Nine Ingenious Inventions by Benjamin Franklin

 

Nine Ingenious Inventions by Benjamin Franklin 

 One of the Founding Fathers of the USA

Source:

Jonny Wilkes

Author's Title, BBC History Extra Magazine

May 11, 2024

If you ask a group of people today what the 18th-century polymath Benjamin Franklin should be most remembered for, chances are a variety of answers will emerge.

 

Was he primarily a man of letters, who became a successful printer, publisher, journalist, and author, with a unique wit and philosophical perspective?

Or perhaps he should be more celebrated as a revered statesman, for having served as a Founding Father and the first ambassador to France, a role that led to the Franco-American alliance, which proved integral to the American Revolution (1763–1783).

Such is his reputation that some people still (erroneously) refer to him as the president of the United States.

 

However, there will always be those who consider this titan of U.S. history first and foremost to be one of the leading scientists and inventors of his time.

Franklin's contributions were not only numerous and life changing, but he offered them as a gift.

 

He never patented anything, stating in his autobiography: "While we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad to have an opportunity of serving others by any invention of our own; and this we should do freely and generously."

 

Having retired from his business interests as an extremely wealthy man in his early 40s, Franklin began experimenting with electricity in 1746.

 

He altered our understanding of how it works; challenging the theory, that electricity should be treated as two fluids by proposing that it behaves as a single fluid that could be positively or negatively charged.

 

It was Franklin who first used the terms "positive," "negative," and "charge" in relation to electricity.

 

He pioneered the language itself surrounding the study, also establishing the electrical basis for terms like "battery" and "conductor."

The Kite

Of course, what truly made Franklin a world-famous scientist was his legendary kite experiment, despite the continuing uncertainty about whether it actually took place.

 

If we believe the accounts (including a letter from Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette), in June 1752 he set out to prove his theory that lightning was electrical in nature.

 

His method involved flying a kite in a thunderstorm, with a metal key attached.

 

This collected charge from the atmosphere, which was then conducted into a Leyden jar (discovered in the 1740s, a device for storing static electricity), thus confirming that Franklin was right.

 

While another scientist, the French physicist Thomas-François Dalibard, had conducted a similar test a month earlier, this one was based on Franklin's published notes.

 

Therefore, the American took the credit.

 

His ingenuity was not limited to devising scientific experiments, but also to creating solutions to mundane problems and improving existing technologies. Among his many passions and pursuits, Franklin also found time to develop a vast collection of new devices. Here are some of the most ingenious. Franklin's contributions were not only numerous and life changing, but he offered them as a gift. He never patented anything, stating in his autobiography: "While we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad to have an opportunity of serving others by any invention of our own; and this we should do freely and generously." Having retired from his business interests as an extremely wealthy man in his early 40s, Franklin began experimenting with electricity in 1746. He altered our understanding of how electricity works; challenging the theory, that electricity should be treated as two fluids by proposing that it behaves as a single fluid that could have a positive or negative charge.

 

It was Franklin who first used the terms "positive," "negative," and "charge" in relation to electricity. He promoted the very language surrounding the study, also establishing the electrical basis for terms like "battery" and "conductor."

 

The Kite

Of course, what truly made Franklin a world-famous scientist was his legendary kite experiment, despite the continuing uncertainty about whether it actually took place.

 

If accounts (including a letter from Franklin in the Pennsylvania Gazette) are to be believed, in June 1752 he set out to prove his theory that lightning was electrical in nature.

 

His method involved flying a kite in a thunderstorm, with a metal key attached.

 

This collected charge from the atmosphere, which was conducted into a Leyden jar (discovered in the 1740s, a device for storing static electricity), thus confirming that Franklin was right. Although another scientist, French physicist Thomas-François Dalibard, had conducted a similar test a month earlier, this one was based on Franklin's published notes.

 

Therefore, the American took the credit.

 

Ingenious Inventions

His ingenuity was not limited to devising scientific experiments, but also to creating solutions to mundane problems and improving existing technologies.

 

Among his many passions and occupations, Franklin also found time to develop a vast collection of new devices.

 

Here are some of the most ingenious.

1. Patios 

Franklin's experiments with electricity had a clear practical purpose: to prevent the fires and destruction that lightning could cause when striking wooden buildings.

 

His solution was a metal pole that could be fixed to the top of the building with a wire running to the ground to safely conduct electricity.

 

The usefulness of the lightning rod was immediately apparent, and it remains a vital addition to structures today.

 

Even King George III of the United Kingdom, who cursed Franklin's name when the American Revolutionary War broke out, had them installed at Buckingham

Palace. That said, he made the political decision to choose rounded lightning rods, as suggested by British scientists, instead of Franklin's pointed ones.

2. Swimming paddles, designed by Franklin, displayed at the Benjamin Franklin Museum

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Franklin's inventive mind began working at an early age.

 

By age 11, he was a strong swimmer and designed portable aids to help him go faster in the water.

 

They resembled an artist's paint palette and were oval-shaped pieces of wood with holes for his thumbs to increase the surface area of ​​his strokes.

 

He also experimented with flippers for his feet, though with less success.

Beyond his invention, Franklin did his best to popularize the pastime of swimming, championing its health benefits and genuinely considering becoming a swimming teacher.

 

3. Stove 

Produced according to Franklin's design. While traditional fireplaces consumed a lot of fuel and posed a risk of fire, the Franklin stove was more efficient, producing less smoke and fewer stray sparks. It consisted of a cast iron box set back from the chimney, with a hollow space at the back to allow more heat to circulate more quickly. Since its commercial release in 1742 and its refinement by fellow American David Rittenhouse in the 1780s, it set a new benchmark for indoor heating.

 

 

While living in London before the War of Independence, he bathed daily in the Thames.

 

He is now honoured in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

4.Urinary catheter

 

Franklin did not invent the original catheter (medically, a tube inserted into the urethra to allow urine to drain), but he did develop a much less painful version.

 

That in itself has earned him praise over the years for many sufferers.

 

It all began around 1752, when his older brother, John, developed kidney stones and needed regular catheter insertions.

At the time, these were solid tubes that caused significant pain.

 

Franklin set to work making something more flexible, resulting in a tube made of hinged sections joined by a local silversmith.

 

He hurriedly sent it to his brother with instructions on how to use it much less painfully.

5. Bifocals

Franklin-style glasses, 1720-1820.

Being nearsighted and farsighted in his old age, Franklin concluded that constantly changing his different pairs of glasses was a nuisance he could do without.

 

By cutting both types of lenses in half, he created a pair of glasses with the top half ideal for long-distance vision and the bottom half better suited for near reading.

 

In recent years, there has been some question as to whether he was the true inventor of bifocals or simply an early adopter, but he certainly made them a striking invention.

6. Long Arm

The device is similar to those used today to pick up trash without having to bend down.

Along with bifocals, the long arm helped Franklin indulge his love of reading in old age, when his health deteriorated in the 1780s.

 

The clue is in the name: it was a grasping device, made of a piece of wood with claw-like fingers at the end that could be manipulated by pulling a cord, making it easier to grab a book from the top shelf without having to climb a ladder.

7. To Keep Your Soup From Spilling.

This one, however, was one in which the soup couldn't be spilled.

Franklin wanted to put an end to accidents while sailing at sea, when the ship pitched in all directions, so he devised a simple yet elegant solution.

His design had the usual bowl in the center, but it was surrounded by smaller containers around the rim.

When something caused the soup to spill, it would end up in one of those mini bowls instead of falling onto the table.

8. Musician Dean Shostak during one of his Crystal Concerts, playing a glass harmonica, invented by Franklin in 1761.

Have you heard that unearthly sound made by rubbing a moistened finger over the rim of a wine glass?

 

That inspired Franklin's musical instrument, the harmonica.

Manufactured around 1761, it consisted of 37 glass bowls aligned on a rotating axis, which the player turned using a pedal while keeping their fingers lubricated for playing.

 

Each bowl was crafted to exact specifications by London-based glassblower Charles James to produce different notes without the need for liquid inside.

 

The instrument caused a stir on the European music scene, with names like Mozart and Beethoven composing pieces to take full advantage of its ethereal sound.

 

Franklin would later say, "Of all my inventions, the glass armonica is the one that has given me the greatest personal satisfaction."

With affection,

Ruben