Draft:Joseph Meshi

Joseph Meshi (September 5, 1944 – March 24, 2020) was the inventor of the first digital chess clock.

The first digital chess clock and commercially available digital chess clock was invented and patented in 1975 by Joseph Meshi and Jeffrey R. Ponsor, named the Micromate-80. Only a single unit was produced and tested by chess players in multiple tournaments.





In 1978, a significantly improved version, the Micromate-180, was developed, coinciding with Meshi's MBA thesis, "Demand Analysis for a New Product (The Digital Chess Clock)," at San Diego State University. During this period, Meshi and Ponsor continued to advance digital gaming technology.

The Micromate-180 introduced a new timing method where each player received a fixed period at the start of the game, with additional time added after each move.

Meshi termed this "Accumulation," a key feature of his patented Micromate-180 (US Patent 4,247,925, 1978). This concept became central to Bobby Fischer's chess clock, patented ten years later. The timing method, initially described and named by Meshi, is also known as "increment," "bonus," or "Fischer."

Joseph Meshi was an Aerospace and Mechanical Engineer and Business Executive. Early in his career as a Business Executive he was co-founder and vice president of Conographic Corporation (along with Luis Villalobos (investor) and founder of Tech Coast Angels) and managed a joint venture between Hughes Aircraft and Conographic Corporation (which at the time was among the ten largest computer graphics system vendors in the US with revenues of $40 Million.

He was also involved with AM Documentor (A Division of AM International-a Fortune 500 Company) where he was Vice President of Marketing. This division became the worlds largest supplier of Point-of-Sale (POS) and Retail automation systems to the food service and hospitality markets. He spearheaded the company’s expansion into Canada & Europe. There he also shared internation-al awards for advertising excellence. His Market Research Team was considered the best at AM International and used as a model for other divisions.

In the early 1980’s he became President & CEO of Micro General Corporation as well as a Board Member. Micro General became the then largest provider of electronic postal scales to the US Postal Service and eventually reached sales of $150 Million. Micro General is currently on NASDAQ and a part of Fidelity National Financial.

Later in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s he joined Gradco Systems as a Director. Gradco acquired Conographic Corporation. At the time Gradco was the world’s largest vendor of paper feeders and sorters for copiers and printers with annual sales of more than $200 Million. And in the 1990’s he was Executive Vice President, COO, CMO & CFO and Board Member of Genovation Incorporated. He helped to grow Genovation in to a profitable multi-million dollar concern with long term partners such as IBM, Toshiba, Alps Electric, Lock-Heed Martin among others.

In 1972 he met his wife, Estera Meshi (nee’ Sapirstein) and they were married on August 27, 1972. They remained married for over 47 years. His daughter Alexis was born in 1973 and his son Dar in 1975. He moved to Newport Beach, California in the late 1970’s and lived there almost entirely until his passing. He loved living on Lido Isle, Newport Beach where he lived for almost 30 years.