Great inventor born in 1847 lives! (4)
I believe the answer is:
bell
'great inventor' is the definition.
'Bell' can be an answer for 'inventor' (Alexander Graham Bell). I am not sure about the 'great' bit.
'born in 1847 lives' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'born' could be 'b' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's birth) and 'b' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ell' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bell that I've seen before include "Ringing device" , "It's struck by a hammer or clapper" , "ring" , "Metal instrument" , "See 23" .)