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Music Media

Franklin's Glass Armonica 189

Posted by michael 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.
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Franklin's Glass Armonica More

Franklin's Glass Armonica

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  • That's a really wonderful viewpoint, but from a capitolist (as opposed to socialist) viewpoint it's not a smart thing to do, while we all love to see someone being so benevolent, I just can't possibly understand the logic behind it. If I invent something, and people buy it, I think it's only fair for me to make a cut of the money, economics 101 people.

    1. Invent great product
    2. ????
    3. Make $$$$
    • 1. Invent great product
      2. ????
      3. Make $$$$

      In this case its clear what ???? should be

      ???? == Patent product
      • actually it's more than that, I just wanted to go with the trend......

        However the steps that go into #2 are more like, patent it, market it, have sucess selling it. then onto #3, however in today's market (assuming this really does cause nerve damage) there would also be a #4 - hire many lawyers to defend you in the 5000 lawsuits against you.
    • I just can't possibly understand the logic behind it.

      Which simply means you are a capitalist and that you are not benevolent!

      Of course, refusing to patent something does not mean that you can't be capitalistic about it. You can still make money off it by manufacturing it and selling it. But without a patent, you don't have exclusive rights, so unless yours is much better than the "socialists" who are making them and giving them away for free, then you are not going to make money.

    • Re:Idealistic (Score:4, Insightful)

      by renehollan ( 138013 ) <<ten.eriwraelc> <ta> <nallohr>> on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:25PM (#4043796) Homepage Journal
      You know, as libertarian, I see your viewpoint.

      But, contrary to belief, not everything I do is for profit, or if so, very indirectly.

      You see, I place value of the general welfare of my fellow person. I contribute to charties, and donate things I no longer need that are in good repair, so that they can either be given to the poor, or sold, and the proceeds used to help them. I've gone so far as to donate running cars.

      Yes, either I benefit, or my descendents will benefit, in some small way, from these acts, so a Randian might consider them quite rational. But, and this is the important thing, the general welfare of "clan Hollan" was not in my mind when I undertook these acts.

      While it is all fine and good to be able to participate in a free market, we are not without compassion for those less fortunate than ourselves, whatever the reason. I, for example, had the good fortune to study a field (Computer Science) that has blossemed to fill an as unquenched thirst for skill in the market place. However, to argue that this was a calculated optimal decision on my part, as opposed to a calculated risk would be arrogance. In fact, I chose it becase I liked it and was good at it.

      So, I can certainly empathize with those who's fortunes have not been as good as mine, though I do not feel a particular obligation to help the less fortunate.

      Nevertheless, parting with that for which one feels no desire to exploit, so that the lives of others can be, in some small way, enriched, is no great misery, and in the minds of the recipients, might translate into the most wonderful gift of all.

      • I couldn't agree more on .NET (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        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

    • I've written this before but it's worth repeating.

      Intellectual property laws exist only because we have a slavery system. Our livelihood depends on working for others so we can pay our taxes. The reason that we have to work for others is that 99% of people have been deprived of an inheritance in the wealth of the land. Income property is owned by a few and the state. The others are slaves. Artists, programmers and inventors depend on their work to make a living. Can we blame them? We all depend on our labor because we are all slaves. So now we are swimming in a ocean of laws and rules that take away our remaining liberties, one by one.

      Let's face it, if you cannot put a fence around it or put chains on it, it does not belong to you. Makes no difference whether it is ideas, writings, software, music or what have you. Once you've released it, like the air, it belongs to nobody and everybody.

      Intellectual property owners (such as Microsoft, Adobe, the music industry, and yes, even that Segway inventor Karmen) will fight freedom with everything they've got. They have to because it's the system. Right now they have two formidable weapons: IP laws and powerful police states to enforce them. But those who yearn to be free also have a formidable weapon, the internet.

      The internet and other communication technologies (e.g., file sharing systems) are the first major kinks in the armor of a sick system. As technology progresses, the system will eventually collapse. What will happen to a slave-based economy when robots and advanced artificial intelligences replace everybody, i. e., when human labor, knowledge and expertise become worthless?

      And don't think for a minute this won't happen in your lifetime. The internet is the latest giant leap in human communication. Before that came mass telecommunication technologies and before that was the movable press. If history is any indication, we can expect a giant leap in technological progress and scientific knowledge. In fact, it is happening before our very eyes.

      We should all demand a system where everybody is guaranteed income property, a piece of the pie, an estate if you will. There is plenty for everybody.

      Communism confiscates all property and enslaves everybody. Capitalism gives property to a few and enslaves the rest. It's sad. The land should not be divided for a price. It should be an inheritance for us and our children and their children. It's the only way to guarantee freedom and a truly free market in a world where human labor is about to go the way of the dinosaurs.

      If you don't own income property. You are a slave. If you have to work for someone else for a living, you are a slave. And don't think that just because you can quit and go to work for someone else, that this makes you free. It does not matter where you go or who you work for. Wherever you go, you are a slave. They know the fear of hunger will keep you working.

      Demand liberty! Nothing less.
  • If Ben's toys were patent free what about the music created on them?

  • Something they didn't mention.... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Your_Mom ( 94238 ) <slashdot@@@innismir...net> on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:04PM (#4043731) Homepage
    Franklin suffered severe nerve damage in his hands playing this. The vibrations cause the neveres to goes nuts in his hand, and he basically told everyoe to stop playing these things. It wasn't until late 1790s when someone developed a piano like interface that these started bein used again...

    Man, gotta love those 8th grade reports I did 8 years ago.
    • Well, not according to the first linked article:

      "Franklin himself ignored all of the controversy and continued to play the instrument until the end of his life with none of the symptoms mentioned. But the armonica's popularity never really returned to what it had been when it was first introduced."

      Do you have any other links backing up your claim perchance?

    • Re:Something they didn't mention.... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Dr. Ion ( 169741 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:07PM (#4043742)
      Wow, that sure disagrees with the article:

      No explanation or proof was ever really given to any of these claims. Franklin himself ignored all of the controversy and continued to play the instrument until the end of his life with none of the symptoms mentioned.

    • Re:Something they didn't mention.... (Score:5, Funny)

      by guttentag ( 313541 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:36PM (#4043823) Journal
      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.
    • also, people who played the instrument often got lead poisoning. the initial belief was the lead in the glass had leaked into the blood stream. this is of course complete rubbish. it turns out, ol' ben had his instruments painted. each note a different colour of the rainbow. so you could play without knowing how to read music. the problem however involved the paint: it was lead based. so the paint itself wore off onto the hands of those who played, and thus into the blood stream.

      tragic, really.

  • Of course... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Hugh Kir ( 162782 )
    It's worth pointing out that Franklin was also publisher and owner of the Pennsylvania Gazette (which I believe he eventually sold), as well as the publisher of Poor Richard Almanack, so he did have other sources of income to rely on. That's not to say it wasn't generous of him to refuse to patent his inventions, but I can understand why a person whose income depended on their inventions would want to patent things.
    • "That's not to say it wasn't generous of him to refuse to patent his inventions, but I can understand why a person whose income depended on their inventions would want to patent things."

      Back then, though, he didn't run the risk of having his invention totally bastardized by a single entity. I'm not sure he'd take the same stance today. If anything, he'd patent his inventions just to keep corps from getting too large.

      Of course, this is all speculation. Iventions were a very different animal then. It was hard to invent something that could be distributed around the country.
    • "...but I can understand why a person whose income depended on their inventions would want to patent things."

      Yes, but should we, as a society, let him?
      • "...but I can understand why a person whose income depended on their inventions would want to patent things."

        Yes, but should we, as a society, let him?


        Do you want to see Coparate R&D budgets slashed or eliminated?
        Do you realize that these R&D programs have produced most of the inventions of the past century?

        • Sounds like an abuse of the patent system to me. If I understand correctly, the patent system was made so that inventors didn't have to keep their inventions secret. It just doesn't seem ethical to not allow other corporations use a technology just because someone else discovered it first.
          • "It just doesn't seem ethical to not allow other corporations use a technology just because someone else discovered it first."


            Who is going to discover it?
            Who is going to sink millions into R&D without any hope of recovering the costs?


            If If was the CEO of a corparation, the day they banned patents is the day my entire R&D staff would be fired. Why would I sink money into developing new inventions when I can simply copy the invention some fool paid to develop? Of course the other CEOs will do the same thing, so I won't have to worry about them developing new ideas. I won't have to worry about the hoards of Sciencists dumped on the streets becoming private inventors because they will lack the million dollar budgets, and be too busy earning a living to devote thier full time to research.

  • I am so glad.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:10PM (#4043751) Homepage Journal
    ... that Franklin didn't patent his techniques involving lightning. Without a doubt, this would have greatly distressed Doctor Emmet Brown.
    • hmmm, a back to the future reference.... how.... well... fitting, as Doctor Emmet Brown did'nt hold any patents either did he? (at least the movie never made any reference to patents, or successful marketing of any type, as for that matter, how did he ever get the damn money to build that gull-wing-time-machine? I know he STOLE the plutonium)
      • If I recall correctly, when Marty went back to the 50's, Dr. Brown had quite the spread. Large house, bit of property, etc. In the 'present' (1985) he only had the garage, and there was a Burger King behind it. There was reference in the movie to the doctor's estate burning down. Perhaps he did this for insurance money, and then sold the land to a mega corp for more profit, enabling him to continue his research...

      • Re:I am so glad.. (Score:1, Offtopic)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )
        (* as Doctor Emmet Brown did'nt hold any patents either did he? *)

        He patented the "Flush Capacitor". It allowed one to go back in time by flushing their toilet. You had to use prune juice to regulate how far back you went, though. It did not sell well because traveling with the runs was not very pleasent. Besides, it was kind of embarassing to land in the middle of King Author's court on the john.

        At least that is what my dog told me when we got drunk together. He otherwise does not reveal much.

  • More practical inventions (Score:5, Interesting)

    by wormbin ( 537051 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:18PM (#4043769)

    Franklin also invented a more efficient fireplace, which he also built and sold. He was offered a patent on this by the Governor of Pennsylvania but refused.

    That 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.
    -BF

    He thought the idea of intellectual property to be a bit kooky.

    If you're curious, read more about Franklin in the excellent biography The First American [barnesandnoble.com]

    • His more full quote

      This pamphlet had a good effect. Gov'r. Thomas was so pleas'd with the construction of this stove, as described in it, that he offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years; but I declin'd it from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., That, 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.

    • Not really surprising, given that Franklin was a printer, newspaper publisher, almanac writer, and colonial postmaster. All of these jobs have the common thread of promoting the spread of knowledge and ideas. To Franklin, the free dissemination of new and useful ideas was the key to progress.

      And yes, the other jobs supported him well enough that he didn't need to make money from his inventions.

      I read the book, and it was enough for me to take Franklin on as one of my personal heroes.
      • it was enough for me to take Franklin on as one of my personal heroes.

        cool. look into jefferson as well. Author of our Declaration of Independence, he also did a vast number of great things fFor information and thought. he built clocks and buildings, and even created a new version of the Bible.

        my dad is a bit of a racist (which annoys me no end), but he refers to martin luther king day as fFranklin/Jefferson day.

        (hmm, hope i'm not offtopic here. my point is: Jefferson held many of the same beliefs as fFranklin)
    • That 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.
      -BF

      He thought the idea of intellectual property to be a bit kooky.


      Man, it's a good thing he's not alive! The RIAA and MPAA would have him arrested as an Evil Content Pirate(tm)!!!!!
    • Thanks for the recommendation. Franklin has always been one of my heroes (along with Einstein, Jefferson, and my dad). I disremember exactly how many things he did during his lifetime, but this man was amazing, even into his old age he was still doing stuff, not just inventions, but diplomatic things, public services, etc. He also was still womanizing like a frat boy well into his old age. (although the womanizing part is not why I respect him so much) :-)
    • That's very nice for someone with the talent of Franklin; lesser mortals have to make their living by peddling their inventions.
  • Of course, if you know your history you know that these things stopped being used because it was thoutght that the sound made the players go insane. This was actually somewhat true because many players did go insane. It was only later that it was figured out that it was the lead in the things that caused this. I don't know if anyone has ever heard one of these, but they sould really cool and kinda haunting.
  • someone playing wine glasses. Somewhere around 20 years ago, my wife and I were at Harvard Square in Boston, and saw a man on the street playing wine glasses. He kept a pitcher of water and a basting syringe on hand to keep the glasses in tune.

    The sound was wonderful, though I guess you'd have to call it a 'niche product'.

    I'd also heard the armonica called a 'glass harp'. There used to be a Cleveland-area band called Glass Harp, with lead guitarist Phil Kaeggy. (sp?)
    • A little info about Phil. And , it doesn't mention that he is missing a finger.

      Phil Keaggy is perhaps one of the most admired guitarists in music today. His fans range from those who aspire just to be able to play his mistakes, to professional musicians who have been strongly influenced by his style. And in between are those who don't play guitar, yet find solace in his beautifully penned lyrics and memorable melodies.

      Phil's solo career has spanned more than 30 years, and has included over 40 albums, both instrumental and vocal. He's one of the most sought after studio guitarists, constantly being asked to play on albums by the famous, and those trying to achieve fame. Phil continues to amaze his fans, selling out concerts all over the United States, with his ever-changing style, ranging from rock-and-roll to fully orchestrated instrumental compositions.

      Phil Keaggy was born March 23, 1951 in Youngstown, OH, the ninth of ten children. He grew up in a home filled with music, and on Phil's 10th birthday, his father returned home with a Sears Silvertone guitar. That's when the magic began.

      Due to his father's line of work, Phil spent most of his younger days moving back and forth between Ohio and California. During these years, Phil was always involved in music, and joined his very first band, the Keytones, at the young age of 13. He later went on to join such local groups as The Vertices, The Squires, and the Volume Four, who later changed their name to New Hudson Exit.

      But it wasn't until 1970, when Phil's band Glass Harp (with childhood friend John Sferra on drums, and Dan Pecchio on bass) recorded their self-titled first album, that people really began to take notice of this incredibly gifted guitar player. Glass Harp gained more popularity in the Ohio area, opening for such bands as the Kinks and Yes, and even performing at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. Over the next few years, they recorded two more albums entitled "Synergy" and "It Makes Me Glad".

      However, during his years with Glass Harp, Phil's life changed immensely. While performing out of town in February 1970, Phil's mother was involved in a fatal car accident. At this time in his life, Phil was into drugs, and primarily concerned with immersing himself in his music. His mother's passing affected Phil deeply, and when his older sister, Ellen, told him how he could find peace in Jesus Christ, Phil followed his heart and began a new life. It was also during his years in Glass Harp that he met a young woman named Bernadette, who would later become his wife.

      By 1972, Phil saw his life going in a different direction, and made the tough decision to leave Glass Harp and pursue a solo career. His first solo album, "What A Day", was recorded in just a week's time during January 1973. He and Bernadette married that summer, and the following year, they moved to upstate New York and joined a Church community called Love Inn.

      During his years there, Phil took a break from recording his own music, and toured with such groups as Second Chapter of Acts, Paul Clark, and Honeytree. It wasn't until 1976 that Phil would record his second solo album, "Love Broke Thru", which was soon followed by a string of albums, including the acclaimed instrumental album, "Master and the Musician".

      Phil and Bernadette later moved to Kansas City, where they welcomed the birth of their first daughter, Alicia, in March of 1980. Phil continued to release several more albums, including the first in a series of home-studio recordings, called "Underground". Their second daughter, Olivia, was born on Valentine's Day, 1984, the same day that Phil's mother passed away back in 1970, and in 1987, they welcomed the birth of their son, Ian.

      With the Christian Music industry really beginning to grow, Phil won his very first Dove award in 1988 for his instrumental album, "The Wind and the Wheat. Phil's second Dove Award came in 1992 for his Celtic-influenced, "Beyond Nature". Each year from 1998 to 2001, Phil has dominated the "Instrumental Record" category at the Doves, winning for "Invention", "Acoustic Sketches", "Majesty and Wonder", and most recently "Lights of Madrid". For three years in a row, Phil was voted one of the top fingerstyle guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine readers.

      These days, Phil Keaggy continues to delight audiences all over the US performing primarily acoustic shows, and occasional concerts with a band. In between weekends on the road, Phil was incredibly able to record a series of four instrumental albums, entitled "Music to Paint By", a Christmas album called "Majesty and Wonder", the Dove-award winning Spanish-style album "Lights of Madrid", as well as two vocal albums - the 2CD "Inseparable" and album of songs written to the words of his 73 year old Uncle Duke. And all of this was done within about a 4 year time frame.

      In October 2000, Phil's old band "Glass Harp" reunited for a concert in Youngtown, Ohio, backed by the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, which allowed Phil to showcase his phenomenal composition for guitar and strings called "Overture", featured on the award-winning "Lights of Madrid". That concert was recorded and released on a 2-CD set called "Strings Attached".

      Phil continues to be a devoted father and husband first, and a musician second. He is aware that God gave him a calling to deliver the Gospel through his music, and for over 30 years, Phil Keaggy has been grateful to do just that, and will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come.
  • How else could one man possibly be responsible for so many inventions? I think Tom Edison was one too.
    • What about Tesla? I personally think Franklin and Edison were both very much a genius, however Tesla? He was just kooky-nuts. (although IMHO on the coolness scale he is way higher than either Franklin or Edison.)
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Edison was most undoubtly intelligent, but most of the inventions credited to him were actually developed by "staff members" he employed to invent things for his company. Tesla worked for Edison at one point, but quit because he was sick of Edison not giving any credit to the employees.

        Tesla had a natural ability to do complex math in his head. He was able to develop things light years ahead of his time. Some of the stuff he worked on people still don't understand...
      • Finally some more cedit given to Telsa....If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have power in our homes (or it would all be DC...heh) I remember reading where Edison said he would give Telsa a million dollars to improve his DC generators. Telsa did then laughed at the idea of giving Telsa the promosed sum. Edison offered him an ungenerous raise. Telsa then quit Read about the big communications tower Telsa was building...great story
    • It's called "Creativity...
  • The glass armonica was one of the most celebrated instruments of the 18th century. Franklin began to take his beloved armonica with him when he traveled and played popular Scottish tunes or original compositions for his audiences. Later, composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Donizetti would write music for the armonica. Because of its almost immediate popularity, the glass armonica seemed destined for permanence. But by the 1820s, it was nearly a forgotten instrument.

    I pride myself in being rather well versed in classical music, but have never once heard of this instrument. If gods like Mozart or Beethoven composed for this instrument, where are these compisitions now? Have they, blasphemously, been transcribed for other instruments, or are the compositions today as forgotten as the glass armonicas themselves?

    Weird story, and it gets worse:

    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.

    Could it that I've never heard one of these instruments played because performers insist on falling ill or dying while trying to record them? Maybe this was also why Ben would not patent his instrument - anyone who played it without knowing the secret method of avoiding the wrath of the evil spirits of the glass got into trouble soon enough anyway? (The secret method of course being available after a small submission fee.)

    Ah, theories.
    • I pride myself in being rather well versed in classical music, but have never once heard of this instrument. If gods like Mozart or Beethoven composed for this instrument, where are these compisitions now? Have they, blasphemously, been transcribed for other instruments, or are the compositions today as forgotten as the glass armonicas themselves?

      My guess is that with the limited range of notes and the difficulty in playing any chords, music would have been pretty much anything writting for a wind instrument like a flute or bagpipe. Sure you could play some complicated music, but you usually don't go to hear a single bagpipe, you go to listen to all the pipes and drums. You hear the flute, but only as solos within a larger composition.

      So I'd guess that if Mozart wrote anything, it would have been an armonica solo within a larger piece. Today it's probably been replaced by a flute or oboe.

      • As I posted earlier, I saw one of these being played this June, and one can indeed play chords on them. My experience of it was that it sounded rather like an eerie little orchestra all on its own.

    • Mozart composed for glass harmonica (Score:4, Informative)

      by phr2 ( 545169 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:52PM (#4043854)
      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 [barnesandnoble.com]. 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.

    • Here in Waltham, Massachusetts, there's a glass harmonica manufacturer [finkenbeiner.com]. There are also a number of people in the Boston area who play it.

      If you ask google about "glass harmonica player" you'll get info on a lot of them.

      You might also note that the Finkenbeiner page claims that their instruments contain no lead. However, this may not be the explanation for the apparent insanity of a lot of the early players. The few people I've know who play glass harmonica have all replied to this idea with the claim that you have to be crazy to take up the instrument in the first place.

      It does have a rather marvelous "new age" sound. But probably the reason it never really caught on is that it has no attack at all, and can't really be played rapidly. It's ideal for slow, dreamy music; it's not so good for fast, bouncy music.

      The modern instruments are better in this regard than Franklin's originals. You can get them with an electric motor with speed control, dampers, etc. This expands their sound quite a bit. But they are still a stubtle, ethereal instrument, with very little attack.

    • well, i dunno why you've never heard of it. no accounting there. but, it didnt actually get so much use based on a fFew things.

      fFirstly, it couldnt be tuned. it was (is) simply several glass or crystal bowls, set in such a way as to be played with little preperation. this made them very handy fFor parlour amusements, and gatherings of fFriends and so on. but it could neither be tuned, nor altered. a "C" is always a "C". so your musical selection is limited. you could probably buy one with several octaves with sharps and fFlats, but that gets difficult and expensive.

      which brings us to the nest reason you dont know much about them. the cost, and fFragility. all glass with some wood fFraming to hold it together, making it very difficult to transport.

      so, you've got something with a limited range, and it is fFragile, and really expensive. which means you arent likely to see them touring the countryside in some orchestra. which basically rends them out of the public eye.

      and all that about illness and spirits and such is of course hogwash.
    • Hear [glassarmonica.com] it here.
  • Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the musical warp core.

    Actually, I found it fascinating that people can and will find any means to musically express themselves. Enya has transformed her vocal cords into an instrument, Blue Man Group has turned PVC pipe into tunes, and Franklin used a combination of science and artistry to transform glass into music.

    What next? "Tubular Waterfalls?"

    • the voice has always been an instrument, this is what classical voice theory relies upon. Enya didn't invent this, she just kitsched it up and created the "celtic new age" genre.
    • Once upon a time, I wanted to invent a musical instrument that would work by pouring water into a pool of varying depths, after noticing that one could make different tones by pissing in a different place of the toilet bowl.
    • I once spent an entire afternoon playing with pieces of thrust up ice on the lakeshore by my parents home. Each piece of ice carried a different tone and by subtly changing their orientation and the level of the snow around them I was able to tune a major scale and play with it. An afternoon well spent.

  • With the virtual armonica on the website, you can pretty much reproduce every cheap sci-fi "ethereal space" them ever created.

    I expect the MPAA and RIAA would be pissed about that fact. ;)

  • Spinning Glass Spheres (Score:5, Interesting)

    by shmert ( 258705 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:36PM (#4043820) Homepage
    Funny to see this on slashdot, I'm about 1/3 the way through Carl Van Doren's biography on Franklin. Right away I see the correlations between the armonica and his experiments with electricity, namely rubbing spinning glass (Leyden) jars with cloth. This is really a fabulous book, btw. It's amazing how active his mind was, and how un-pretentious he was, even after achieving fame. The fact that he didn't patent his inventions is, really stunning, especially given his thrift. This was not a man who cared nothing for wealth. He was just incredible well-scrupled, and early on devised a very involved person code which he lived by very well (although as I said I'm only 1/3 through the book). If you want to read about a truly great thinker, check out more on Benny.

  • Glass Armonica mp3 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Jeremi ( 14640 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @09:42PM (#4043831) Homepage
    An mp3 of the Adagio in C for Glass Armonica can be found here [glassarmonica.com]. It is apparently being played by Klingons [glassarmonica.com]... :^)
  • The armonica is still being made and played today- many modern artists make music with this instrument. Here's a few sound samples. [finkenbeiner.com]

  • While very generous, it was much easier for Franklin to not patent his inventions than it would be for most people. By the time he started doing serious scientific work around age 40, he had already retired with a vast fortune.

    Don't get me wrong, his decision was extremely admirable. Many lesser men would've been greedy and tried to profit even though they were already wealthy. But it's hard for a working joe* to pass up the potential to make money off his inventions.

    * Yes most patent holders by far are greedy evil corporations. I'm restricting my discussion to individual inventors.

    • *Insert witty joke about jpeg's and the whole on-going patenting farce here*
    • Actually, Franklin's fortune was a tidy sum, but definitely could *not* be called vast. Yes, he made good money with his print shop, newspaper, and his Almanack, but keep in mind that most of his life America was still a backwater and publishing just wasn't of the scale that it is today. Franklin's fortune was no comparison to the that of the great trade magnates of his day.

      In other words, he was about as well off as a successful small businessman today, not a Rockefeller by any means.
  • Did anyone else notice the "Powered by Unisys" graphic in the upper right corner of the page?

  • Charles Babbage never patented any of his inventions either. There's a short essay on it here [byu.edu].
  • The meaning of life is not to rack up as many points on some financial scorechart as possible. After all, why do you spend your life making money anyway? Just so you can spend it to be happy and secure, and to provide for your dependants. Yet I'm not approving Communism. Individual achievements must be recognized, how can we do this? Patents and fame. Unfortunately, fame often goes to the wrong people, so patents are necessary.

    Instead of being happy little campers like Franklin who do things to help others, we rush after money and desperately try to hoard our own little pile of it. Why?

    Because no matter what you've got, someone else will always try to take a piece of it. Whether it's the government with their taxes, or even 'competitors' who want to steal all of your business or your inventions.. someone wants to steal from you.

    That's why we have patents. Patents go a long way to stopping others from stealing what took you so long to create.

    Sure, patents aren't all that great, but for a capitalist nation to work without them, we'd need to become 100% Libertarian and idealistic, and that isn't going to happen. As soon as it does, some rotten apple will steal to increase his slice of the pie, and so it goes again.

    So, that's how we life. We don't all just get our acre of land, stay self sufficient, and enjoy our days out in the sun.. Instead we slave away in offices, coming up with ideas, and trying to make a million dollars, so that we get a bigger share of the pie. It's not a great system, but what viable alternatives are there? Communism? Yeah, right.
    • wackybrit said:
      someone wants to steal from you.
      Good luck stealing from Benjamin Franklin. You can't steal an idea if the originator is giving it away for free. The fact that you cannot even see it from Franklin's point of view is related to the short-sightedness of your point. Sure, there are bad apples, but what happens when the idea generator happens to be one of the best apples ever?

      There are many intelligent people out there who are not motivated purely by greed. You might want to look "Richard Stallman" up on the internet. Do you think the greed of others has kept his inventions from having a profound effect on the world? Sure, he may not be rich, but I think he is getting just about everything he wants from life.

      • Good luck stealing from Benjamin Franklin. You can't steal an idea if the originator is giving it away for free.

        Untrue. Just because someone doesn't have a patent doesn't mean they have put the idea in the public domain.

        Someone else could have taken Ben's invention and really had a hit with it, and then THEY would have been remembered as the inventor.. even though they weren't!

        Ben, and Richard Stallman, have relied on the fame of being the originators of what they have produced. They might not have got rich from their inventions (Stallman still being alive, and with a chance, of course) but they still got the credit.

        If everyone gave their ideas away for free these days, they'd be stolen and exploited, and the inventors' names would quickly be forgotten.
        • You can't prove your point, and I can't disprove your point because there are no well-known inventors who aren't famous. I think it is implicit in your argument that if they've ever received credit for their invention, then they have profited from it in that way. Otherwise, what does Benjamin Franklin's fame have to do with it, since he's been dead for hundreds of years, and cannot possibly actively use it. Of course, he also had much fame during his life, so why would he possibly need to invent an instrument like this one, just for the fame of it? Or if you believe it was a particularly famous invention, then why the next invention of his, or the next?

          I think Benjamin Franklin just had an inventive mind, and the excitement was in the creation, rather than the profit, or even the credit, although these are both possibly bonuses. And of course, now we're just talking about my opinions, which almost has to be the case, barring any psychological studies that I would have to look up and cite just to make any conclusive points.

          • I recall a TV ad that went on about getting a patent for things, and it said something like:

            Who invented the telephone?

            A) Alexander Graham Bell, or
            B) Elisha Gray

            And then it crossed it all out, and put C) Both!

            Yet, hardly anyone has heard of Elisha Gray, yet Elisha actually invented the telephone before Bell. The problem? He submitted his patent two hours after Bell. And even though Bell's patent was actually flawed and incorrect, Bell still got the title of 'who invented the telephone'.

            More information here [oberlin.edu].

            Of course, it depends on how much you value fame. But, really, what is life about? Surely it'd be nice to have a legacy.

            I agree with your opinion on Franklin, however. I just chose him as an example.
            • I agree with your opinion on Franklin, however. I just chose him as an example.
              Great. Then, I think we're in total agreement. Actually, I have a selfish desire in myself that someday I should invent something that makes life better for the human race somehow (vague, but still a desire). I believe that if I did this, and came back in a million years, and everybody claimed someone else made my invention, I would certainly be dismayed to some degree. It would probably still feel good just to know I made a difference, though I probably would have preferred it if people didn't remember who the inventor was, rather than attributing it to someone else.

              What can I say? I'm just simply not as good as the unnamed inventor (that I theorize to exist) who didn't care to be credited at all. (C'mon, I just imagine that there's got to be someone somewhere like that, for some kind of invention, no matter how small!)

  • There is an instrument used in Indian music called the "Jaltarang" which uses many similar porcelein cups filled with different levels of lukewarm water. The musical effect is really good.
  • From the bottom of "Read more here" [fi.edu]: "Note: The objects pictured above are part of The Franklin Institute's protected collection of objects. The images are © The Franklin Institute. All rights are reserved." Franklin didn't patent his invention, but his heirs don't appear to share that sentiment.
  • Thomas Paine did not take royalties for his writings. He wanted them published and re-published wide and far, willy-nilly, without restrictions. Betsy Ross never tried to get rich off the flag, but her descendants did a century later when they suddenly remembered that she had designed it. Eli Whitney made big bucks for inventing interchangeable parts, but he didn't really. He rigged his demo so the parts would interchange and he'd get his big contract. Noah Webster tried to cozy up to the US government in the 1780's so that he could get contracts to print the laws and regulations, and he got them to use his version of American English so that he could make big money in textbooks later. No one got royalties on the "Star Spangled Banner" or "Yankee Doodle." Nobody made big money in those days. Money was so scarce that George Washington had to pose separately for each dollar bill, and he never made a nickel, because no one had patented the buffalo yet.
    • 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!
  • I remember, between the nights of partying, strolling around one of the squares in New Orleans, and there's this street performer who played wine glasses he had setup on a table. I just stood there and enjoyed it for a while, such a pure sound. I'm sure others who have been there can give more details as I believe the guy is still there and has been for years.

  • ... crystal glass, so they may have been suffering lead poisoning. Why use an obsolete term?

    http://www.finkenbeiner.com/gh.html
  • Jefferson Airplane guitarist Paul Kantner played some glass harmonica, on the 1983 Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra album- a sort of washed-up hippie supergroup thing, with a bunch of Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Montrose members playing on it.

    Haven't heard it, though the AMG [allmusic.com] calls it "a science fiction concept album about a commune/rock band eventually fleeing into outer space to escape right-wing oppression."

  • Ben Franklin Father of the GPL (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DeadBugs ( 546475 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @10:36PM (#4043954) Homepage
    "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."

    They should make this the first line of The General Public License.

    • BSD (Score:4, Interesting)

      by absurd_spork ( 454513 ) on Saturday August 10, 2002 @04:42AM (#4044905) Homepage
      "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."

      They should make this the first line of The General Public License.

      Is it just me, or does the quote sound more like a BSD license model? There is clearly no mention of requiring others to give derivative work away for free.

      Of course, ethical considerations suggest that they do that, but these do not need to be codified in the license. In that way, Franklin's appears to be more in the BSD direction.

  • That should never be pattented, for everything else, there is redelf.net [slashdot.org]

  • Early Inventors (Score:4, Insightful)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Friday August 09, 2002 @10:57PM (#4044012) Journal

    Inventors contemporary to Franklin may have had similar feelings about patents for a variety of reasons. First, the patent process that they knew of in England may have been unfair and/or corrupt (sound familiar?). From what I've heard, English IP laws of that era bore little resemblance to the IP law envisioned by the founders. They were more about aristocratic control. Many argue that our IP laws have been corrupted in a similar fashion; just substitute "aristocrats" with "corporations".

    Secondly, it was easier to dismiss the value of IP in Franklin's time because mass production and interchangeable parts were not generally available. Post-revolution, Eli Whitney and others developed the mass production techniques. As the industrial revolution progressed, the quantity and quality of labor required to make physical copies of a device shrank dramaticly in proportion to the labor required to invent a device.

    Thus, it seemed a folly to Franklin to patent his stove when the idea took 1 man-week to sketch, and perhaps 2 man-weeks *per unit* to produce.

    On the other hand, Edison's lightbulb and the ribbon machines used to manufacture them took years to develop. Once this was done, each lightbulb took only a fraction of a second to produce. Therefore, it now makes perfect sense that the knowledge of how to make the bulbs is far more valuable than even a truckload of the bulbs themselves.

  • "Because of its almost immediate popularity, the glass armonica seemed destined for permanence. But by the 1820s, it was nearly a forgotten instrument. "

    So that means ClearChannel every-station-everywhere-sounds-alike(tm) Radio *wasn't* the first to overplay something to death!

    But they're making up for it in sheer numbers.
    How many people are fu**ing dead tired of hearing the spiderman movie theme song? "They say that a hero can save us..." GOD that thing is a dead horse.

    Hmm.. History really is interesting sometimes.

  • Bruce Sterling story (Score:2, Informative)

    by Kafir ( 215091 )
    There's a brief but well-informed reference to the glass harmonica in a short SF story by Bruce Sterling, We See Things Differently" [revolutionsf.com]. 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.
  • ben was a wise dude,

    he recognized that patents are inconsistent with a FREE market Economy .. not to mention, that they are inconsistent with Christ(ianity) .. which the good majority of americans claim to be ..

    NOTE:
    he does not say he does not want to receive in return for example: chairs that he makes .. he just does not believe, that he should get paid for every chair that is made .. even when made by the labor of an other mans hands .. and that as he HOPES he might be of benefit to others, by the inspiration received through him .. he in turn will also benefit from the inspiration given to others .. if he is free to do so .. and through the synergy of sharing and working together for the MUTUAL benefit of each other .. achieve even better things than we can alone ..

    he wisely knowing .. that all inspiration is a free gift from God

    for freely have you received freely give (of the genius of the creator) .. give that you might receive again ..

    the onus is on you .. not on others (your Neighbor)

    and FREELY give, for if you give in the hope of receiving , it is not truly FREELY GIVEN

    capital and ism is just a term and IDEAolgy to take the focus off of the slight of hand to the unaware .. of trying to get something for nothing .. for that is all the concept of profit in the capitalist system truly is ..

    an attempt to get something for nothing

    after all is said and done .. ie. Material costs, labor costs, operating expenses, overhead

    I want to gain .. I want something more ..

    capitalist education (brain washing for the masses) 101
  • Ben Franklin, truly enough, didn't see the merit in patents, but this doesn't mean that we need to follow his logic. He was one of the founding fathers of America, but his beliefs are not canonical for the foundation of American Constitutional republic government.

    Michael and other Libertarians can claim that because Franklin said it, it must somehow be true of the way this government "ought to work," but unfortunately there are no provisions in The Constitution or general law that make patents illegal. Therefore, people who claim this are necessarily taking a revisionist read of history (and a poor one at that).

    One can ignore the facts all one wants, but patents are as real to America as apple pie and baseball.
  • There was a performance venue at the Fremont Fair [fremontfair.com] in Seattle this year with a man that played one of these. It was beautifully played, with a haunting sound that made me think of bygone eras. At the end, the guy played a sort of tongue in cheek version of "Stairway to Heaven". I had no idea that this was invented by Benjamin Franklin until now.

  • Where are the Mp3's (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Treeluvinhippy ( 545814 ) <liquidsorceryNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Saturday August 10, 2002 @04:34AM (#4044894)
    I never even heard of an armonica before now. Can somebody please post a link to some MP3's, Vorbis or even some WMA files so I can hear for myself.

    Even the names of Mozarts works written with the armonica in mind would be helpful.
  • I would be honored to meet a man like Ben Franklin today. Franklin understood the value of the simple application of the human mind to solving practical problems, and I envy him that he was given the opportunity to exercise himself. Every day, I see the work of those who produce subverted by those that have nothing to offer, and I fear the day when I will feel unable to produce anything of value in their society, because it is, for the time being, my society as well. I take heart, however, knowing that they need me more than I need them, because when I work I create value, but they only seek to possess it. For those who sustain the world, my currency buys more than theirs. My hopes and prayers go out to everyone reading this who feels the same way as I do. May we find each other, and forge a better world.

    Read Atlas Shrugged [aynrandbookstore2.com], and vote Libertarian [lp.org]. You'll be glad you did.

  • Working armonica played daily in Philadelphia (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MobileDude ( 530145 ) on Saturday August 10, 2002 @06:45AM (#4045047) Homepage
    --Franklin suffered severe nerve damage in his --hands playing this. Not according to the Franklin Museum here in Philadelphia which has a working armonica on display. It is played daily by staff who also give a detailed history of Franklin and the armonica. What they do state is consideratation was given to the lead based components used in early armonicas coming into contact with the players fingers (and possibly entering thus slowly poisoning the individual). Museum is located behind the Franklin Post Office (between 3rd and 4th streets on Market) and is downstairs. It is required viewing for everyone that has come to visit my family in Philadelphia. Especially if you can find the staff member that can play "America the Beautiful".
  • A few years ago I came across a fellow named Harry Christian on the street in Haight Asbury, right across from the used book store.

    Harry had about twenty glasses of various sizes, partially filled with water, sitting on a card table, along with copies of his new CD. I spent quite a bit of time talking to him - there are apparently about a dozen players worldwide that are active at the moment and he is the only one recording.

    Sorry no web site that I can mention, but I did purchase his disk - shall I contact him and see if he wouldn't mind my putting up an MP3 of his stuff?

  • It would be interesting to find out if any other early inventors shared Franklin's generous views on patents.

    The inventor of the bicycle (a blacksmith who made one with iron wheels) refused to patent it, and seemed to have been pleased that other people copied (and later improved on) his design.

    There was a story about him a month or so ago in The Georgia Straight [straight.com] a month, or so ago, but I don't have the time to hunt it down (got a class to get off to).

  • EBay (Score:2)

    by PD ( 9577 )
    As far as I can tell, there's absolutely no glass armonicas or glass harmonicas that have ever sold on EBay. Some music has though.

    What do these things cost?

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