Inventor disheartened to get sick (4)

I believe the answer is:

bell

'inventor' is the definition.
(Alexander Graham Bell)

'disheartened to get sick' is the wordplay.
'disheartened' means to remove the middle letters.
'to get sick' becomes 'beill'.
'beill' with its middle removed is 'BELL'.

(Other definitions for bell that I've seen before include "''The ... Jar'' (Sylvia Plath)" , "pen name" , "See 23" , "The frigate Lutine's hangs in Lloyd's of London" , "Inventor - clanger" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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