Alexander Bain (October 1811 – January 2, 1877), was a clockmaker who invented an electric clock, the electric printing telegraph and a facsimile machine.
Born in Watten, Caithness, Scotland, he was apprenticed to a clockmaker in Wick and moved eventually to Edinburgh and then to London.
His first patent was in January 1841 for the electric clock which contained an electromagnetic pendulum instead of weights. He went on to patent the facsimile machine in May 1843. His fax machine relied also on the movement of a pendulum. To begin with 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.
A pub in Wick, close to where Alexander Bain served his apprenticeship, is now named for the inventor.
