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Colt

Nov 12, 2025

History Summary of Lessons 46-49

This week I learned about four inventions. They are the electric clock, blueprints, stapler, and the grain elevator. These were invented around the 1840s. The inventions I will talk about are really cool!

An electric clock is a clock that needs electricity to be able to work. It was invented by Alexander Bain in 1840. Bain was born in Scotland in 1811. He was apprenticed a clock maker, and then moved to London to sell his services. He learned of electromagnetism and was able to invent the electric clock in 1840. The problems he solved was you had to restart the old clock, once a day! There was a man who tried to swindle Bain out of his machine, and his name was Livingstone. He heard about this lovely invention, and tried to steal his idea to patent it. Luckily, Bain had already put a patent on it, and Livingstone’s reputation was shattered.

The blueprint is a piece of paper used to map out what a design looks like. It was invented by John Herschel in 1842. John was born in England in 1792. He published a book on science, and escaped South Africa. He then published drawings on plants, and got the idea to invent the blueprint from his pictures. Blueprints are a key part in the process of building that saves time and energy.

The stapler is a tool used to connect pages together by using staples to punch through pages. It was invented by Samuel Slocum in 1841. He was born in Rhode island, in 1792, and learned carpentry to move to London to make pins. He invented a machine to manufacture pins. He invented the stapler in 1841 to create a better solution.

The grain elevator is a machine that elevates grain into silos. It was invented by Joseph Dart in 1842. He was born in Connecticut in 1799 and started by trading furs with the traveling Indians. He then moved to buffalo I live in Rochester which is very close to buffalo, to trade grain. He partnered with Robert Dunbar to invent the grain elevator. It saved money time and energy.

These inventions were very helpful to human kind’s cause. The electric clock and stapler were great examples of improvement on already existing technology. The blueprints and grain elevator were great examples of problems that were solved. My favorite invention that I learned about was the blueprint because I’m a big fan of building!