Tinkering at the Edges

America is sadly lacking in technology during the 1700s, but colonists here and there are beginning to explore new possibilities. Some are motivated by scientific curiosity, others by the pursuit of profit.

In Europe, the Enlightenment is in full bloom, a period when people are beginning to use scientific observation to understand the world. Many are seeking to replace tired religious dogma with enlightened reason.

In America, men of wealth and education also begin to catch the scientific fever, as the latest books imported from Europe open eyes to the value of experimentation. Others are just seeking better ways to produce iron.
Amateur Scientists, 1750

  Amateur Scientists
Scientific advances are just beginning to appear in America. Benjamin Franklin experiments with devices to explore static electricity (center), and invents a more efficient metal fire enclosure (lower left). In the still-developing iron business, massive stone furnaces (cut-away view at top right) begin to replace much smaller smelters in Pennsylvania, and are soon copied elsewhere.

Benjamin Franklin

  Gifted Amateur
Of all America's Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the most interested in science. He famously flies a kite in a lightning storm, with a metal key attached to the string, to demonstrate that lightning is a form of static electricity (top left).  He invents bifocals (lower left), and a cast-iron fireplace insert that is widely sold as the 'Franklin Stove' (center top). His own personal favorite invention is a musical instrument that makes sound by touching rotating glass bowls (bottom center and right).


Gunsmith, 1750

  Gunsmith
The highest level of skill is required to make the long barrel of a musket (top left). There are no drills capable of boring out the center hole, so the gunsmith starts out with a flat, slightly tapered, bar of iron. This is bent lengthwise into a long U-shape, like a roof gutter (top right). The long edges are gradually forced together, and joined by repeated heating and hammering, an inch or so at a time (center bottom). The inner bore is opened up and smoothed using a graduated set of reamers (lower right).