Gallery: The Engineer of the Original Apple Mouse Talks About His Remarkable Career
Ariel Zambelich/WIRED0120140805-IDEO-JAMES-YURCHENCO-036edit
Jim Yurchenco, one of the earliest employees at the design firm Ideo, retired recently after a celebrated 35-year career.
Ideo02Apple-Mouse-Edit
The Apple Lisa mouse. The same guts were later used in the Macintosh mouse.
Ideo03Mouse-Prototype-Edit
An early prototype.
Ideo04Mouse-IDEO
The original patent for the mouse, held by Yurchenco, Dean Hovey, James Sachs, and William Lapson. The idea was inspired by an Atari Arcade roller-ball, flipped upside down, so that the ball faced downward.
Ideo05Mouse-Inside-Edit
That design dramatically reduced the complexity required to build the device, and brought its price down to realistic consumer levels.
Ideo06Computer-IDEO-Edit
A patent held by Yurchenco and Michael J. Nuttall, for a computer with an ergonomically tiltable screen.
Ideo07Metaphor-Ideo-Edit
A prototype of the computer, which also featured slots for the peripherals, that would allow it all to be easily bundled up.
Ideo08Palm-Edit
The Palm V, which took gadget lust to new levels with its thin design.
Ideo09Cutter-IDEO-edit
Another of Yurchenco's co-patents, for a more ergonomic pizza slicer.
Ideo10Stackable-CD-IDEO
A patent for a stackable CD case, which allowed for the individual CD's to stack, with enough of a lip between them so that the CD's could be easily picked up.
