FUN WITH MAPS ISSUE 2024-107

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (June 10, 2024) – In this edition of Fun with Maps we remember one of the greatest inventors of all time and a stormy story about electricity.

Fly a Kite

So, who would fly a kite in a thunderstorm?

Well, the person who claimed to do so is the inventor of the flexible urinary catheter, bifocal glasses, the lightning rod, among others.

This person was also a postmaster, an ambassador, a creator of one of the earliest volunteer fire brigades, a newspaperman, an author, and so on.

While all this is truly impressive, it was a bit easier when there were much fewer people to sort of ‘compete’ for those roles centuries ago.

Back to flying a kite in a thunderstorm – well, that is a bit hazy if this really happened at all or the charge discharged was static electricity or if truly lightning that was captured on the metallic key hanging on the string near the kite.  The experiment supposedly occurred on June 10, 1752.

By now you know he is Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin’s second city was Philadelphia, after being born in Boston, so here is Mitchell’s map of Philly from 1876.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.