1810-1877

Scottish inventor who designed the first method for transmitting images, or facsimile. Bain worked as a clockmaker in London, where in 1845 he invented and was granted a British patent for his electric clock. That same year he patented a method for using electricity to control the operation of steam railway engines with the use of a steam valve. His most famous invention was the forerunner of the fax machine, a chemical telegraph that could be used to transmit text and images over distances.