From the early 1960’s, a young boy invents various devices in his home to solve mysteries. He can’t wake up, so he invents an alarm clock with string attached to his toe – alarm goes off, string winds up and tugs his toe. Does he invent a periscope to spy on a suspicious neighbor?
Name might have been Henry (perhaps with alliterative last name). Several books were published with his adventures, thin young (young?) adult fiction.
This sounds like the Alvin Fernald series (http://www.purplehousepress.com/alvin.htm) with the alarm clock appearing in “The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald”
Maybe the Alvin Fernald books, by Clifford Hicks?
This sounds similar to the Danny Dunn series, but the invention in those book tended to be more fantastic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Dunn
This is almost certainly The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald by Clifford B. Hicks (1920-2010), pub. 1960. There are at least two cover illustrations – and at least nine sequels! The illustrator, Charles Geer, also illustrated The Mad Scientists’ Club. You can find plenty of reader reviews. Here’s a great article on it that also makes an amusing criticism of Encyclopedia Brown : https://www.mysteryscenemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3145:the-magnificent-brain-of-alvin-fernald-clifford-b-hicks-charming-kid-crime-solver&catid=20:articles&Itemid=191
Excerpt: “Lest any skeptic think that only the nostalgia of baby boomers keeps the series alive, the library tells a different story. Children’s Librarian Kelli Phelan of McKinney, Texas, says that in the competitive world of preteen and juvenile fiction, the Fernald series remains in demand. Any book that’s checked out two or three times a year is great, she says, and the Fernald books do better than that. ‘Any book that lets a kid use his imagination is going to be popular, as is any book that lets the kids be the hero, because it makes them feel empowered,’ she says.”
I forgot about Tom Swift! Could he be the boy inventor you are looking for?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
Could these be the Bobby Brewster books by H.E. Todd? They are as much about the objects themselves doing magical things as about Bobby being inventive; but they are from the right time, and there was definitely one story about an alarm clock.
Check this series out, it’s probably it.
The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald Paperback –
by Clifford B. Hicks (Author), Charles Geer (Illustrator)
Becca on June 2nd nailed it with the Danny Dunn series by Jay Marshall. I read several of the older ones in the downtown CPL ref lib. What a flow of great memories, complete with science, dueling male and female problem-solvers, etc. Thanks to all who weighed in.