Alexander Bain was born in Houstry, Caithness, Scotland back in 1811. He did not do well in school so his parents had him apprentice to a clockmaker in Wick. He moved to Edinburgh in 1837 where he worked as a journeyman in Clerkenwell. In 1840, he invented something that will forever place him in the history books.
He showed his invention to Charles Wheatstone who told him “Oh, I shouldn’t bother to develop these things any further!” trouble was he had already applied for a patent for the invention. Three months later Wheatstone demonstrated Alexander’s invention to the Royal Society, claiming it was his own invention. When Alexander presented the Royal Society with the evidence it caused Wheatstone to resign.
What you may not now about Alexander is that he invented the first electrical clock but he wasn’t finished. He went on to invent a method of automatic signaling using punched paper tape. Obtaining a speed of 282 words in 52 seconds. This was a vast improvement over the Morse Code as it could only obtain about 40 words per minute.
In the end, he lost most of his wealth in poor investments dying in near poverty in 1877, he was 65.
Until tomorrow give someone the free gift of a smile
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