40 years ago a patent was applied for which described a wooden shell with two metal wheels. The device quickly received the nickname of a mouse due to it having a tail (wire) coming out of it. The patent described an X-Y position indicator for a display system.
Due to the patent expiring 20 years later in 1987, Engelbart did not receive much in the way of royalties as a computer mouse wasn’t too popular before that. Also this was partly due to the new mice using a different mechanism which did not infringe on the patent.
For an interesting read of this mouse and how it came about check over at Wikipedia. The original patent with drawings can be found over here.
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