Globotype

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The Globotype is a color display for telecommunications. It was invented and patented by David Mc Callum of Stonehouse, Devon, England. The device features very low cost and does not use consumable supplies. It is Royal Letters Patent No. 2924 issued December 29, 1855. The design and coding used is described in Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications, Volume 2, pages 461 and 462.

The inventor published a small booklet in 1856 entitled: GLOBOTYPE TELEGRAPH: A recording instrument in which small coloured balls are released one by one and made to pass over a series of inclined planes by the force of gravity. The booklet was originally published by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans of London.

It is cited and described in Froehlich/Kent Encyclopedia of Telecommunications, volume 2 pages 461 and 462.

It would appear that replicas of this booklet are available from Amazon.com.^{[citation needed]}

The booklet explains all the important bases from design, construction, environmental considerations, simplicity, ease of training operators and a plea for a world wide tariff to allow the broadest use of telecommunications. The booklet is highly regarded among users of the Globotype.^{[citation needed]}

Some tracking has been done in England in co-operation with historians in Devon and Plymouth. Little was uncovered, though the 1851 census of the region shows a David Mc Callum.^{[citation needed]}

Mc Callum is regarded as the first person to realize that interactive communications must be done on a display, and not on printouts.^{[citation needed]}