301.519.9237 exdirector@nesaus.org
Left, a portion of the patent plan designed by Marie Van Brittan Brown and her husband Albert, right. Marie Van Brittan Brown and Albert L. Brown, courtesy U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; New York Times / Redux

FARA Marketing Committee – (Submitted: 15Sep21)

Did you know that the early stages of video surveillance was invented by a nurse and an electronics engineer?  Marie Van Brittan Brown and her husband Albert, living in Queens, were concerned about the rising crimes in their area and invented a piece of equipment that attached to the front door equipped with a camera and audio capabilities that connected to the television. The patent for their device was filed in 1966 and approved in 1969. Ahead of their times, this equipment was very expensive and never made it to production. Marie passed away in 1999. CCTV was not offered to residential customers until 2005. Her patent has been cited in 35 U.S. patents.

For further details on this article, please click on below resources link.

Resource:

Smithsonian Magazine (15Sep21) : https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/history-home-security-alarm-180977002/ 

Wikipedia (15Sep21): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_security#:~:text=4%20Statistics-,Origin,which%20was%20granted%20in%201969.