Inventor of the electric clock and pioneer of the telegraph, Bain transformed early communications technology. His first patent was dated January 11, 1841, and was in the names of John Barwise, chronometer maker, and Alexander Bain, mechanist. It describes his electric clock which used a pendulum kept moving by electromagnetic impulses. Bain improved on this in later patents, including a proposal to derive the required electricity from an "earth battery", which consisted of plates of zinc and copper buried in the ground. Later he went on to invent and develop an early facsimile machine in 1843, eleven years before workable telephones. In 1846 Bain invented a method of chemical telegraph that beat out the mechanical telegraph by 240 words per minute.
Alexander
Bain
Male
Description
Electric Telegraph Company
Inventor of the electric clock and pioneer of telegraph
Date of Birth
1811-10-12
Date of Death
1877-01-02
