Most people in colonial Pennsylvania were content to do their
reading in a simple wooden chair. Ben Franklin, on the other
hand, insisted on kicking back in a reading chair fitted with a
foot-powered fan. If he needed to grab another book from a high
shelf, he simply flipped up the seat of his specially engineered
library chair, transforming it into a small step ladder. To
check the time, he glanced at a bizarre one-handed clock of his
own design that only used three gears to keep time. Franklin was
clearly a man who never stopped inventing. Between running a
print shop, engineering the U.S. postal system, starting
America's first lending library, and helping sow the seeds of
the American Revolution, Franklin also found time to draw up a
vast collection of new devices. What's more, he never patented a
single one. Although the decision likely cost him a fortune,
Franklin saw his inventions as gifts to the public. "That, as we
enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should
be glad of an opportu