Bifocals

Because he had poor vision and was an avid reader, Ben wore glasses.  However, he was tired of constantly having to take them off and put them back on every time he need to see far or near.  To solve this slight inconvenience, Ben had two spectacles cut in half and put the two halves of each spectacle together in one spectacle.  And so this became the birth of the bifocal.

Lightning Rod

Although Ben didn’t “invent” electricity, he did invent something that would be useful concerning it.  The lightning rod that Ben created protected buildings and ships from dangerous lightning bolts that could cause sparks to ignite the wood that most buildings and ships were made of at the time

Odometer

As a postmaster, Ben had to figure the best route to deliver mail.  He developed the odometer to aid him in this endeavor.  He attached it to his carriage to measure distance.

This invention could have been one of the main factors that contributed the expansion of the postal system in its infancy.