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Alexander Bain (October 1811 – January 2, 1877), was a Scottish instrument inventor, technician, and clockmaker. He invented the electric clock, the electric printing telegraph, and the first facsimile machine (fax machine). Bain installed the railway telegraph lines between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Bain was born in Watten, Caithness, Scotland. Bain's father was a crofter. Bain had a twin sister, Margaret, and, in total, he had six sisters and six brothers. Bain did not excel in school. He was apprenticed in the art of clockmaking to a clockmaker in Wick and moved eventually to Edinburgh and then in 1837 to London (Clerkenwell). Bain frequented the lectures at the Polytechnic Institution and the Adelaide Gallery. Bain later constructed his own workshop for building instruments which was at Hanover Street.

His first patent was in October 1840 for the first electric clock, followed by a patent in January 1841 for one with a pendulum kept in motion by electromagnetic impulses. He went on to design a number of electric clocks and the earth battery to supply them with a reasonably stable and constant current of low electromotive force (or voltage). He also developed the automatic telegraph, electrical timepieces, and insulation for electric cables, an electric fire alarm, inkstands, ink holders, and a form of ship's log.

Bain's ideas on electrical horology were incorporated in five UK patents taken out during the period 1841 to 1852, and these also include much of his work on telegraphy. In 1842, he transmitted a first image over a wire and went on to patent the facsimile machine in May 1843. His fax machine relied also on the movement of a pendulum. Initially Bain made a considerable sum from his inventions but, due to poor investments, he was eventually supported only by his Civil List pension of £80 per year.

Bain was buried in the Old Aisle Cemetery, Kirkintilloch. It was restored in 1959. The headstone had a fallacious date of death (1876) which was later corrected to 1877. A pub in Wick, close to where Alexander Bain served his apprenticeship, is now named after the inventor. Also, as a tribute to his inventions, the main BT building in Glasgow is named Alexander Bain House. One of the earliest examples of an electrically impulsed pendulum clock is on display at the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum.

Published works

• Bain, A, "A Short History of the Electric Clocks". London: Chapman and Hall, 1852
• Bain A, "Autobiography"London: Longmans, Green, 1904.

Other

• Finlaison, John, "An account of some remarkable applications of the electric fluid to the useful arts, by Mr. Alexander Bain; with a vindication of his claim to be the first inventor of the electro-magnetic printing telegraph, and also of the electro-magnetic clock". London, Chapman and Hall, 1843. LCCN 08003694
• Hackmann, W. D., "Alexander Bain's Short History of the Electric Clock (1852)" London: Turner & Devereux 1973.
• Burns, R. W., Engineering Science and Education Journal, Vol 2, No2, April 1993.
• Aked, C. K., "Alexander Bain. The father of electric horology". Antiquarian Horology December, 1974.
• Hope-Jones, F', "Electrical Timekeeping". London: NAG Press, 1940.
• Kieve J, "The Electric Telegraph. A Social and Economic History". Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles, 1973.
• "Guest editorial". Perception, 2001, volume 30, pages 777 - 783 DOI 10.1068/p3007ed (ed., cover the two Bains)

Patents

• U.S. Patent 006,837 

Websites

• Eugenii Fatz, "Alexander Bain". The history of electrochemistry, electricity and electronics; Biosensors & Bioelectronics.
• "Alexander Bain : 1811 - 1877"". Adventures in Cybersound.
• "Significant Scots: Alexander Bain". electricscotland.com.
• "The 1800s: Bain - first commercial fax". DigiCam History Dot Com.
• "Alexander Bain 1811-1877". visitdunkeld.com.
• F. W. Chesson, "Secret Wires : Open Origins of Secret Wires (Telegraphic History)". Waterbury, CT.
• "BAIN - Alexander". The Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2006.
• "Alexander Bain & the Fax Machine". sciencenet.org.uk, bss. Broken Link
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