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Bifocals are eyeglasses with an upper and lower half, the upper for distance, and the lower for reading.

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Franklin did not invent electricity but he discovered many things about it. He showed that electricity consisted two opposing forces. He also showed that electricity consisted a common element which he named it the electric fire. Further, electricity was
"fluid" like a liquid. It passed from one body to another — however it was never destroyed.

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Once Franklin had an understanding of the behavior of electricity, he set about to protect houses from the destructive forces of lightning. A lightning rod, simply, is a rod attached to the top of a building, connected to the ground through a wire. The electric charge from lightning strikes the rod and the charge is conducted harmlessly into the ground. This protects houses from burning down and people from electrocution.

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In America homes were warmed by a fireplace. The
Franklin Stove, invented in 1742, is a metal-lined fireplace that stands in the middle of a room. It has rear baffles for improved airflow. It provides more heat and less smoke than an open fireplace and uses less wood. The cast iron furnace radiates heat from the middle of the room in all directions and the iron walls even observed warmth to the room long after the fire went out.

Benjamin Franklin was an avid swimmer from a very young age. Throughout his life he consistently promoted its healthful benefits. At the ripe old age of
11 he invented a pair of swim fins. However, unlike today's foot flippers, these were attached to one's hands. His advocacy for swimming was recognized by his induction into the International Swimming
Hall of Fame in 1968.

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A popular entertainment in England in the early 18th century was playing music on upright wine goblets, with tones made by rubbing one's fingers around the lip of glasses filled with different quantities of fluid. In
1761, Franklin created a mechanized version, and called it the Armonica (after the Italian word for
harmony.) Franklin worked with London glassblower
Charles James to build his Armonica, and it had its world premiere in early 1762, played by Marianne
Davies. Franklin's foot-treadle-operated instrument held
37 glass bowls. The musician touched the rims of the bowls with fingered moistened from the water trough.
The bowl-rims were color-coded, according to the note.
For example, C's are red, D's orange, E's yellow, etc.

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Franklin was curious as to how far he was traveling by carriage, in his role as postmaster, for his travels between Philadelphia and Boston.
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While the concept of the odometer dates back to ancient times, Franklin did create his own version.
The concept was to attach the device near the wheels of a carriage, determine the circumferance of the wheel and the number of revolutions required to travel a mile, and have the device register the distance traveled.

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Franklin had 14 jobs! He cleaned the toilets, he was a mop maker, a candle making job, newspaper,
Scientist, Inventor, candle maker, printer, vegetarian, works for a bookkeeper and shopkeeper in a store, charts the Gulf Stream, works in the military, and the only one of the Founding Fathers who signed the
Declaration of Independence, the treaty that ended
America’s war For Independence and the
Constitution.

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1706 - January 17. Born in Boston, the youngest son of
Josiah and Abiah
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1715 - Final formal year of schooling
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1717 - invents a pair of swim fins for his hands
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1718 - Blackbeard the Pirate is captured; Franklin writes a ballad on the occasion
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1720 - At a Boston town meeting, Ben's father Josiah is chosen as a town scavenger for 1721
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1721 - Brother James Franklin starts publishing The New
England Courant

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1722 - Becomes a vegetarian
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1723 - (Sept.) Runs away from apprenticeship, goes to
New York and then to Philadelphia, where he gains employment as a printer.
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1724 - Returns home to Boston to try and borrow money from his father to start print shop. Is denied.
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1725 - Leaves Palmer the printer for the larger shop of
John Watts.
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1726 - Franklin works as a bookkeeper and shopkeeper in a store which sells imported clothes and hardware.

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1727 - Is rehired by printer Keimer
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1730 - Elected the official printer for Pennsylvania
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1735 - Brother James Franklin dies
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1739 – Franklin’s house is robbed
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1741 – Advertises the "Franklin Stove”
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1744 – Death of Josiah Franklin, Ben’s Dad
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1748 - Becomes a soldier in the PA military
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1752 - Received Copley Medal

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1764-65 – charts the Gulf Stream
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1783-84 – Invented Bifocals
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1787 – Signs the Constitution
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1789 – Writes anti-slavery treatise
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1790 – April 17, Dies in Philadelphia at age 84.
20000 people attend his funeral.

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He had 3 children named Francis, Sally, and Sarah.
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He actually had two birthdays, his birth certificate said that he was born January 6,1706, but on
September 2,1752 the British changed the calendar.
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His picture has been on every $100 bill since 1928.
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He taught himself five different languages – Latin,
German, Spanish, Italian, and French.

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“Haste makes waste”
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“There was never a good war, or a bad peace”
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“Tell me if forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”

Benjamin Franklin facts for kids www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/inventions.htm
Benjamin Franklin By Wil Mara
Who was Ben Franklin? By Dennis Fradin
Benjamin Franklin Founding Father and Inventer