1. Why Researchers at Cambridge Pointed a Camera at a Coffee Pot
Imagine walking across a university building only to find the coffee pot empty. That was a common problem in the "Trojan Room" at Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory. Researchers shared one pot, but often found it dry after a long walk. To stop these wasted trips, Quentin Stafford-Fraser and Paul Jardetzky pointed a camera at the pot in 1991. Jardetzky wrote the program for the camera, and Stafford-Fraser wrote the program for the screen. The image of the pot appeared on researchers’ screens about 3 times per minute. This let them check the pot before leaving their desks [1].
In November 1993, this camera connected to the web. A new group of researchers used the university’s first web server to show the pot’s image to the world. University records call this the first webcam. This is the university’s own description [2][3]. The camera was turned off on August 22, 2001. The original pot was later sold for 3,350 pounds to Spiegel Online in Germany [2].
Before webcams existed, how did people see camera images? The answer lies in closed systems.
2. How Early CCTV Kept Video Inside the Building
Closed-circuit television, or CCTV, connects a camera to a screen with a wire. It does not send radio waves. Because of this, the video only appears on the connected screen. Not just anyone can receive it, unlike a TV broadcast. In 1949, the American company Remington Rand sold the "Vericon." This is considered the first commercial CCTV system. It was designed by the CBS Laboratories. A key selling point was that it did not need government permission because it did not use radio waves [4].
While closed-circuit TV was tested in various places before 1949, the Vericon is considered the first commercial CCTV system. This means only the people standing in front of the screen connected by the wire could see the video. This limited group of viewers was about to change, starting in homes.
3. How a Nurse's Idea Let Her See Who Was at the Front Door
Marie Brown was a nurse with irregular work hours. Her husband, Albert, was an electronics engineer. They lived in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York City. In the 1960s, crime was rising there. Marie felt the police were slow to arrive. This fear motivated them to invent a way to check who was at the door without opening it [6].
The couple applied for a patent for a home security system on August 1, 1966. It was granted as US Patent 3,482,037 on December 2, 1969. The patent described a video camera that moved up and down at the entrance. It also had multiple peepholes. The video was sent to a screen in a distant room. Microphones on both sides of the door allowed people to talk. The system also included an electric lock and a wireless alarm to notify guards or police [5].
Later patent applications cited this invention more than 30 times. Different sources count this differently: Lemelson-MIT says 32, while Wikipedia says 38 as of July 2024 [6][7]. However, we cannot call this the "world’s first security camera." It was just one early home system. The viewer changed from a building employee to the homeowner. Next, the tools for viewing changed.
4. How Video Recorders and Networks Changed Video Surveillance
In the 1970s, video cassette recorders became available. This made it easy to record video, watch it later, or erase and reuse tapes. This helped video surveillance spread [4]. By the 1990s, digital multiplexers were developed. These devices allowed multiple cameras to record onto one machine at the same time. Methods like recording frames at intervals or only recording when motion was detected also became possible. This gave viewers more freedom in when they could watch.
Then, the place where you could watch changed. On September 17, 1996, the Swedish company Axis Communications announced the AXIS 200 (NetEye) in Atlanta, USA. According to the company, this was the world’s first network camera. It allowed images to be viewed in a web browser [8].
Axis explains that the idea came from a question during a trip to Tokyo by co-founder Martin Gren. A customer with old analog cameras asked if they could be connected to a network. Engineer Carl-Axel Alm used technology from a video conferencing prototype to make it work [8]. The idea of "viewing a camera on the web," seen with the coffee pot, became a product. Note that the claim of being "world’s first" is the manufacturer’s statement.
5. When Cameras First Appeared on City Streets
Street CCTV was used early on. The London Metropolitan Police installed CCTV in the city center between 1960 and 1965. In 1963, Munich used it to monitor traffic [4]. In September 1968, Olean, New York, installed CCTV cameras on a main shopping street for crime prevention. It is said to be the first city in the United States to do so [4].
In Japan, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department started using a street security camera system in Kabukicho, Shinjuku Ward, on February 27, 2002. They installed 46 dome cameras and 9 fixed cameras, for a total of 55. The video is sent to the Shinjuku Police Station and the Metropolitan Police Headquarters [9]. Here, the viewer is no longer just the homeowner. The system sends images to police stations and headquarters.
6. Looking for Cameras in Town and Asking Who Is Watching
When you walk through town with your family, look for cameras. Check shops, stations, and building entrances. When you find one, ask yourself: "Who is watching this video? Is it the building staff, the owner, or an organization like the police?"
Do not linger facing cameras or people, or take photos. Be careful not to block walkways or stop in the middle of paths. Stay aware of your surroundings.
For official information, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department explains their street security camera system on their website [9]. The Cambridge University Computer Laboratory page about the coffee pot is in English. It includes stories from the inventors themselves about what happened back then [1].