Inventions

Ben's inventions include: bifocals, lightning rod, Glass Armonica, library chair, swim fins, the long reach device, Franklin Stove, catheter, and Daylight Savings Time.


Ben had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of constantly taking them off and putting them back on, so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals. Many people have depended on Benjamin Franklin for better eyesight.



In 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite flying experiments and proved that lightning is electricity. During the 1700slightning was a major cause of fires. Many buildings caught on fire when struck by lightning and kept burning because they were built mainly of wood. Benjamin Frankli wanted his experiment to be practical, so he developed the lightning rod. A tall rod is attached to the outside wall of the house. One end of the rod points up into the sky; the other end is connected to a cable, which stretches down the side of the house to the ground. The end of the cable is then buried at least ten feet underground. The rod attracts the lightning and sends the charge into the ground, which helps to decrease the amount of fires.

Benjamin Franklin first suggested Daylight Saving Time in 1784, but modern DST was not proposed until 1895 when an entomologist from New Zealand, George Vernon Hudson, presented a proposal for a two-hour daylight saving shift to the Wellington Philosophical Society. The conception of DST was mainly credited to an English builder, William Willett in 1905, when he presented the idea to advance the clock during the summer months. His proposal was published two years later and introduced to the House of Commons in February 1908. The first Daylight Saving Bill was examined by a select committee but was never made into a law. It was not until World War I, in 1916, that DST was adopted and implemented by several countries in Europe who initially rejected the idea.

In 1736, Benjamin Franklin started the very first volunteer fire department, the Union Fire Company. He started the company in Boston,  where he lived until he was eighteen. He started the company because there were major fires in Boston, in 1653 and 1676. Boston then purchased a London pumper after the fire and hired thirteen men to fight fire, Thomas Atkins being one of them. These were the first paid fire fighters ever. Benjamin Franklin witnessed another major fire in 1711, one hundred ten families lost their homes. Benjamin Franklin often wrote about the dangers of fire and the need for organized fire protection in his newspaper, "The Pennsylvania Gazette." He was familiar with Boston’s Mutual Fire Societies which were also known as “Fire Clubs,” but they existed for the protection of its members, not for everyone in the community.

I am glad that Benjamin Franklin started the first fire department because he helps many people everyday with his great idea. About 70,000 people die in the world every day, and only 5% from fires. That's only 3,500 people, not very many considering the 7 billionth person was just born. I am sure that fire departments are one of the best ideasin history, helping save homes and lives in the process, and the occasional cat up a tree. Benjamin Franklin started the first fire department and he has changed the history of our country, and has saved millions of peoples' lives. Some famous Americans who served as volunteer firefighters were:
 * George Washington
 * Thomas Jefferson
 * Benjamin Franklin
 * Samuel Adams
 * John Hancock
 * Paul Revere
 * Alexander Hamilton
 * John Jay
 * John Barry
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Aaron Burr
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Benedict Arnold
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">James Buchanan
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Millard Fillmore

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