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Ben Franklin

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Benjamin [middle name?] Franklin
Born January 6, 1706 [place of birth?]
Son of Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger
[brothers or sisters?]
Husband of Deborah Franklin (Married in [location?] [marriage date?])
Father of Sally Bache, William Franklin and Francis Franklin [add child]
Died April 6, 1790 [place of death?]

Profile manager: Chris Whitten | Last profile change on 30 June 2009
10:21: Chris Whitten deleted a message from ananonymous user at 71.183.59.229 on the page for Ben Franklin.

About Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was born in England. He lived in Philadelphia, PA, for most of his life.

He was one of America's greatest scientific minds. He was always looking for ways to make things work better and improve the daily existence of mankind.

His idea of two different eye glass lenses in 1784, with the top half for distance seeing and the bottom half for reading, came to be called bifocals. This may have been one of his greatest ideas and still in use over 200 years later.

Other new concepts developed by Franklin include:

  • A flexible urinary catheter.
  • The lightening rod for buildings and ships to help prevent direct lightening strikes.
  • The odometer he developed to figure distance traveled in a carriage. He used this while he was in charge of postal routes.
  • A long handled pole with a grasping claw to assist him and others who had difficulty reaching items high up.

With all his creativity inventions, he did not patent them, in turn not making a fortune from them.

See also: Franklin Family History.


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Photos with Ben

There are 5 photos with Ben.

Sophisticated, Erudite Ben
Sophisticated, Erudite Ben
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, [Location?], [Date?], Comments: 0.


Signing the Constitution
Signing the Constitution
Ben Franklin, Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, PA, September 17, 1787, Comments: 2.


Franklin's design for ‘bifocals’
Franklin's design for ‘bifocals’
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, USA, [Date?], Comments: 1.


Franklin's Lightening Rod
Franklin's Lightening Rod
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, USA, [Date?], Comments: 0.


Franklin's Odometer
Franklin's Odometer
Ben Franklin, Franklin Family History, USA, [Date?], Comments: 0.




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Ben Franklin