What Did Benjamin Franklin Create? More Than Just Bifocals

In addition to managing a print shop, designing the U.S. postal system, establishing America's first lending library, and contributing to the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin found time to invent a host of devices. Today, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania continues to inspire curious minds and honor his remarkable innovations.

Franklin regarded his inventions as gifts to society and never sought to patent any of them. "As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously," he wrote in his autobiography. So, what did Benjamin Franklin invent?

Franklin's inventions are all examples of practicality. While it's one thing for a team of engineers to create the Segway, it’s another for an elderly man in the 18th century to come up with the idea of adding stairs to a library chair. Many of the items on this list probably had fellow colonists slapping their foreheads and saying, "Why didn’t I think of that?"

10. Urinary Catheter

While it may not be the most impressive item on Franklin’s resume, his improvement of the urinary catheter was certainly a much-needed relief for many Americans struggling with bladder issues.

At the time, a catheter was simply a thin metal tube inserted into the urethra to drain urine. These tubes were rigid, painful, and uncomfortable. Franklin’s older brother John suffered from kidney stones and endured the daily torture of inserting a bulky metal catheter into his body.

To alleviate the frequent discomfort Franklin endured from his brother’s persistent jabs, he sought the expertise of a local silversmith. He came up with a design for a flexible catheter, writing to John, "It is as flexible as one might expect for such an item, and I believe it will easily adapt to the contours of the passage."

9. American Celebrity

In the mid-1700s, many Europeans viewed the American colonies as little more than a hazardous wilderness, a crude collection of trading outposts where they sourced their fur and cotton. Some of the world’s most celebrated musicians, artists, and scientists were based in Europe’s capital cities.

A true Renaissance figure with the added skill of woodcutting, Franklin effortlessly became part of the European intellectual elite, gaining fame as a celebrity from a far-off and largely unknown land. He was to 18th-century North America what Björk is to modern Iceland.

When Franklin became the first American ambassador to France, Parisians eagerly bought up all sorts of Franklin-themed memorabilia. His image was featured on snuffboxes and medallions, and his likeness decorated the walls of fashionable French homes. After his death, the first published edition of his autobiography was a French translation.

Like many prominent American figures, Franklin had a cause he championed. In his later years, he emancipated his two slaves, George and King, and became a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery.

"Slavery is such a heinous degradation of human dignity that its complete eradication, if not done with careful consideration, may sometimes lead to unintended and serious consequences," he wrote in 1789 [source: Franklin].

Franklins of the 21st Century

Over two centuries after his passing, impersonators of Ben Franklin can be found in all 50 states. For a fee, they will appear at your event, dressed in 18th-century attire, speaking in the language of the era, and sharing classic Franklin quotes such as "a penny saved is a penny earned."

8. Swim Fins

Franklin, while he may have been a bit rounder in his later years, was once a robust, broad-shouldered man during his younger days. At least, that's what he claims in his autobiography.

Regardless, Franklin attributed his impressive physique to his passion for swimming. During his time in London in the 1750s, he became famous for swimming in the Thames every day.

At just 11 years old in Boston, Franklin's first invention was a pair of oval planks with holes in their centers. By gripping the planks with his hands, he used them to propel himself faster in the water.

While the fins helped Franklin swim more quickly, he soon abandoned them after realizing they strained his wrists. He also experimented with strapping boards to his feet like sandals, but found them cumbersome and eventually stopped using them.

In his later years, Franklin set aside his inventing pursuits and opted to simply enjoy the water, often without the need for a swimsuit.

Before the days of heated pools and shark nets, swimming in colonial America was mostly a pastime for shipwrecked sailors and children sneaking in a dip. Franklin's early push to promote swimming eventually earned him a spot in both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the United States Swim Schools Association Hall of Fame.

7. The Odometer

Mail delivery in colonial America was quite disorganized. Letters between cities were transported by anyone available, and post offices were little more than sacks of mail stored in the back of a tavern. Colonists would often send multiple copies of a letter in different directions to ensure it reached its intended destination [source: PBS].

In the 1760s, the British government appointed Franklin to bring order to the chaotic postal system in the colonies. As someone well-versed in correspondence, Franklin eagerly took on the challenge, determined to improve communication across the colonies.

Franklin began by traveling across America's key postal hubs, examining ways to make mail delivery more efficient and uniform. As part of his efforts, he mapped the distances between postal stations by attaching a geared device to his horse-drawn carriage. Each time the carriage wheel completed 400 revolutions, the device would click to indicate one mile (1.6 kilometers).

By the time Franklin completed his tour, he had compiled an impressively precise map of the early colonial road network.

It wasn't the first odometer; simple devices to measure distance had existed since ancient Roman times. Likewise, Franklin's version wasn't the last of its kind, as inventors from Nova Scotia to the Midwest would independently create similar instruments in the years that followed. However, none would use the odometer as effectively as Franklin.

While most modern car odometers are digital, a version of Franklin's odometer can still be seen at the Benjamin Franklin Museum in Philadelphia [source: Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary].

Lofty Words

While serving as the first US ambassador to France, Franklin was present for a demonstration of the latest innovation in transportation: the hot air balloon. When an observer asked Franklin, "What use is it?" Franklin replied, "What use is a newborn baby?" [source: Lemay].

6. American Political Cartooning

In 1752, tensions between the American colonies and France were high, with the possibility of war looming. As English-speaking settlers pushed westward, they continually collided with French territories. At the time, France claimed a vast region of North America stretching from New Orleans, through the American Midwest, and into what is now Eastern Canada.

Franklin, who owned the Pennsylvania Gazette, believed that a united defense among the colonies was critical to safeguard against potential French aggression.

In a famous illustration titled "Join, or die," Franklin portrayed a snake divided into eight sections, each representing one of the colonies. The image alluded to a popular superstition of the time: if the parts of a decapitated snake were reassembled before sunset, it would come back to life.

Though not exactly a Doonesbury, "Join, or die" is widely recognized as America's first political cartoon. The straightforward illustration was reproduced across the American colonies and saw a resurgence during the American Revolution.

At the same time, other publishers followed Franklin's example, using illustrations and short text to express their own political views. Franklin had unwittingly sparked the creation of a new American art form, and today, more than 300 editorial cartoons are published daily in newspapers across the country.

5. Glass Armonica

While serving as a diplomat in England during the 1750s, Franklin visited Cambridge University and attended a performance by Edmund Delaval, a skilled wine glass musician. Delaval arranged a set of wine glasses on a table, "tuned" each by adjusting the amount of water in them, and played a melody by gently rubbing their rims in order.

As the audience reveled in the smooth, otherworldly tones of the glasses, Franklin couldn't help but see ways to improve the experience.

Playing wine glasses is an incredibly tedious setup — and the repetitive motion is tough on the wrists. Franklin put his mind to work, pondering how he could create music from glass without raiding his kitchen cabinets.

After two years of experimentation, Franklin introduced his glass armonica, a set of glass bowls of varying sizes mounted on a spinning shaft. By turning the shaft with a foot pedal and running moist fingers along the rotating bowls, Franklin was able to produce chords and melodies far beyond what Delaval had imagined.

The new instrument quickly made its way into drawing rooms and concert halls across both Europe and America. Composers like Mozart and Beethoven wrote music specifically for it, while Franz Mesmer, a pioneer in hypnosis, used its sounds to deepen the trances of his patients.

However, by the 19th century, the instrument's popularity waned after rumors spread that its eerie tones could drive listeners to madness.

Ben's Favorite

"Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction," is a widely cited quote from Franklin [source: Fox].

4. Reaching Device (the Long Arm)

Standing at 5 feet, 11 inches (180 cm), Franklin was taller than most of his fellow Founding Fathers. He was the last person you'd expect to invent a reaching device, but Franklin had a passion for books — so much so that he became a vegetarian at 16 in order to save money for them. By the time he grew older, Franklin's homes were crowded with towering bookshelves, reaching from floor to ceiling.

To access high shelves without a step ladder, Franklin crafted a "long arm" in his workshop. It was a simple design: a piece of wood with two "fingers" at the end. By pulling a cable, Franklin could close the fingers to grab a book from the top shelf.

Though rarely found in libraries, versions of the long arm are still widely used by people who need a little extra reach. For instance, individuals with dwarfism (adults under 4 feet, 10 inches, or 147 cm tall) often use reaching arms to access door handles and countertops.

Highway maintenance crews use stainless steel arms to collect litter along roadsides, and individuals with severe arthritis rely on reaching devices to reduce strain on their joints.

3. The Franklin Stove

In Franklin's era, colonists fought off the harsh Pennsylvania winters by burning logs from oak, hickory, and maple trees gathered from the surrounding countryside. But as Philadelphia's forests began to deplete, residents were forced to travel up to 100 miles to gather fuel — no small feat when traveling by horse and buggy.

Franklin decided to tackle the growing energy problem by devising a more efficient way to heat homes in colonial America.

Traditional fireplaces were terribly inefficient: They burned through fuel rapidly, and most of the heat simply escaped up the chimney. Franklin addressed these issues by enclosing the fire in a cast-iron box placed centrally in the room. This stove emitted heat from all four sides, and users could control the burn rate by adjusting the stove's airflow.

The stove's secure design also reduced the risk of fires caused by flying sparks. Modern versions of Franklin's original stove design are now common in cabins and cottages around the world.

Wake Up, Paris!

Motivated by his passion for energy efficiency, Franklin wrote a humorous letter in 1784 to the Journal of France. He mocked the French habit of staying up late and sleeping in the following morning, suggesting that they move their clocks backward to make better use of daylight hours.

"Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, let all the bells in every church be set ringing; and if that is not sufficient, let cannon be fired in every street, to wake the sluggards effectually," Franklin humorously wrote. While the letter was clearly a jest, many still credit him with the concept of daylight saving time.

2. Bifocal Eyeglasses

As Franklin aged, he began experiencing both nearsightedness and farsightedness. Outdoors, he required long-distance lenses to navigate, but when reading or examining objects up close, he had to switch to a pair with different lenses.

The constant need to swap glasses became a nuisance, so Franklin simply cut the two lenses in half and combined them into a single frame.

With his new bifocals, Franklin could see distant objects by looking through the top portion of the lenses, and for reading, he would peer through the bottom. Remarkably, while both farsighted and nearsighted glasses had existed for centuries, no one had thought to combine them until Franklin.

Despite a few modern improvements, Franklin's original bifocal design has remained largely unchanged. However, in 2006, researchers from Arizona revealed they had developed eyeglasses with lenses that could adjust from farsighted to nearsighted at the push of a button [source: National Academy of Sciences].

1. The Lightning Rod

In the 18th century, lightning was a terrifying force, especially in the wooden cities of the time. Churches were particularly vulnerable as they were the tallest structures, and a single electrical storm could devastate entire regions.

During Franklin's lifetime, lightning even caused the death of 3,000 people in Italy when it struck a church basement filled with gunpowder. Despite prayers, there was no known way to protect buildings from this 'electrical fire.'

At the age of 42, Franklin retired from the publishing industry to dedicate himself fully to his electrical experiments. After extensive trial and error with static electricity, Franklin realized that by attaching a metal rod to the top of a building and connecting it to the ground with a cable, he could safely draw the 'fire' from a cloud before it caused harm.

Franklin shared his discovery of the protective rod with Europe, and it was first implemented in the churches and cathedrals scattered across the French countryside.

Wordsmith

Franklin was responsible for coining many of the terms we still use in modern electronics, such as 'battery,' 'charge,' 'positive,' and 'negative.'

Sources