SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 - You saw the weapon in one episode, but it’s a good bet you remember it. Today we remember the prop inventor who designed it.

Reuben Klamer, the inventor of the phaser rifle seen in the Star Trek: The Original Series second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” has died at the age of 99. Gizmodo.com shared the news last week after Klamer’s death on Tuesday, September 14th.

Klamer was born in Canton, Ohio (yes, the in-universe alternate site for the Millenium Gate in the Star Trek: Voyager season five episode, “11:59”). He is best known as the inventor of toy company Milton Bradley’s The Game of Life, among hundreds of other toys and games. Klamer also invented television props, including the well-known gun for The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as well as the phaser rifle. Gene Roddenberry was impressed with the U.N.C.L.E. weapon and sought out Klamer to oversee the design and production of the phaser rifle – which Klamer has said he only had two weeks to do. Roddenberry also approached Klamer after the show was picked up about continuing to produce props for Star Trek, but no further arrangements were made. 

The phaser rifle was auctioned in 2013, and it sold for $231,000.

Head over to Gizmodo.com for more on Reuben Klamer, and please join us in offering our condolences to his friends and family.