Open Source Fireplaces?

I'm reading through a Benjamin Franklin biography, and I was surprised to read about his views on inventions, patents, and the public domain. When Ben was in his 40's he sold off his printing business so he could focus on studying, writing, and tinkering with inventions. One of his first inventions was a new design for a fireplace which would generate twice as much heat from 1/3 of the wood. He manufactured it, and sold it for several years.

The interesting thing is that Franklin declined to receive a patent for the fireplace design, and indeed turned down all patents for the rest of his life. In placing his inventions in the public domain, he said, "... 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."

Franklin was a prolific experimenter and inventor (credited with discovering that lightning was in fact electricity), but he had no trouble generating profit from his inventions. Given that the recent trend is to use patents to actually stifle innovation (especially in software markets), I wonder if the world would be a better place if all inventors had his philosophy.