1.0 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1: Picture of Alexander Bain

Born in Aberdeen on the October, 1811, Professor Alexander Bain was in the sixty-

sixth year of his age when he died, at Ferryhill Lodge, in his native city, on the January 1877

(William, 1904). George, his father, was a veteran soldier and a weaver. In fact, Alexander

Bain left school at eleven years old; he got a weaver job hence the description of him as

Weevir. Alexander Bain also attended lectures held in the Aberdeen Public Library and the

Mechanic’s Institute of Aberdeen. In 1839, he enrolled in Marischal College and met

Professor John Cruickshank, a professor of mathematics who was of great influence to

Alexander Bain. He also met Thomas Clark, a professor of chemistry, and William Knight

who taught Natural Philosophy (Anonymous, 2015)

Nearing the completion of his degree as an undergraduate, he associated with the

Westminster Review as a contributor and this was where his article The Electrotype and the

Daguerrotype was published. At around the same time, his connection to John Stuart Mill

was founded and developed into a friendship that lasted a lifetime. During his college studies

and career, he stood out for his prowess in mental philosophy, physics and mathematics. He

was so good that he even graduated with the highest honors.

Alexander Bain substituted for the regular professor in 1841 and taught Moral

Philosophy. The professor then was ill and unable to continue with his academic work. Bain

was on the job for three terms while continuing with his article contributions to the

Westminster while helping John Stuart Mill make revisions on his Systems of Logic

manuscript (William, 1904).

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2.0 DISCUSSION

2.1 Achievement

Alexander Bain, a Scottish clock and instrument maker, invented the first electrical

clock, patented the basics of facsimile, developed chemical telegraph receivers and punch-

tapes to speed up telegraph transmission. He was an all-round inventor and technician who

later installed the first telegraph lines alongside the railway between Edinburgh and Glasgow.

2.2 Chronology

He began inventing electrical devices, including various types of automatic telegraph,

electric clock, earth battery, insulation for electric cables and an electric fire alarm. He took

out patents on all these and also on inkstands, ink holders and a ship's log.

Bains first patent is dated January 11th, 1841, and is in the name of John Barwise,

chronometer maker, and Alexander Bain, mechanist, Wigmore Street. It describes his electric

clock in which there is an electro-magnetic pendulum, and the electric current is employed to

keep it going instead of springs or weights. He improved on this idea in following patents,

and also proposed to derive the motive electricity from an 'earth battery,' by burying plates of

zinc and copper in the ground.

Figure 2: Electric clock Figure 3: Plates of zinc and copper in the ground

The patent for the fax machine was granted on 27 May 1843. He was apprenticed to a

clockmaker in Wick where he also invented the first electric clock which was powered by an

electromagnet propelling a pendulum.

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In 1846 Alexander Bain greatly improved the speed of telegraph transmission by

using punched paper tape to send messages. The perforated tape is nicknamed 'ticker tape'

because of the ticking sound the telegraph made. This procedure will speed up the

transmission of information very much. Until well into the 20th century companies will use

this method for transmitting information. These perforated tapes, or punch tapes, will also be

adopted for the output of computer data. It will be like this for decades to come, because the

teletype (telex) terminals, accept only this kind of tape and are the sole way to communicate

with computers.

On December 12, 1846, Bain, who was staying in Edinburgh at that time, patented his

greatest invention, the chemical telegraph which bears his name. He recognised that the

Morse and other telegraph instruments in use were comparatively slow in speed, owing to the

mechanical inertia of the parts and he saw that if the signal currents were made to pass

through a band of travelling paper soaked in a solution which would decompose under their

action, and leave a legible mark, a very high speed could be obtained. This process was later

modified to create the first facsimile.

The chemical he employed to saturate the paper was a solution of nitrate of ammonia

and prostate of potash, which left a blue stain on being decomposed by the current from an

iron contact or stylus. The signals were the short and long or 'dots' and 'dashes' of the Morse

code. The speed of marking was so great that hand signalling could not keep up with it, and

Bain devised a plan of automatic signalling by means of a running band of paper on which

the signals of the message were represented by holes punched through it. Obviously if this

tape were passed between the contacts of a signalling key the current would merely flow

when the perforations allowed the contacts of the key to touch. This principle was afterwards

applied by Wheatstone in the construction of his automatic sender.

Bain developed two types of chemical recorders. One was the tape method for general

use, the other one is for major terminals, consisted of a treated paper disk, rotating on a

phonograph-like brass plate, the recording stylus moving out from the centre. This system

seemed immune from infringement upon Morse's patents and Bain received his own patent in

1849. He also perfected his own code for representing letters and numbers.

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The chemical telegraph was tried between Paris and Lille before a committee of the

Institute and the Legislative Assembly. The speed of signalling attained was 282 words in

fifty-two seconds, a marvellous advance on the Morse electro-magnetic instrument, which

only gave about forty words a minute. In the hands of Edison the neglected method of Bain

was seen by Sir William Thomson in the Centennial Exhibition, Philadelphia, recording at

the rate of 1057 words in fifty-seven seconds. In England the telegraph of Bain was used on

the lines of the old Electric Telegraph Company to a limited extent, and in America about the

year 1850 it was taken up by the energetic Mr. Henry O'Reilly, and widely introduced. But it

incurred the hostility of Morse, who obtained an injunction against it on the slender ground

that the running paper and alphabet used were covered by his patent.

In 1847 Bain devised an automatic method of playing on wind instruments by moving

a band of perforated paper which controlled the supply of air to the pipes; and likewise

proposed to play a number of keyed instruments at a distance by means of the electric

current. Both of these plans are still in operation.

He patented the fax machine on his move to London. Alexander Bain's fax machine

works when transmitter scanned a flat metal surface using a stylus mounted on a pendulum.

The stylus picked up images from the metal surface. An amateur clock maker, Alexander

Bain combined parts from clock mechanisms together with telegraph machines to invent his

fax machine (Mary,2015). The first commercial fax service was opened between Paris and

Lyon in 1865 and they were called pantelegraph. Faxes really came into their own in 1906

when they found their first major use, to transmit photos for newspapers.

Figure 4: Bain's improved facsimile

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3.0 CONCLUSION

Alexander Bain was a renowned inventor and clockmaker, who invented many

instruments including the electric clock, chemical telegraph receivers, punch-tapes and the

facsimile machine, commonly known as the ‘fax machine’. His other inventions include an

earth battery, insulation for electric cables, an electric fire alarm, inkstands, ink holders and a

ship’s log. He owned the patents of all of his inventions. This inventor from Scotland also

installed the railway telegraph lines between Glasgow and Edinburgh. His invention of

electric clocks can be observed in the National Maritime Museum of London, the London

Science Museum, the Royal Scottish Museum and the Deutsches Uhrenmuseum. His

improved version of fax service was opened between Paris and Lyon. This service was called

pantelegraph. During his work on chemical telegraph, he developed two types of chemical

recorders. One of these methods was the tape method which was used for general purpose.

He developed the other method for major terminals. By 1859 his chemical telegraph was used

only on the Boston-Montreal line in America (Anonymous a,2015)

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4.0 REFERENCES

William L. Davidson, Jan 1904, Professor Bain, Mind, Vol. 13, No. 49, page 151–

155

Anonymous, 2015, Alexander Bain, Famous Scientists: The Art of Genius, Retrieved

from: http://www.famousscientists.org/alexander-bain/, [Date Accessed: 6 March

2015]

Marry Bellis, 2015, History of the Fax Machine & Alexander Bain, Retrieved from:

http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/fax_machine.htm [Date Accessed 7

March 2015]

Anonymous a, 2015, Alexander Bain Biography, Retrieved from:

http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/alexander-bain-3292.php, [Date Accessed:

6 March 2015]

Anonymous, Alexander Bain Undiscovered Scotland: The Ultimate Online Guide,

Retrieved from:

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/alexanderbain.htm, [Date

Accessed: 6 March 2015]

First Foot.com, 2015, Alexander Bain, Retrieved from:

http://www.firstfoot.com/Great%20Scot/bain.htm, [Date Accessed: 7 March 2015]

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