Alexander Bain (inventor)

Alexander Bain ( born October 12, 1811 in Watten, Caithness; † 2 January 1877 in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire ) was a Scottish watchmaker and inventor. Alexander Bain in 1841 built the first electric clock and announced in 1843 the copying telegraph - the first fax machine - for a patent. To this end, he developed the fundamentals of electronic image decomposition and thus the basis for fax and television.

• Bain receives 1841 with John Barwise a patent for an electric clock
• 1843 - Patent for a fax machine ( the first commercial telefax service between Paris and Lyon in 1865 is set ( " pantélégraphes "); newspapers from 1906 use the system to transfer photos)
• 1846 - Patent for a chemical telegraph. Since the Morse telegraph signal recording with a mechanically agitated pin is relatively slow (about 40 words per minute), Bain makes the electric current of the transmission signal directly act on a continuous, soaked with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and potassium ferrocyanide paper strip, where he had a blue marker leaves. He increases the transmission speed considerably. In a demonstration, the system transfers 282 words in 52 seconds. Since such a speed can not be achieved with manual signal input, Bain used for paper tape, while Samuel Morse judicial action because he sees violated its patents thereby.
• 1849 - Patent for a system for recording telegraph messages on a paper disc