Franklin's Glass Armonica

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.

Comments

Mozart composed for glass harmonica

[phr2]

including the Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola & Cello in C minor, K. 617, and the Adagio for Glass Harmonica/Keyboard in C major, K. 356. Both these pieces are on this disc. I think there might be one or two others as well.

I don't remember any Beethoven compositions for glass harmonica but am not at all sure there weren't any. Glass Harmonica was very popular for a while. More recently composers including possibly Stravinsky and Hindemith (from vague memory, don't hold me to that) have composed for it as well.

Babbage also did not patent

[BlueLightning]

Charles Babbage never patented any of his inventions either. There's a short essay on it here.

Bruce Sterling story

[Kafir]

There's a brief but well-informed reference to the glass harmonica in a short SF story by Bruce Sterling, We See Things Differently". Strange little story, about rock'n'roll and Islam, or something.
Here's the passage:

Boston played a glass harmonica: an instrument invented by the early American genius Benjamin Franklin. The harmonica was made of carefully tuned glass disks, rotating on a spindle, and played by streaking a wet fingertip across each moving edge.

It was the sound of pure crystal, seemingly sourceless, of tooth-aching purity.

The famous Western musician, Wolfgang Mozart, had composed for the Franklin harmonica in the days of its novelty. But legend said that its players went mad, their nerves shredded by its clarity of sound. It was a legend Boston was careful to exploit. He played the machine sparingly, with the air of a magician, of a Solomon unbottling demons. I was glad of his spare use, for its sound was so beautiful that it stung the brain.