Push Buttons

[Zeldar]

Just now as I was getting coffee I pushed the button to turn off the hotplate and was struck with the idea of how the push button has come to represent the ultimate device. Next to the possibility of willing something to happen and it happening, I can't think of a simpler thing than a push button to accomplish some task or start some process.

And how many things in our daily lives are managed with "the push of a button"?

I got to wondering how far back we have to go to get to a time when there were no push buttons. I remember the Chrysler Corporation cars of the late 50's had push button transmissions. That was cutting edge for the day.

I looked up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push-button and am impressed with their version of the history of these things. But I wonder if any of you have even earlier examples you can think of.

In effect, "What was the earliest push button?"

[engineer_comp_geek]

Push button light switches date to the late 1800s.

[Johnny L.A.]

This thread reminds me of an episode of The Jetsons. George is whining about his four-hour days, and complaining that his 'poor button-pushing finger' is aching.

[Student Driver]

Originally Posted by Zeldar

Just now as I was getting coffee I pushed the button to turn off the hotplate and was struck with the idea of how the push button has come to represent the ultimate device. Next to the possibility of willing something to happen and it happening, I can't think of a simpler thing than a push button to accomplish some task or start some process.

I was going to suggest that this has been usurped by touch-sensitive panels and screens, but then I realized that the icons you touch on those are essentially pictorial representations of... push buttons.

[Lumpy]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

This thread reminds me of an episode of The Jetsons. George is whining about his four-hour days, and complaining that his 'poor button-pushing finger' is aching.

In all fairness to George J. they once showed him at work (not loafing) at his desk, and he was frantically pushing buttons at maximum blink/twitch speed. Four continuous hours of that- or heck even with breaks every fifteen minutes- would be pretty grinding.

[Rex Goliath]

Originally Posted by Lumpy

In all fairness to George J. they once showed him at work (not loafing) at his desk, and he was frantically pushing buttons at maximum blink/twitch speed. Four continuous hours of that- or heck even with breaks every fifteen minutes- would be pretty grinding.

IIRC, there was also another episode where George walked into the office, pushed a single button, leaned back in his chair and called it a day.

[Ale]

Push buttons are simple enough, but need to be handled right in the electronics side. A push button tends to "bounce", instead of having one solid Off/On transition, the change can have electrical spikes and multiple repeats. For example, when using them with microcontrollers is necessary to "debounce" the button, either by hardware, using a resistor and a capacitor to smooth out the transition from one logical state to the other, or by software (firmware actually) by polling the state of the button, if it changes state the microcontroller takes notice, waits for a set time to see if the new state is stable and then acknowledges the input.

If not properly debounced then you can have situations like a button meant to increment a value by one each time actually increments it by some random number, or if you use a push button as an On/Off switch it may appear to not work if there is an even number of bounces when you press it. This is the sort of thing that can drive a man bonkers trying to debug a circuit, ask me how I know... =/