Benjamin Franklin's Inventions

Benjamin Franklin is a name that does not need much introduction since most of the people who have at least completed the elementary education would know who he was and the massive contributions that he has made towards the improvement of the lifestyle of people allover the world. He not only made scientific inventions but also functioned as a politician, publisher and statesman to improve the conditions of North America, in particular and the world, in general. He wads born on January 17th in the year 1706 and lived till the age of 84 and died on April 17th, 1790. His contributions are too much for a life of 84 years.

He is considered as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States who engaged himself in politics, philosophy, science and business. If there was somebody who imagines of a nation that would be like America, he was the one or rather the first one. Franklin’s curiosity showed the light of enlightenment to him and also the others. Here we will discuss about some of the inventions of Benjamin Franklin, if not all.

Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

There are a number of things that Franklin invented. Lets start with the one that was closest to the inventor’s heart.

Armonica - Franklin himself commented once that of all his inventions this is the one that gave him the greatest of satisfaction. So here we are discussing the Armonica, though let me tell you, this was "his own version" of the armonica that he invented after he went to a concert wherein the tunes were being played on wine glasses. Benjamin Franklin’s Armonica did not require water tuning; instead in his version to get the proper pitch, the glasses were blown in the right size and thickness that would produce the proper sound and the proper pitch. These glasses were attached to a spindle that could be turned by a foot-operated treadle. The glasses were place very close to each other, in fact sometimes fitted in to each other, which resulted in a very compact and small instrument that was easier to play as well as carry.

Bifocals -"Necessity is the mother of Invention"- said Plato and was proved by Benjamin Franklin when he invented the bifocal glasses that he did when he was getting old and was facing problems in seeing things that were close as well things that were at a distance. Since wearing two types of lenses alternatively was getting really troublesome, he wanted to devise something that would aid to see things at a distance as well as things that are closer. So he did manage to do that by placing the distance lens at the top and the lens up-close lens at the bottom, thus making a double spectacle out of two different lenses. Today we wear bifocals that are visibly much more acceptable and convenient since the two lenses are molded to form one lens on which the top part is for distance viewing and the bottom part is for close viewing.

Franklin Stove -Earlier fireplaces were used largely to keep the indoors warm but most of them produced more smoke than heat since the heat that they produced found an outlet in the chimney and as a result went out. The stoves at that time were made of iron in which fire crackled which not only resulted in smoke but also exposed the house, that were usually made of wood, to the danger of fire that had the potential to destroy the house completely. Therefore Franklin, I would say discovered a new way rather than inventing because this kind of stove was already invented around seven decades before Franklin thought about it. He developed the stove and introduced a hood like enclosure in the front of the stove and an air box in the rear. So now this new model used fuel efficiently and also produced more heat.

Benjamin Franklin never invented things for his own benefit, his inventions therefore are not patented because he just wanted people to make use of his of his invention and make their lives easier.