Prototype "Butler In A Box"
date: label: date made
content: 1985-04
name: label: maker
content: Mastervoice, Incorporated
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This is the prototype "Butler In A Box", an electronic home controller system created in 1983 by professional magician Gus Searcy and computer programmer Franz Kavan. The idea was to couple emerging computer technology with novel wireless devices and make a product that could control a variety of electrical devices in a home. Searcy reportedly conceived the idea after friends asked him why, if he could pull rabbits from hats, couldn’t he just tell lights to come on instead of physically operating a switch. Soon thereafter, Searcy and Kavan developed “Sidney,” an electronic controller to do that and more.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Magnetic Recording
label: See more items in
content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Gus Searcy
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0079.03
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0079.03
label: accession number
content: 1991.0079
objectType: label: Object Name
content: answering machine component
label: Object Name
content: electronic home controller
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.5 cm x 19 cm x 25 cm; 1 3/8 in x 7 1/2 in x 9 13/16 in