The Ferris Wheel

In the late 1780s, Benjamin Franklin was commissioned to design something magnificent for the Second World's Fair to be held in Paris at the end of the century. He began work on an enormous amusement ride he called the Franklin Wheel. His initial designs are lost in the pages of history, but we do know that he created a model at 1/8th scale. However the metal alloys available at the time would not be strong enough to support the full-scale machine. In consultation with a fellow patriot, Samuel Alexander Ferris, the two devised a much stronger alloy which Ben called Franklinite. Unfortunately, Ben died before the construction could be completed. Samuel took the designs for the Wheel and the formula for Franklinite (which he re-named 'Ferris,' today known as 'iron') and kept them in his family. In 1893 his great-grandson George Washington Ferris re-built the wheel (which he called the Ferris Wheel), dishonestly claiming the design was his own.