Inventions of the 1770's-1780's

            The time of the American Revolution was full of conflict, hopes, and struggles. The Colonists were fighting for freedom from the British. And the British were struggling to keep their land in the America's. But during this time of fighting and discovery some amazing people invented some amazing things to help those with a need. Benjamin Franklin was one of these great men.

            Ben Franklin invented things like bifocals, lightning rods, odometers, and the Franklin stove. These great things were invented to improve life for people and to help the government. Cutting the lenses from two glasses in half and putting one half of each into a single frame made the Bifocals. This helped people who needed two different prescriptions. Lightning rods were made to attract lightning to them and away from ships and buildings, protecting them from lightning damage. Odometers keep track of distance traveled; this helped people map distances and nowadays helps people keep track of how many steps they take in a day for health and fitness reasons. And finally the Franklin stove. The Franklin stove was an iron-lined fireplace that provided more heat and less smoke than ordinary open-face wood burning fireplace.

            All of these inventions were made to improve life and that is exactly what they did. They were well used then and most are still used even now, though they may be a little more modern. The point is that even in a time of war and revolution, the people were still improving their personal lifestyle and making an impact on the lifestyles of those to follow them.

Sources:

Inventor, Resources for science learning, http://www.fi.edu/franklin/inventor/inventor.html