The History of Ballooning :: Historical Balloon Hot Air Essays

The History of Ballooning It all started in 1783, when two brothers conceived the idea of human flight with smoke. Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier came from a family of paper-makers in Annonay, France. They tried to capture smoke from the fireplace in a paper bag, and soon found that it rose. It soon became obvious to them that when the smoke cooled down, the sack would fall. They created the first real balloon in 1783. "It was 35 ft in diameter and had a capacity of 23,000 cubic ft, and it was made of linen lined paper" (Fraser). These brothers had impeccable will and continued working with unbelievable progress. Within a few short weeks they released a balloon to 6,000ft, and it traveled for 2 miles. The world was becoming aware of these tests and everyone was catching "balloon fever." Within the same time frame, two brothers by the name of Robert acquired the help of a noted physicist named JAC Charles. The Robert brothers coated the silk balloons with rubber in order to prevent the leakage of gas (Josephy). Charles had large hopes for applying his idea of using hydrogen to float these balloons. Charles later became very famous for his ideas and test flights in which silk balloons filled with hydrogen released from iron filings would be called charlieres (Fraser). This seemed to be a much more technical idea since logic would tell us that a gas that was 18 times lighter than air, should indeed rise, especially when the Montgolfier's have already discovered that hot air rises. By this time everyone was impressed, including Benjamin Franklin(who was an American Statesman living in Paris at the time) and the King of France (Fraser). Franklin, who had already done his kite experimen ts, was especially astounded. Now it was time for the Montgolfiers to regain their fame. The third balloon carried the first living things in a basket, which was attached to the bottom. The basket carried a lamb, rooster, and duck, and they all landed safely (Fraser). After this, the King's historian felt that it was time for a human to fly, and felt that there was no better person than he. So, on October 15, 1783, De Rozier became the first aeronaut, and he landed safely after a four-hour flight (Fraser). Things were progressing quickly, and the first actual voyage occurred on November 21, 1783 with De Rozier and a man named Marquis D'Arlandes (Fraser).