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Benjamin Franklin Essay

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Benjamin Franklin-Scientist and Inventor

Benjamin Franklin has influenced American

technology, and indirectly, lifestyles by

using his proficiencies and intelligence to

conduct numerous experiments, arrive at

theories, and produce several inventions.

Franklin's scientific and analytical mind

enabled him to generate many long lasting

achievements which contributed to the

development and refinement of modern

technology.

Few national heroes, including George

Washington and Thomas Jefferson, played a

more significant role in shaping the American

way of life than Franklin. According to

Fowler, "He personified the ideal of the

self-made man, and his rise from obscurity to

eminence exemplified the American …show more content…

He

even distributed detailed plans of some of

his inventions so that anyone could own them.

The Pennsylvania fireplace, sometimes called

the Franklin stove, acquired its name from

Franklin, its inventor. This device, he said,

"made my living room twice as warm as it used

to be with a quarter of the wood I formerly

consumed . . . " (Donovan 55). The heating of

houses was growing more expensive, the wood

was being used extremely inefficiently, and

much of the heat was lost up the chimney.

Franklin's fireplace solved these problems by

using a number of passages and vents so that

the cold air was drawn in from outside the

building, warmed in the air passages, and

then blown into the room. He said "your whole

room is equally warmed, so that the people

need not crowd so close round the fire, but

may sit near the window, and have the benefit

of the light for reading, writing, and

needlework. They may sit with comfort in any

part of the room, which is a very

considerable advantage in a large family,

where there must often be two fires kept,

because all cannot convenientl!

y come at one" (Seeger 166). Several people

considered the fireplace a luxury for the

wealthy.

One of the most important features of

Franklin's fireplace was the flue. Meltzer

points out that the flue spread heat by

circulating it into the room rather than

simply sending it up the

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