The History of the Hot Air Balloon

The year was 1783. The land was Annonay, France. Two sons of a paper manufacturer, the most unlikely of scientists to make a lighter-than-air flight, did. Their names were Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier, and Joseph one day through a paper bag into their fireplace. It whizzed up the chimney with tremendous speed. The two brothers were delighted and amazed. So, trying again, they made a bigger paper bag and held it over a fire, where it got full of hot air. They released it and it soared to the heavens. The bigger the bag, the heavier stuff it could carry. And they stayed up higher and and longer. The father, seeing this very awesome thing, saw a money-making opportunity. He payed for a public demonstration in the square of the town on June 5th, only a few days from now. After loading it with hot air and cutting the ropes, the 35 feet diameter and 300 pound balloon rose to a thousand feet!

Success! The Montgolfier's then built a balloon out of linen cloth to be flown in Paris. It was blue and gold and shined like the bright minds of the kids who had made it. It was 54 feet in diameter and could hold 55,000 cubic feet! Woah! It could also carry 1,700 pounds. They built a basket that could carry some passengers, but Louis XVI didn't like this. He didn't like the idea of letting people go up in the sky. It was probably too risky, he thought. But he did suggest criminals under death sentence going up in the balloon. That's just sick.

A young noblemen with a name that I can't even pronounce, Pilatre de Rozier, said that Criminals shouldn't have that honor as the first in the sky. His friend and him, Marquis d'Arlandes, a military man, volunteered. On Nov. 21st 1783 Louis gave them his blessing. His wife, and Ben Franklin the representative to France, among the 300,000 people in there. Rozier and Arlandes threw straw upon the fire to keep it blazing. And then they went up, up, up. And then....it happened.

Sparks from the fire burned holes through the linen. The two dudes had known what was coming, however. They attached sponges to poles after dipping them in water and put out the patches of the fire. They eventually laded five miles from the point of departure. It was the first manned flight in a hot air balloon, but earlier, however, was a chicken, donkey, and other animals in it were the first living things...well, not if you count the dead paper linen as trees...:)

Scientists from the French Academy of Science observed the flight. It was amazing two kids had made this possible! Professor Jaques Charles, studied it. The lift came from hot air which floated in the cold air, just like planks on the sea. Hot air must be continually lifted to keep it going. But Hydrogen would work better, and even though it would be thin to escape through the linen, the Professor invented a silk fabric with rubber on the sides of it. It was both light and strong. He went up with a friend, and it performed without flaw to the people of Paris. It rose to 1,800 feet, higher than the previous flight. They landed 25 miles away and Charles then went up again by himself. He actually saw, from the rise in altitude, the sun set twice! The rest is history, with Joseph Gay-Lussac making the adjustments we see today, the pulling and stuff like that. But balloons became toys of wars and governments, in the France fight in Algeria, The Civil War, as reconnaise mission stuff and seeing their enemy. The hot air balloon paved the way for heavier-than-air flight.

I got all this from my textbook, but I put it in my own words and added some info. It's Exploring Planet Earth: The Journey of Discovery from Early Civilization to Future Exploration by John Hudson Tiner.

And now you know the history of the hot air balloon. I think I'll write about the day we went in one in a different blog post about that day. I was going to do them in the same but I wrote too much about this one. Please read this one first.

Goodbye for now.

The Blogger. k