Clock

Wondering who invented the Potato Clock? Well, the potato clock was invented by William A. Borst in the year 1983.

How Was the Potato Clock Invented?

The invention of potato clock was accidental, as William was providing assistance to his step daughter on a school project, when it occurred to him that he had once seen a demonstration in physics during his high school, wherein his teacher had created a battery by inserting into a potato, two metal probes.

Soon after he had setup the necessary equipment to give life to the demonstration, he started looking for any small electrical device which could be powered up by using the battery. His eyes then suddenly fell upon a digital clock module lying in his workshop which could be operated using a very small magnitude of current but the voltage difference needed to operate it was way more than what the potato battery could supply. To tackle this he connected spuds in series to increase the voltage by series configuration. This was a good technique which made the digital clock operational.

About the Inventor: William A. Borst

William A. Borst, at that time was a partnered businessman in an auto-mechanical repairing business. He was curious then to find out how long this battery may be able to run for, and thus he setup a small experiment at his workplace. When a customer, who happened to work at a newspaper office came across the setup and was amused at this little invention of Borst’s, reported it at his newspaper office, Borst became famous overnight and received a lot of attention soon after he invented the potato clock.