Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Zenith's handset struck aluminium rods that pinged at tones the set could hear. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a movies & tv fact?

Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Ultrasonic remotes gave us the word clicker

Zenith's handset struck aluminium rods that pinged at tones the set could hear The Space Command remote of 1956 used four lightweight rods, struck by hammers inside the case, to send tones above human hearing. No batteries were needed. The ping was audible to some people and pets, and jangling keys could change the channel. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Technology trivia

More facts like this

The first television remote was tied by a cableZenith's Lazy Bones hung off the set and could only switch it on or off John Logie Baird demonstrated television in 1926He showed moving images to a small audience in a London attic 16:9 was a compromise between film shapesEngineers picked a ratio roughly between old television and widescreen cinema Telecine machines copied film onto tapeA flying spot scanner read each frame and turned it into a video signal Doctor Who is the longest-running sci-fi TV seriesIt first aired on the BBC on 23 November 1963 The Simpsons is the longest-running American scripted primetime showThe series premiered in December 1989 and continues today

Tags: television, remote-control, invention

Ultrasonic remotes gave us the word clicker: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Zenith's handset struck aluminium rods that pinged at tones the set could hear. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a movies & tv fact?: Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.