Marie Van Brittan was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York, the only child of African-American parents. She worked as a nurse, and married Albert L. Brown, an electronics technician.
As a nurse, Marie worked long hours and would return home late at night. Albert also had irregular hours, so Marie was often alone at night. At the time, their Jamaica, Queens neighborhood was a high-crime neighborhood with delayed police response times. Marie was determined to figure out a way to see who was at her door if she heard knocking when she was alone at night.
With Albert’s assistance, in 1966, Marie invented a security system that consisted of four peepholes, a sliding camera, television monitors, and two-way microphones. These components created a closed-circuit television system for surveillance abbreviated as “CCTV.” With multiple peepholes, the sliding camera was able to capture images of people who were different heights. The two-way microphones allowed Brown to communicate with the person outside. Her remote could also unlock the door at a safer distance. Finally, Marie had implemented an emergency panic button that would send an alarm to police or security.
The Browns submitted a patent application for the system on August 1, 1996. U.S. Patent No. 3,482,037 was granted on December 2, 1969. Four days later, The New York Times reported on the invention in the weekly patents report and included a photo of the Browns. Marie was quoted in the report, explaining that with her invention, “a woman alone could set off an alarm immediately by pressing a button, or if the system were installed in a doctor’s office, it might prevent holdups by drug addicts.”
The majority of the components of Marie’s system were well known. Only a month before her patent was granted, another patent covered a wired system with audio, video, and lock control passed on a single wire. Another patent protected a radio press-button alarm sending a coded signal to alert nearby receivers. Further, AT&T had promoted experimental video for telephony at the 1939 World’s Fair, and by the mid 1960s, public videophone booths had been set up in Grand Central Terminal. The novelty of the Browns’ patent was in the claimed combination of all of the components of the system.
Domestic entryway CCTV was limited by cost, with a price tag of about $1000 for a system. Most owners of single dwellings could not afford such a system. However, many new apartment buildings installed CCTV systems due to the shared cost of the equipment to secure a single entryway that was offset by the increased value to the apartments, increased rent, and savings on door staff.
The Browns tried to interest manufacturers and home builds, but were unable to gain traction due to the high costs of the equipment. However, the two-way communication and surveillance features of the Browns’ invention have persisted through to modern security systems. In addition to small businesses, small offices, single-family homes, and multi-unit dwellings, aspects of the Browns’ invention have inspired security for office buildings, banks, hotels, and casinos.
Marie and Albert had two children, Norma and Albert Jr. Norma became a nurse and an inventor.
Marie received an award from the National Scientists Committee. She died in 1999 at the age of 76.