Marie Van Brittan Brown was the inventor of the first home security system. She is also credited with the invention of the first closed circuit television. Brown was born in Queens, New York on October 22, 1922 and resided there until her death on February 2, 1999 at the age of seventy-six.
The Patent for the invention was filed in 1966 and later influences the modern home security systems that we use today. Brown’s invention was inspired by the security risk that her home faced in the neighborhood where she lived. Marie Brown worked as a nurse and her husband, Albert Brown, was an electronics technician. They did not work typical 9-5 hours, and the crime rate in their neighborhood was quite high, with police response time fairly slow. As a result, Brown looked for ways to strengthen her person security by creating a system that would allow her to know who was entering her home and would contact authorities as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.
The security system she devised was the basis for the two-way communication and surveillance features of modern security systems. Her original version was made up of peepholes, a camera, monitors and a two way microphone. It also included an alarm button that could be pressed to contact the local police.
The system used a series of peepholes at the front door placed at different levels ( for tall, sort and average heigh people) . On the opposite side of the door was a camera which could slide up and down to see through each peephole. The camera picked up images which could be reflected on a monitor placed anywhere in the house allowing the occupants to see who was at the front door. A voice component enabled Brown to speak to the person outside. If an intruder was at the door, police could be called. If the visitor was expected, the door could be unlocked by a remote control.
Marie and Albert Brown filed for a patent on their system on August 1st, 1966 under the title ” Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance” . Their application was approved in December 2nd, 1969.
Brown’s invention laid the foundation for later security systems which make use of its features such as video monitoring, remote controlled door locks, push button alarm triggers, instant messaging to security providers and police, as well as two way voice communication. The Browns’ patent was later referenced by thirteen other inventors, including some as recently as 2013.
