Inventors . • 294 GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR., . . • INVENTORS I. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. BENJAMIN FRANKLINS activity and resourcein the field of invention really partook of the in-tellectual breadth of the man of whom Turgotwrote: Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis. He snatched the thunderbolt from heaven,And the sceptre from the hands of tyrants. And of which bit of verse Franklin once drylyremarked, that as to the thunder, he left it wherehe found it, and that more than a million of hiscountrymen co-operated with him in snatchingthe sceptre. Those persons who knew Franklin,the inventor, onl
Inventors . • 294 GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, JR., . . • INVENTORS I. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. BENJAMIN FRANKLINS activity and resourcein the field of invention really partook of the in-tellectual breadth of the man of whom Turgotwrote: Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis. He snatched the thunderbolt from heaven,And the sceptre from the hands of tyrants. And of which bit of verse Franklin once drylyremarked, that as to the thunder, he left it wherehe found it, and that more than a million of hiscountrymen co-operated with him in snatchingthe sceptre. Those persons who knew Franklin,the inventor, only as the genius to whom we owethe lightning-rod, will be amazed at the range ofhis activity. For half a century his mind seemsto have been on the alert concerning the why o J and wherefore of every phenomenon for whichthe explanation was not apparent. Nothing innature failed to interest him. Had he lived inan era of patents he might have rivalled Edisonin the number of his patentable devices, and had. 10 INVENTORS he chosen to make money from such devices, hisgains would certainly have been fabulous. Asa matter of fact, Franklin never applied for a patent, though frequentlyurged to do so, and he madeno money by his of the most popular ofthese, the Franklin stove,which device, after a half-Franklin stove. century of disuse, 1 s n o w again popular, he made apresent to his early friend, Robert Grace, an ironfounder, who made a business of it. The Gov-ernor of Pennsylvania offered to give Franklin amonopoly of the sale of these stoves for a num-ber of years. But I declined it, writes theinventor, from a principle which has everweighed with me on such occasions, viz.: Thatas we enjoy great advantages from the inven-tions of others, we should be glad of an oppor-tunity to serve others by any invention of ours;and this we should do freely and ironmonger in London, however, assuming agood deal of my pamphlet (describing the prin-ciple and working of th
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