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Lot Essay
COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Charles K. Aked, Alexander Bain, The Father of Electrical Horology, Antiquarian Horology, december, 1974, pp. 51-63
Alexander Bain was born in October 1810 in a small croft outside the village of Watton in Caithness, he had a twin sister who died in infancy but had five other sisters and six brothers!
Bain was a surprisingly poor pupil, regarded as the dunce of the class and upon showing some mechanical aptitude was secured an apprenticeship with a John Sellar, watchmaker in Wick. In an autobiographical pamphlet written in 1866 Bain recounts attending a lecture at the Masonic Hall in Thurso, the title of the lecture was 'Heat, Sound and Electricity'. This was his first introduction to electricity and immediately after he began to experiment with a primitive electric telegraph using an old coil of wire bought in Thurso and fastened to the jaw bones of animals stuck in the ground to serve as insulators, with a magnetic needle to indicate when current flowed in the line.
Besotted with the whole concept of electricity Bain broke off his apprenticeship in about 1831 and set off for Edinburgh and was in London by 1837 where at the age of twenty-six he worked in Clerkenwell and attended lectures on electrical subjects at the Adelaide Gallery and Polytechnic Institution.
By 1840 Bain had experimented on applying electricity to clocks, he had given much thought to ideas for an electric telegraph, something Bain fully realised could bring great wealth. Unfortunately for Bain he had very little money and in his persuit to gain sponsorship he fell into the unscrupulous hands of Professor Charles Wheatstone who himself had been working on very similar projects. Wheatstone paid Bain to make a model of his invention for an electric clock but then stole the idea and introduced it as his own invention in a lecture to the Royal Society. Bain was furious but was still only a lowly clockmaker and Wheatstone a pre-eminent scientist, he could do nothing but bide his time. Soon after Bain found honest backing in the form of John Barwise and continued with his experiments culminating in the first ever electrical clock patent which was given the Royal seal on 10th July 1841.
Bain subsequently found an even better sponsor and long lasting friend in the form of John Finlaison who lent Bain £3,000 to set up a telegraph line of some 46 miles between two railway stations. In 1843 he took out patent No. 9745 far a clock with an electromagnetic pendulum driven by the interaction of a solenoid and a consequent pole permanent magnet and drawing current from an earth battery which he had devised, consisting of a simple cell formed by a zinc plate and a copper plate or a mass of carbon buried in moist soil. This was the patent upon which the present clock is closely based, its one and a quarter second long pendulum was probably to achieve greater accuracy and it is thought that the present example was built as a master clock for a railway (possibly Newcastle).
Bain and Wheatstone continued to clash at every inventive step until finally in 1846 the Committee of the House of Lords was forced to decide which system to adopt and an enquiry was set up. Bain was totally vindicated and Wheatstone and his partner Cooke had to offer considerable sums of money to use Bain's rightful patent, in addition Bain was to receive half the profits of the company, each dial would be engraved The Electrical Telegraph Company but it would also have to be engraved A. Bain - Inventor. Wheatstone resigned and soon afterwards the actual patents were bought out but Bain reamined its managing director.
An electric wall regulator in the Royal Scottish Museum has a virtually identical case to the present example except the dial is signed the Electric Telegraph Co. with the compulsory tiny engraving A. Bain Invenit. That clock was indeed intended for use in the railway system; it is possible that the present clock, with its full Bain signature was made before the final confrontation with Wheatstone in 1846.
The company was not a success and Bain, having set himself up in an expensive shop in 43 Old Bond Street only sold a pitiful forty clocks which would account for their great rarity today. In 1856 Bain's wife, Matilda died and soon afterwards Bain tried to make his fortune in America. He went primarily to contest a patent taken out by Morse for an electrical telegraph system, it was a long, bitter and expensive process and he failed miserably. He returned to Britain and in 1872 he was found to be working in an optician's shop in Glasgow believed to be that of White's, who collaborated with Lord Kelvin. His health declined but he was given a state pension of £80 per annum and Lord White kindly petitioned the Royal Society who granted £150. By 1876 Bain was admitted to Broomhill Home for the Incurables (still standing today) where he died on 2 January 1887.
Charles K. Aked, Alexander Bain, The Father of Electrical Horology, Antiquarian Horology, december, 1974, pp. 51-63
Alexander Bain was born in October 1810 in a small croft outside the village of Watton in Caithness, he had a twin sister who died in infancy but had five other sisters and six brothers!
Bain was a surprisingly poor pupil, regarded as the dunce of the class and upon showing some mechanical aptitude was secured an apprenticeship with a John Sellar, watchmaker in Wick. In an autobiographical pamphlet written in 1866 Bain recounts attending a lecture at the Masonic Hall in Thurso, the title of the lecture was 'Heat, Sound and Electricity'. This was his first introduction to electricity and immediately after he began to experiment with a primitive electric telegraph using an old coil of wire bought in Thurso and fastened to the jaw bones of animals stuck in the ground to serve as insulators, with a magnetic needle to indicate when current flowed in the line.
Besotted with the whole concept of electricity Bain broke off his apprenticeship in about 1831 and set off for Edinburgh and was in London by 1837 where at the age of twenty-six he worked in Clerkenwell and attended lectures on electrical subjects at the Adelaide Gallery and Polytechnic Institution.
By 1840 Bain had experimented on applying electricity to clocks, he had given much thought to ideas for an electric telegraph, something Bain fully realised could bring great wealth. Unfortunately for Bain he had very little money and in his persuit to gain sponsorship he fell into the unscrupulous hands of Professor Charles Wheatstone who himself had been working on very similar projects. Wheatstone paid Bain to make a model of his invention for an electric clock but then stole the idea and introduced it as his own invention in a lecture to the Royal Society. Bain was furious but was still only a lowly clockmaker and Wheatstone a pre-eminent scientist, he could do nothing but bide his time. Soon after Bain found honest backing in the form of John Barwise and continued with his experiments culminating in the first ever electrical clock patent which was given the Royal seal on 10th July 1841.
Bain subsequently found an even better sponsor and long lasting friend in the form of John Finlaison who lent Bain £3,000 to set up a telegraph line of some 46 miles between two railway stations. In 1843 he took out patent No. 9745 far a clock with an electromagnetic pendulum driven by the interaction of a solenoid and a consequent pole permanent magnet and drawing current from an earth battery which he had devised, consisting of a simple cell formed by a zinc plate and a copper plate or a mass of carbon buried in moist soil. This was the patent upon which the present clock is closely based, its one and a quarter second long pendulum was probably to achieve greater accuracy and it is thought that the present example was built as a master clock for a railway (possibly Newcastle).
Bain and Wheatstone continued to clash at every inventive step until finally in 1846 the Committee of the House of Lords was forced to decide which system to adopt and an enquiry was set up. Bain was totally vindicated and Wheatstone and his partner Cooke had to offer considerable sums of money to use Bain's rightful patent, in addition Bain was to receive half the profits of the company, each dial would be engraved The Electrical Telegraph Company but it would also have to be engraved A. Bain - Inventor. Wheatstone resigned and soon afterwards the actual patents were bought out but Bain reamined its managing director.
An electric wall regulator in the Royal Scottish Museum has a virtually identical case to the present example except the dial is signed the Electric Telegraph Co. with the compulsory tiny engraving A. Bain Invenit. That clock was indeed intended for use in the railway system; it is possible that the present clock, with its full Bain signature was made before the final confrontation with Wheatstone in 1846.
The company was not a success and Bain, having set himself up in an expensive shop in 43 Old Bond Street only sold a pitiful forty clocks which would account for their great rarity today. In 1856 Bain's wife, Matilda died and soon afterwards Bain tried to make his fortune in America. He went primarily to contest a patent taken out by Morse for an electrical telegraph system, it was a long, bitter and expensive process and he failed miserably. He returned to Britain and in 1872 he was found to be working in an optician's shop in Glasgow believed to be that of White's, who collaborated with Lord Kelvin. His health declined but he was given a state pension of £80 per annum and Lord White kindly petitioned the Royal Society who granted £150. By 1876 Bain was admitted to Broomhill Home for the Incurables (still standing today) where he died on 2 January 1887.