Benjamin Franklin's Inventions Still in Use Today
This paper examines several of Benjamin Franklin's most significant inventions and discoveries, highlighting their practical origins and lasting relevance. Drawing on Franklin's own writings and secondary historical sources, the paper covers swim fins, the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, improved street lighting, the extension arm, the odometer, bifocal glasses, and the concept of daylight saving time. The paper emphasizes Franklin's philosophy of sharing inventions freely for the public good and demonstrates how his insatiable curiosity drove innovations across multiple fields—many of which remain in common use today.
- Introduction: Franklin as a Practical Inventor: Franklin's curiosity, research breadth, and philosophy of sharing inventions
- Swim Fins and Early Mechanical Inventions: Franklin's hand-held swim fins invented in boyhood
- The Franklin Stove and Chimney Design: Efficient stove design and analysis of smoky chimneys
- The Lightning Rod: Metal rod invention that grounded lightning and saved buildings
- Street Lamp Improvement and the Extension Arm: Redesigned street lamps and library book-retrieval device
- Other Enduring Inventions: Odometer, bifocals, and daylight saving time concepts
- Conclusion: Franklin's Lasting Genius: Franklin's inventions praised internationally and still in use
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds each invention in a specific historical context, explaining both the problem Franklin identified and the solution he devised.
- It incorporates primary source quotations — from Franklin's letters, his Autobiography, and published pamphlets — to lend authenticity and depth to each claim.
- It opens and closes with Franklin's own philosophy of invention, giving the paper a thematic frame that reinforces its central argument about his generosity and practicality.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively blends primary and secondary sources. Direct quotations from Franklin's own writings (his personal letters, his Autobiography, and the "Pennsylvania Fireplace" pamphlet) are paired with analysis from scholarly biographers and historians, showing how firsthand evidence can be contextualized through secondary scholarship.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief framing introduction establishing Franklin's character and philosophy. It then moves through individual inventions in a loosely thematic order — from personal items (swim fins) to domestic technology (the stove) to public infrastructure (the lightning rod and street lamps) to miscellaneous practical tools. A short concluding paragraph ties the inventions back to the opening claim about Franklin's enduring genius. Each body section is self-contained, making the paper easy to follow even for readers unfamiliar with the subject.
Some inventions become so commonplace that people forget the innovator who created them. This is the case with Benjamin Franklin. He was extremely curious, always asking more questions than anyone could answer. He wanted to know the how and the why of the most confusing and common phenomena. Today, we still find many uses for Franklin's inventions and discoveries.
Franklin is known as one of the most practical inventors in history (PBS). He studied and conducted research in physics, meteorology, natural history, geology, chemistry, mechanics, agriculture, medicine, and mathematics. Some of his inventions, such as bifocal glasses, are well-known, but many others are less familiar. Of the numerous inventions Franklin created, he did not patent a single one. Franklin believed that "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" (van Doren 242).
Franklin loved the water and swimming. Growing up in Boston, he often dreamed of becoming a sailor. Wanting to increase his speed in the water, he devised swim fins — or what he called "pallets" — for his hands. He explains in one of his personal letters:
"When I was a boy, I made two oval palettes, each about ten inches long, and six broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it fast in the palm of my hand. They much resembled a painter's palettes. In swimming I pushed the edges of these forward, and I struck the water with their flat surfaces as I drew them back. I remember I swam faster by means of these pallets, but they fatigued my wrists" (Goodman 46).
He also tried attaching sandals to the soles of his feet, but he was not satisfied with the results.
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