Trackball
A stationary pointing device with an exposed rolling ball.
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A trackball is a stationary pointing device with a ball set into a socket. Sensors inside detect the ball’s rotation along two axes, much like an upside-down mouse with its ball exposed. To move the on-screen pointer, the user rolls the ball with a thumb, finger, or palm, while using their fingertips to click buttons.
Unlike a mouse, which must be lifted and repositioned when it reaches the edge of a desk, a trackball user simply lifts their finger or hand and places it back on the ball to continue rolling. Some trackballs are made of dense materials like phenolic resin and have very low friction, allowing the ball to be spun and coast. Buttons can be arranged like those on a mouse or customized to the user’s preference.
Large trackballs are common on CAD workstations, where precise movement is needed. Before touchpads became widespread, small trackballs were often used on portable computers and smartphones (such as BlackBerry devices) where desk space was limited. Some compact “thumballs” clip onto the side of a keyboard and include integrated buttons.
History
The trackball was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin, working for the British Royal Navy Scientific Service, as part of a radar plotting system called the Comprehensive Display System (CDS). Benjamin wanted a more elegant input device than the joystick then used to plot target aircraft positions. His design, called a roller ball, used a metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels. It was patented in 1947, but only a prototype was built, and the device remained a military secret; production CDS systems used joysticks instead.
Engineers from Ferranti Canada saw the CDS system and, in 1952, began developing the Royal Canadian Navy’s DATAR system. Principal designers Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff, and Kenyon Taylor chose a trackball as the primary input, using a standard five-pin bowling ball. DATAR’s trackball used four disks to detect motion—two for the X axis and two for the Y axis—with additional rollers for support. As the ball rolled, contacts on the disks’ rims made periodic contact with wires, generating pulses that counted the ball’s movement.
In 1966, the American company Orbit Instrument Corporation produced a trackball called the X-Y Ball Tracker, embedded in radar flight control desks.
Quick Facts
- Inventor
- Ralph Benjamin
- Invention year
- 1946
- Original name
- roller ball
- Patent year
- 1947
- Early material
- metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels
- Notable early use
- DATAR system using a standard five-pin bowling ball
- Major manufacturers
- Logitech and Kensington
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The trackball was invented in 1946 by Ralph Benjamin as part of a post-World War II radar plotting system for the British Royal Navy Scientific Service. Benjamin's roller ball system used a metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels, patented in 1947, but remained a military secret and only a prototype was built. The concept was later independently developed for the Royal Canadian Navy's DATAR system in 1952, where designers Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff, and Kenyon Taylor used a standard five-pin bowling ball as the roller, with four disks to pick up motion.
In 1966, the American company Orbit Instrument Corporation produced a trackball named X-Y Ball Tracker for radar flight control desks. Around the same time, a team at Telefunken in Germany developed a trackball called "Kugel" as part of their computer infrastructure, and later introduced the first computer ball mouse in 1968. Early trackballs used electrical contacts, later replaced by optical chopper wheels with LEDs and sensors. Unlike mice, trackballs avoid picking up desk dirt because they contact only the user's hand.
Trackballs have been used in arcade games since at least 1978, with Sega's World Cup and Atari's Atari Football popularizing the device. Atari trademarked the term "TRAK-BALL" for games like Centipede and Missile Command. Console trackballs were common optional peripherals for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and ColecoVision in the early 1980s, and the Apple Pippin had a trackball built into its gamepad in 1996. Trackballs remain in use in pub golf machines, air traffic control, military radars, and some commercial airliners.
A Place Among Many Pointing Technologies
Trackballs occupy a distinct category within Logitech's pointing device lineup, sitting alongside ball mice, optical mice, gaming mice, touchpads, cordless presenters, 3D controllers, and a catch-all group labelled other pointing devices. This arrangement signals that Logitech treats the trackball as one of several fundamentally different ways a user can direct a cursor or interact with a computing environment. Rather than being a sub-variant of a mouse, the trackball is given its own heading, suggesting a design philosophy that prioritises the input mechanism itself. The presence of a dedicated Notes sub-section under the trackball heading, parallel to those found under optical mice, gaming mice, and 3D controllers, indicates that Logitech considers the trackball a product family with its own set of specifications and caveats worth documenting separately from the broader mouse categories.
Reader's Guide
The trackball's significance lies in its stationary design, which allows operation in confined spaces such as small desks, rack-mounted terminals, or laptop environments where a mouse cannot be used. Before touchpads, small trackballs were common on portable computers and smartphones like BlackBerry devices. Large trackballs are favored on CAD workstations for easy precision, and in military and aviation applications for durability and fast emergency use. The device's ruggedness makes it ideal for public internet terminals and industrial computers, as it cannot be easily ripped away or vandalized.
In the late 1990s, both mice and trackballs adopted direct optical tracking, eliminating the need for anti-slip surface treatments. Most modern trackballs include a scroll wheel or a scroll ring, with Kensington's SlimBlade Trackball tracking the ball itself in three dimensions for scrolling.
As of the 2020s, Logitech and Kensington are the two major consumer trackball manufacturers, though Logitech has narrowed its product line to two models. Microsoft produced popular models like the Trackball Explorer but has discontinued all trackball products. Trackballs were occasionally used in e-sports before optical mice became mainstream, and one professional e-sports player was known for using a trackball as of the notes' timeframe.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a trackball differ from a regular mouse?
The key distinction is that a trackball stays fixed on the desk, so the user simply rolls the ball with a finger, thumb, or palm rather than sliding the whole device across a surface. This eliminates the need to lift and reposition the device when the pointer hits the edge of the workspace.
What was a famous early real-world application of the trackball?
One of the most memorable early uses was in the DATAR system, which incorporated a standard five-pin bowling ball as its pointing element. This demonstrated the concept's practicality well before consumer trackballs became common.
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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.
- Wikipedia: Trackball (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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