|
An area of chess computer history which has received little attention on the internet so far is that of Patent applications.
This webpage is the beginnings of a section intended to cover the subject. I shall include as many patents as I can. Those relating to chess computers which reached the market. Some interesting projects which did not make the market. Some of the inventions pre-1977 which may have influenced the early chess computers.
Since The Turk amazed and fooled people back in the 1770s many inventors have attempted to produce an effective chess playing machine. Various mechanical and electrical contraptions, often highly ingenious, were produced. However not one of them was a practical playing partner for chess players. Only when the computer chip arrived two centuries later was the problem satisfactorily solved.
So what patent documents are out there?
Below, are the patents which I have come across so far, that relate to chess computers actually produced. See also the “Other Patents” page where other types of patent will find a home for the time being. In assembling this Patents section I hope not only to have added a topic of interest to the website, but also an acknowledgement of some of the many inventors and entrepreneurs who have contributed to our enjoyment of chess computers.
Click on the drawings to see the pdf file of the full Patent documents.
|
