1Journal of a Voyage, 1726 (Franklin Papers)
...strike. But the well that supplies the inhabitants at present with water is in the lower castle, and is thirty fathoms deep. They draw their water with a great wheel, and with a bucket that holds near a barrel. It makes a great sound if you speak in it, and echoed the
2From Benjamin Franklin to Sarah Davenport, [June 1730?] (Franklin Papers)
this Money, and I now send him 3 Barrels of Flower (tho’ it be long first) which come to about the Money. I reckon my self very much oblig’d to him for not being more urgent with me. The Flower Brother John
3Extracts from the Gazette, 1731 (Franklin Papers)
Thursday last, a certain P——r [’tis not customary to give Names at length on these Occasions] walking carefully in clean Cloaths over some Barrels of Tar on Carpenter’s Wharff, the head of one of them unluckily gave way, and let a Leg of him in above his Knee. Whether he was upon the Catch at that time, we cannot say,...
4Extracts from the Gazette, 1739 (Franklin Papers)
Brass Candlesticks, Snuffers and snuff-Dishes, four, six, eight, ten and twenty-penny Nails, Pidgeon, Duck and Goose Shot, bar Lead, Pistol Powder in quarter and half Barrels, English Duck
5An Account of the Export of Provisions from Philadelphia, [16 February 1741] (Franklin Papers)
Bread, 49 and half, Tons; 7,980 Tierces, 9,573 Barrels, 885 half Barrels, 881 quarter Barrels, and 9 Cags.Flour, 100 Tierces, 53,970 Barrels, 147 half Barrels.
6An Account of the New Invented Pennsylvanian Fire-Places, [15 November 1744] (Franklin Papers)
The Air that enters the Room thro’ the Air-box is fresh, tho’ warm; and computing the Swiftness of its Motion with the Areas of the Holes, ’tis found that near 10 Barrels of fresh Air are hourly introduc’d by the Air-Box; and by this Means the Air in the Room is continually changed, and kept at the same Time sweet and warm.
7Extracts from the Gazette, 1745 (Franklin Papers)
] Lost on Friday, the 21st of December, 1744, betwixt Frankfort and Philadelphia, a Fowling-Piece, mounted with Brass, Dutch Make, a black Barrel, with a pretty wide Bore. Whoever has found it, and will return it to the Printer hereof, shall be sufficiently rewarded.
8Extracts from the Gazette, 1747 (Franklin Papers)
consisting of cloth, paint, tools, trinkets, four barrels of gunpowder, 500 lb. of bar lead, 8 guns, and 18 tomahawks for cracking French skulls. A smaller present of guns, powder, lead, flints, and knives went to the neighboring Canayiahaga; and a personal gift...
9From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 25 May 1747 (Franklin Papers)
a Needle to the End of a suspended Gun Barrel, so as to point beyond it like a little Bayonet, and while it remains there, the Gun Barrel can not be electrised (by the Tube applied to the other End) so as to give a Spark; that the Electrical Fire came down the Wire from the Cieling to the Gun Barrel, thence to the Sphere and so electrised the Machine,
10From Benjamin Franklin to Jared Eliot, 16 July 1747 (Franklin Papers)
...“Act for laying a Duty on the Exportation of Lumber to the neighbouring Governments,” May 1747, was supposed to conserve the colony’s timber resources and promote shipbuilding and trade with the West Indies. It applied to all barrel staves and headings, ships timbers, planks, boards, and bark shipped to the neighboring coastal colonies of New England and New York.
11From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 28 July 1747 (Franklin Papers)
...Hand, and touches the Wire with the other, will be shockt as much, tho’ his Shoes be dry, or even standing on Wax, as otherwise. And on the Touch of the Wire (or of the Gun Barrel, which is the same Thing) the Fire does not proceed from the touching Finger to the Wire, as he supposes,
12From Benjamin Franklin to William Strahan, 19 October 1748 (Franklin Papers)
’s Ledger D) for skins, ink, paper, binding parchment, a barrel of limes, and a “Pot Sweetmeats.” He began printing the
13From Benjamin Franklin to John Mitchell, 29 April 1749 (Franklin Papers)
37. When the Gun Barrel, in Electrical Experiments, has but little Electrical Fire in it, you must approach it very near with your knuckle, before you can draw a Spark. Give it more Fire, and it will give a Spark at a... greater Distance. Two Gun Barrels united, and as highly electrified, will give a Spark at a still greater Distance. But if two Gun Barrels electrified will strike at two Inches...
14From Benjamin Franklin to Abiah Franklin, 7 September 1749 (Franklin Papers)
expected. Their presents included 10 half barrels of gunpowder, 10 hundredweight of bar lead, 3 hundredweight of small shot, 140 plain and 50 ruffled shirts, guns, knives, hatchets, mirrors, ribbons, rings, beads, tobacco, pipes, and “1 Groce & a half...
15Commission from Robert Dinwiddie, 30 October 1753 (Washington Papers)
...R.O., C.O. 5/211, ff. 21–40. In a separate letter of the same date, Holderness informed Dinwiddie that the Board of Ordnance had authorized 30 cannon for the use of Virginia and that 80 barrels of gunpowder would be shipped from the royal stores.
16David Colden: Remarks on Nollet’s Letters, [4?] December 1753 (Franklin Papers)
...of a body charged with electricity is that when you present your finger to it a spark will issue from it to your finger. Now when a Phiol prepared for the Lyden experiment is hung to the Gun barrel or prime Conductor, and you turn the Globe in order to charge it, as soon as the Electric matter is excited you can observe a spark to issue from the external surface of the phiol to your...
17To George Washington from Robert Dinwiddie, January 1754 (Washington Papers)
The ordnance promised to Dinwiddie by Holderness in Aug. 1753 finally arrived in the colony and included 30 cannon and 80 barrels of powder, as well as other stores. Dinwiddie had hoped to use the cannon to protect the new fort at the
18Account of the Death of Georg Richmann, 5 March 1754 (Franklin Papers)
...The two Jambs of the Gallery Door were split from End to End, and, together with the Door, thrown into the Gallery. A Splinter of the Kitchen Door, two Feet long, and about the Thickness of the Barrel of a Pen, had been thrown on the stairs adjoining to it. The Glass Vessel was broke off at about half its Heighth, and the Brass Filings and some Bits of Wire scattered about.
19To George Washington from Robert Dinwiddie, 2 June 1754 (Washington Papers)
The Goods You desire for the Inds. & three barrels of rum will be sent off Tomorrow
20To Benjamin Franklin from Peter Timothy, 14 June 1754 (Franklin Papers)
had 5 Dollars of me, for which he was to send me two Barrels of Beer: As he did not send the Beer, please receive to the Five Dollars of him. I am in the greatest Hurry imaginable, or would write to him; but you’ll be kind eno’ to present...
21II., 3 July 1754 (Washington Papers)
...“obliged to leave behind our swivel Guns and some Arms which soon after were destroyed and broke to Pieces by their Indians, such of our Men that were in that little Fort having broke the Heads of the Powder Barrels and strown it about that it might be of no Service to the French” (“The Journal of M. de Villiers,”
22From Benjamin Franklin to William Shirley, 22 May 1755 (Franklin Papers)
They have purchased but 500 Barrels of Pork. It is all of the best Burlington Pork, and not one Barrel among it of any other sort. There is no more of the kind to be bought; so that this Article will fall short 700 Barrels of the Quantity required by your Committee....Barrels of Beef, and can get no more that they would chuse to send. This is all choice Stall-fed Beef, exceeding good, most of...
23From George Washington to Mary Ball Washington, 7 June 1755 (Washington Papers)
Ten tons of butter and 1,000 barrels of beef were sent from Ireland with Braddock’s two regiments in January and landed at Alexandria in April. Little, or none, of the butter had been moved beyond Conococheague, and much of it remained at Alexandria....
24From George Washington to James Innes, 17 July 1755 (Washington Papers)
...box of spice and currants, a box of pickles and mustard, 8 kegs of biscuit, 4 kegs of sturgeon, a keg of herring, 2 chests of lemons, 2 kegs of spirit, a cask of vinegar, a barrel of potatoes, and 3 tubs of butter (Morris to Robert Orme, 9 June 1755,
25From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 25 August 1755 (Franklin Papers)
...of a sugar-loaf, spinning on its point, moving up the hill towards us, and enlarging as it came forward. When it passed by us, its smaller part near the ground, appeared not bigger than a common barrel, but widening upwards, it seemed, at 40 or 50 feet high, to be 20 or 30 feet in diameter. The rest of the company stood looking after it, but my curiosity being stronger, I followed it,...
26From George Washington to Robert Dinwiddie, 11 September 1755 (Washington Papers)
The return, dated 11 Sept. 1755 and signed by John Carlyle, “Keeper of the Kings’s Stores,” listed at Alexandria 70 barrels of beef, 100 of pork, and 96 of flour, as well as 345 coats, 295 white coats, 366 “Breeches,” 350 shirts, 350 shoes, 390 stockings, and 386 hats....defeat on the Monongahela, Dinwiddie wrote Commissary Charles Dick that he believed there remained “8 or 900 barrels of Pork...
27To George Washington from John Defever, 18 September 1755 (Washington Papers)
The “Wooden Bottoms” and “Wooden Tampeons” were attached to the shot to prevent the exploding powder from losing force by escaping between the gun’s barrel and the projectile.
28To George Washington from Robert Dinwiddie, 18 October 1755 (Washington Papers)
There comes by the Sloop all the Small Arms fit for use in the Magazine—ten barrels of Powder & some Lead. I expect by Xmas, 1000 or 1500 Small Arms from London. I hope those now sent, & what You may have at Winchester, & Fort Cumberland, will be sufficient till that Time...
29From George Washington to Allan McLean, 26 October 1755 (Washington Papers)
You are to see that as many of the Country Waggons as you have Harness and Horses for, be fitted out immediately. You are to engage all the Coopers you can to make and repair Barrels for the Beef, &c. You are to apply to Major Lewis, who will let you have those that came up with his party....particular Orders from me. You are to send down a Barrel of Flints with the arms, to Winchester, and...
30From George Washington to Adam Stephen, 29 October 1755 (Washington Papers)
...stopped, and the horses given to him. You must engage the herdsmen to remain with the Cattle, until they hear from the Commissary or from me. You must engage all the Coopers you can to make Barrels for packing the Beef; and if any of the Soldiers are Coopers, they must be set immediately to work. You are to receive from the Stores here thirty pounds of Goose-shot, which you will deliver...