect function by rotating the cylinder and then push forward on the actuator button that would then strike the hammer for the desired function. Other manufacturers went down a different road. Magnavox went acoustic but with a push button pump that blew air through ultrasonic whistles. RCA, GE and Motorola went with RF.
As with the Zenith Space Commander the other companies devised names that are amusing in themselves and suggestive of the era: Admiral Sonar, Magnavox Phantom, Philco Directa (a spin on Predicta), Motorola Golden Satellite and Transituner, RCA Wireless Wizard, DuMont Galaxy, Silvertone Selectra.
My collection is not restrained by brand- just whatever I could find in the past decade or so. Info available to anyone who wants to write that book!
I have a 1966 Zenith color TV with a space command 600. The entire set AND remote still work perfectly. Set has NEVER been repaired and is still quite usable (well, until Feb 09)
Man, I had completely forgotten about that good ole Zenith B& W w/Space Command! Dad bought ours off the show floor at Phelps and Armstead Furniture in Roanoke ,VA. I was around 10 years old, so it would have been 1962….none of my buddies had ever seen one of these, as we were all basically poor “Blue Ridge Mountain” kids, so I was kind of proud of this ‘high tech” or as we would have called it, “futuristic” possesion. We only received 2 good channels, CBS WDBJ, and NBC WSLS…and this was with “shadows, snow” etc, even with a 25 ft antennae mast. My brothers and I took delight in sneaking the remote and changing channels while surprised guests wondered what in the world was going on. Mom got so aggravated at our constant cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck of the mechanical tuner motor, she threw the remote and broke it….I repaired it best I could, but the last I ever saw of the remote itself was when she died back in 1995. My brother found it during clearing out her estate….wish I’d have asked for it.
Heh. I’ve got one of these sitting in my living room right now. It used to work, but, unfortunately, will no longer power on. I’ll have to pop the back and see if some tubes need replacing. Then the hunt will begin…
If anyone’s got any tips on repair or parts, hit me up on MySpace.
http://www.myspace.com/casa_de_kitsch
Hi! I have a Zenith Space Commanda in its original envelope, and I was planning to put it up for sale on E-bay. If anyone’s interested, please contact me: vivemexico_com@hotmail.com
[…] Here’s a link to more clicky goodness… […]