Silent Waker Upper  
"Each morning a jerk on his big toe woke up Alvin Fernald.  Alvin was a Great Inventor, and the string was one of his inventions.  It ran to an alarm clock which he had bolted to the foot of his bed.  He had removed the alarm bell so it wouldn't wake his parents.  When the alarm went off each morning it wound up a string which was tied to his big toe.  Sometimes the toe became purple before he could turn off the alarm, but otherwise the Silent Waker Upper worked fine."