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CHICAGO , May 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Best known as the inventor of the first wirelessremote control for television, Eugene J. Polley started his career with Zenith Radio Corporation (now ZenithElectronics LLC, a subsidiary of LG Electronics) in 1935. His47-year engineering career spanned the pioneering days of radio,black-and-white television and color TV. Mr. Polley died of natural causes on May 20 in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, Ill. He was 96. His inventions, primarily in the field of television, earned 18U.S. patents. Mr. Polley's best known invention, the "Flash-Matic"remote control, was the world's first wireless TV remote,introduced in 1955. It used a flashlight-like device to activatephoto cells on the television set to change channels. Mr. Polley worked his way up from the stockroom to the partsdepartment, where he produced Zenith's first catalog, and then onto his long career in the engineering department. During World War II, as part of Zenith's commitment to the wareffort, Mr. Polley worked on radar advances for the U.S. Departmentof Defense.-?Mr. Polley also worked on the push-button radio forautomobiles and on the development of the video disk, predecessorof today's DVD. Over the years, Mr. Polley held key technology positions at Zenith,including as Product Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Head of VideoRecording Group, Advanced Mechanical Design Group and AssistantDivision Chief for the Mechanical Engineering Group. Mr. Polley was the 2009 recipient of the Masaru Ibuka ConsumerElectronics Award from the Institute of Electronic and ElectricalEngineers. Mr. Polley and fellow Zenith engineer Robert Adler were honored in 1997 with an Emmy Award from the National Academyof Television Arts and Sciences for "Pioneering Development ofWireless Remote Controls for Consumer Television." Mr. Polley'sinnovation has been featured in numerous articles and televisionprograms. Eugene J. Polley was born in Chicago on Nov. 29, 1915. He attended the City Colleges of Chicago and Armour Institute. He was a longtime resident of Lombard, Ill. , where he was active in village government, serving as a member ofthe village's Zoning Board of Appeals for 34 years. He is survived by his son, Eugene J. Polley Jr. , and grandson, Aaron, of San Diego, Calif. He was preceded in death by his wife, Blanche, and daughter, Joan Polley . Visitation will be held May 22 , 5-8 p.m. , Brust Funeral Home, Lombard, Ill. A funeral mass will be held May 23 at 10 a.m. , Sacred Heart Church, Lombard , followed by internment at Assumption Cemetery in Wheaton . FATHER OF THE TV REMOTE CONTROL The inventor of the first wireless remote control for television,Zenith's Gene Polley , was called everything from the founding father of the couchpotato to the czar of zapping to the beach boy of channel surfing. Few would dispute the enormous impact of this invention, devised inan era of three or four VHF broadcast TV stations in most markets.Today, remote control is not a luxury but a necessity in navigating500-plus digital cable or digital satellite channels, orcontrolling an HDTV, Blu-Ray Disc player, digital video recorder orhome theater audio system - all at the touch of a button. Zenith's Gene Polley ushered in the era of channel surfing in the middle of the 20thCentury during the Golden Age of Television. Mr. Polley inventedthe "Flash-Matic," which represented the world's first wireless TVremote. Introduced in 1955, Flash-Matic operated by means of fourphoto cells, one in each corner of the TV screen. The viewer used ahighly directional flashlight to activate the four controlfunctions, which turned the picture and sound on and off andchanged channels by turning the tuner dial clockwise andcounter-clockwise. Commander Eugene F. McDonald Jr. , Zenith's late founder-president, believed TV viewers would nottolerate commercials. While developing and promoting the concept ofcommercial-free subscription television, McDonald yearned for a wayfor viewers to take back control from the advertisers. Mr. Polley'sFlash-Matic accomplishes that goal. McDonald ordered it intoproduction and honored Mr. Polley with the President's Award. Building on Mr. Polley's innovation, fellow Zenith engineer, thelate Dr. Robert Adler , later developed the next-generation wireless TV remote based onultrasonic technology, Space Command. By the early 1980s, theindustry moved from ultrasonic to infrared, or IR, remotetechnology. The IR remote works by using a low-frequency lightbeam, so low that the human eye cannot see it, but which can bedetected by a receiver in the TV. Zenith's development ofcable-compatible tuning and teletext technologies in the 1980sgreatly enhanced the capabilities for infrared TV remotes. Today, wireless remote pioneered by Mr. Polley, is a standardfeature on virtually all consumer electronics products. The mostsophisticated digital HDTV sets have remotes with as many as 50buttons. Of course, in 2012, virtually all television sets, set-topboxes, video players/recorders and other home entertainmentcomponents sold in the United States are equipped with remote control. SOURCE Zenith Electronics LLC Copyright 2010 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Led Outdoor Floodlight Manufacturer , China G13 Led Tube for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Led Tunnel Light.
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