First Computer Ball Mouse
Telefunken
In 1968 the fist computer ball mouse was offered by Telefunken. It was advertised as an optional input device for their computer systems.
The German company Telefunken called it "Rollkugel", which means "rolling ball". With this "rolling ball" it was possible to
make simple vector graphic operations, like drawing polygons. This was achieved by moving a cursor on a monitor, directed by the "rolling ball".
Essentially like the mice that are used nowadays.1
The movement on the table was interpreted in the fallowing way:
The mouse had two freely rotating rollers. One for the forward/backward motion and one
for the left/right motion.
At 45° it had a third roller to push the ball to the other two.
Finally logic circuits interpreted the relative timing and calculated the direction of the rotation of the wheel.2
Interior Of A Mechanical Mouse
The Mother Of All Demos
Two months after the technical publications of the company Telefunken, the mouse became famous as an input device.3 The reason is, that it was showcased in the presentation held by Douglas Engelbart. There is a recording of this particular demo on Youtube. At 4.19 min Douglas Engelbart uses the mouse to manipulate the data with a cursor. Later in the video at 31.02 min the mouse is clearly visible.