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Franklin's Glass Armonica

Posted by michael on from the three-part-armony dept.

CoffeePlease writes "At the time of his death in 1790, when more than 5,000 of his glass armonicas had been built, Ben Franklin had collected no money from his glass armonica. He refused to patent any of his inventions, saying: 'As we enjoy great Advantages from the Inventions of others we should be glad of an Opportunity to serve others by any Invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.' Read more here and here. A historical/sci-fi novel by Louise Marley has come out on the subject also. It would be interesting to find out if any other early inventors shared Franklin's generous views on patents." There's even a FAQ.

5 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. I am so glad.. by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... that Franklin didn't patent his techniques involving lightning. Without a doubt, this would have greatly distressed Doctor Emmet Brown.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  2. Re:Something they didn't mention.... by guttentag · · Score: 5, Funny
    Over the years, some disturbing events began to be associated with the glass armonica. Some armonica players became ill and had to stop playing the instrument. They complained of muscle spasms, nervousness, cramps, and dizziness. A few listeners were also subject to ill effects; after an incident in Germany where a child died during a performance, the armonica was actually banned in a few towns. Some people thought that the high-pitched, ethereal tones invoked the spirits of the dead, had magical powers, or drove listeners mad.
    And all this time we've been superstitiously attributing the ill effects of using a computer to things like "carpal tunnel syndrome" and "monitor radiation poisoning," but we haven't had much success in preventing these things from happening. Apparently it turns out we've just been invoking the spirits of the dead. Someone should file a bug for this.
    Bug #3382983749: Invokes spirits of the dead , causing permanent nervous system damage.
  3. I couldn't agree more on .NET by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sure I will let you all know what .NET is. I have researched this topic since its inception in 2000 and am more than happy to spread the great story of .NET to all who ask.

    ..NET is a system of using SOAP, a new and all powerful language C#, Microsoft's invention of XML, the most powerdul database in the world in SQL Server all tied together with the world's most secure and standard's based OS, Windows. Once the pieces are put in place, .NET applications are used to allow legacy UNIX applications communicate with today's secure, standards based, feature rich Windows applications. Communication occurs over network medium such as Ethernet and allows users to tear down walls using federated services, using prescence information (not so much who but when and where) coupled with object oriented paradigms invented by Microsoft to support end to end user communications using TCP and other TCP based protocols over the Internet using connectionless datagrams over the .NET CLR

  4. Re:Not the Only One by Arandir · · Score: 3, Funny

    Money was so scarce that George Washington
    had to pose separately for each dollar bill

    That was nothing! The reason he wore wooden teeth was because his real ones got knocked out when they stamped his head to make all the quarters!

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
  5. Re:Of course... by DavidRavenMoon · · Score: 3, Funny
    Back then, though, he didn't run the risk of having his invention totally bastardized by a single entity.

    That's because Bill Gates wasn't born yet.

    --
    -- if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic - Lewis Carrol