Computer Peripherals Codexery

Joystick

A pivoting stick that reports direction to control aircraft, games, and machines.

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The joystick is a control device first used on aircraft in 1908 to manage ailerons and elevators, paired with a foot-operated rudder bar.[1] Its name may derive from early 20th century French pilot Robert Esnault-Pelterie, though competing claims exist for Robert Loraine, James Henry Joyce, and A. E. George.[2]

Quick Facts

First known aircraft use
Louis Bleriot's Bleriot VIII aircraft of 1908

Facts from the source article.

How it changed

Louis Bleriot's Bleriot VIII aircraft of 1908 is the first known use of a joystick for aircraft control.[1] C. B. Mirick at the United States Naval Research Laboratory invented the electrical two-axis joystick and patented it in 1926.[3] Around 1944, Germans developed an electrical two-axis joystick for the Kehl radio control transmitter system.[4] The same year, Ralph H. Baer developed the first prototype video game joystick controller, using a golf ball on the handle.[5]

The earliest known electronic game joystick with a fire button appeared in Sega's 1969 arcade game Missile.[6] The Atari CX40 joystick, a digital controller with a single fire button, was developed for the 1977 Atari Video Computer System.[7] Mirick's 1926 patent describes his system as "particularly applicable in maneuvering aircraft without a pilot."[8] The American Azon steerable munition employed a similar joystick unit that controlled only lateral movement along the yaw axis.[9]

Sega's arcade electro-mechanical game MotoPolo, which featured joystick controllers, was released in 1968.[5]

What the maker and period sources say

Quinion's investigation notes that several aviation histories cite a man named Joyce as the inventor, suggesting the original form was "Joyce stick".[10] The same source states that the first known example of "joystick" is in a 1910 diary entry by pioneering British aeronaut Robert Loraine.[10] Quinion also reports that "joystick" is recorded as a slang term for the penis from 1916, but this may have been borrowed from the aviation term rather than the reverse.[10] A 2001 article describes how developers created loop lever joysticks for an arcade game, spending all their remaining budget on the project.[11]

The same article notes that a film capsule container was placed over the joystick to alleviate hand pain.[11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: AFP, "English Channel Armada to Mark Centenary of Louis Blériot Flight", Times of Malta, 25 July 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Zeller, "A Great Idea That's All in the Wrist", New York Times, 2005-06-05 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A Timeline of NRL's Autonomous Systems Research", United States Naval Research Laboratory, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "WF 12-105, Captured Film, 'Fritz X' German Radio-Controlled Dive Bomb", The Digital Implosion, 1946 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sega Intros "Motopolo" Game", April 13, 1968, p. 71; "The Brown Box Golf Game Accessory, 1968", Smithsonian Institution, 2006; Edwards, "Video Games Turn Forty", vintagecomputing.com (originally published at 1UP.com), 2007-05-15 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Grant Brunner, "Shoulder Buttons of Giants: The Evolution of Controllers Leading Up to PS4 and Xbox One", ExtremeTech, 27 May 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mirick, "Electrical Distant Control System", United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1926 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Joystick" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "WW2: Azon (1943) Radio-Controlled Dive Bomb", The Digital Implosion, 1943 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Quinion, "Questions & Answers: Joystick", World Wide Words, 2004-07-17. facts only, no text reused. worldwidewords.org
  11. "「怒」を作った男", March 2001. facts only, no text reused. shmuplations.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Joystick (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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