II 



BALLOON. 



BALLOON. 



one could help feeling a mingled sentiment of fear and admiration. 

 The voyagers were soon undistinguishable, bift the machine, hovering 

 upon the horizon, and displaying the moot beautiful figure, rote at least 



AAA u* klI* ul ... I _^ .11.1 i : . . . i _ Jl i- _ 43 * 



described a horisonUl line of 7SOO feet, and gradually sank. Thisballoon 

 ooatamed nothing but heated air, maintained in a state of raref*cti< .n by 

 a Ore. the receptacle of which wa* attached underneath the globe of paper, 

 which bad an orifice opening downward*. Machines on this principle 

 wen called M<mlf4jkn, to distinguish them from the hydrogen 

 balloons, which were soon afterward* introduced. It was immediately 

 raaohred to repeat the experiment with hydrogen inclosed in lutestring, 

 which had been dipped in the solution of Indian rubber. A subscrip- 

 tion was opened, and the balloon was ready for filling on the 23rd of 

 August The gas was obtained in the usual manner, by the action of 

 dilute sulphuric acid on iron filings. But the difficulty of filling the 

 maehine wa* wry considerable ; and it wa* not till after two or three 

 trial* that success wa* attained. The first aerial vovagers were a sheep, 

 a cock, and a duck, who were sent up in Hontgolfier'a experiment of 

 the IMh of September, in the tame year, at Paris. All came down 

 safe with the exception of the second, whose wing was hurt It was 

 judged prudent not to trust human life to a free balloon till the experi- 

 ment of holding the machine with ropes had been tried. In this manner 

 M. Piltos da Rosier ascended 100 feet on the 15th of October, and 824 

 fast on the 19th. The first persons who offered to leave the earth entirely 

 wore the Marquis d'Arlande* and M. Pilatre de Roxier; and they per- 

 formed this feat at the Chateau de la Muette. near Paasy, November 21 , 

 1 7 3, in a Mimlyoljiir. Of this most interesting of all balloon ascents, 

 the ' Praote Verbal ' gave the following account : " To day, November 

 21, 1783, at the Chateau de la Muette, took place an experiment with 

 the aerostatic machine of M. de Montgolfier. The sky was partly 

 clouded, wind north-west At eight minutes after noon, a mortar 

 gave notice that the machine waa about to be filled. In eight minutes, 

 notwithstanding the wind, it was ready to set off, the Marquis d'Arlandes 

 and M. PiUtre de Roder being in the car. It was at first intended to 

 retain the machine a while with ropes, to judge what weight it would 

 bear, and see that all was right. But the wind prevented it from rising 

 vertically, and directed it towards one of the garden walks ; the ropes 

 made several rents in it, one of six feet long. It was brought down 

 again, and in two hours wa* set right. Having been filled again, it set 

 off at fifty-four minute* past one, carrying the same persons. It rose 

 in the most majestic manner, and when it was about 270 feet high, the 

 intrepid voyagentook off their hate and saluted the spectators. No 



at fear and admin 

 the machine, hovering 



tif " 



3000 feet high, and remained viable all the time. It crossed the Seine 

 below the barrier of La Conference ; and passing thence between the 

 Ecole Militaire and the Hotel des Invalidee, was in view of all Paris. 

 The voyagers, satisfied with their experiment, and not wishing to travel 

 farther, agreed to descend; but seeing that the wind was carrying 

 them upon the houses of the Rue de Seve, Faub. St. Germain, 

 they preserved their presence of mind, increased the fire, and continued 

 their course through the air till they had crossed Paris. They then 

 descended quietly on the plain, beyond the new boulevard, opposite 

 the mill of Croulebarbe, without having felt the slightest inconvenience, 

 and having in the car two-thirds of their fuel. They could then, if 

 they had wished, have gone three times as far as they did go, which 

 was 6000 toises, done in from 20 to 25 minutes. The machine was 

 70 feet high, 46 feet in diameter ; it contained 60,000 cubic feet, and 

 carried a weight of from 1600 to 1700 pounds." The Manpiis d'Arlandes 

 wrote a lively and instructive account of the ascent, in a letter to M. de 

 8t Fond ; but it is too long to be given here. 



The second voyage was that of MM. Charles and Robert, Dec. 1, 

 1783, from the Tuileries, in a hydrogen balloon of 26 feet diameter, 

 all experiments on the use of hydrogen for the purpose having pre- 

 viously been on a very limited scale. After coming down, M. Charle* 

 responded alone, and was soon 1500 toises high, or nearly two miles. 

 A small balloon, launched by Montgolfier just before the ascent, was 

 found to have run a totally different course, which first gave rise to 

 the suspicion of different directions in the currents of air at different 



'The third voyage, from Lyon, January 19, 1784, was made in the 

 largest Mmtgnlfer yet construct*.) (102 feet diameter, 126 feet high) 

 by seven persons, among whom were J. Montgolfier and M. de Rosier. 

 It had been intended for *ix only, and these were found too many, but 

 no persuasion could induce any one to abandon his place. The instant 

 after the ropes had been cut, a seventh person jumped in. A rent in 

 the balloon caused it to descend with perilous velocity, but no one 

 was hurt 



This amount of success led to great activity in ballooning. Shortly 

 before the ascent of MM. Charles and Robert, a hydrogen balloon 

 was launched in London by Count Zambeccari. in 1784 a small 

 nall4>nn was sent across the Knglish Channel, travelling from Sandwich 

 to Lisle at the rate of 30 mile* an hour. In the same year, M. Blanchard 

 ascended from Paris with a balloon provided with wings, a rudder, and 

 a parachute ; the wings and rudder were found to be useless ; but the 

 parachute, o|.ening like an umbrella, tended to break the velocity of the 

 descent About the same time, MM. de Morveau and Bertrand 

 ascended 13,000 feet at Dijon, in a balloon provided experimentally 

 with oars. On one occasion, in 1784, two gentlemen and four ladles 

 accompanied Montgomer in a 'captive' balloon, held in position by 

 rope* ; and on another occasion a lady ascended at Lyon with an 



aeronaut in a free balloon. Before the end of that year, Lnnardi 

 ascended in a balloon from London. In 1785 Blanchard and Jeffrie* 

 crossed the English Channel in a balloon, narrowly escaping precipi- 

 tation in theses. In the Mine year, MM. Pilatre de Racier and I. 

 ascended from Boulogne in a Montgaljler at 87 feet in diameter, with the 

 intention of crossing the Channel. They had not been twenty minutes 

 in the air when the balloon took fire. Both fell from a height of 1000 

 yards, and were killed on the spot In 1802 General Money ascended 

 at Norwich ; the balloon dropped into the water, in which the tr 

 remained six hours before he was rescued. In the same year M. Gm 

 descended successfully from a balloon by means of a parachute, near 

 the Small-pox Hospital, St. Pancru, London. The height n. m which 

 he descended waa so great that he could scarcely be distinguished. At 

 first namely, before the parachute opened he fell with a gre> 

 city ; but as soon as it was expanded, the descent became very gentle 

 and gradual. In 1804, Messrs. Gay Lussao and Biot ascended at Paris 

 to a height of 13,000 feet, provided with apparatus for making certain 

 scientific experiments. The same year M. Gay Lusaac ascended alone 

 to a height of 23,000 feet In 1806, Carlo Bnoschi, astronomer royal 

 at Naples, ascended with Signor Andreani, who had previously been 

 the first Italian aeronaut Trying to rise higher than M. Gay LURKOC 

 had done, they got into an atmosphere so rarefied as to burnt the 

 1. ill. ...ii. Ite remnants checked the velocity of their descent ; and thii. 

 with their falling on an open space, saved their lives, but Brioschi 

 contracted a complaint which brought him to his grave. 



It would be neither possible nor useful to trace the records of 

 balloon ascents in any detail ; but a few notice* of the course of 

 experiments during the last half century may be desirable. 



Although much has been suggested, scarcely anything has been 

 accomplished towards rendering balloons available for any p. 

 use. Little has been done towards guiding a balloon. Many of the 

 schemes which have been proposed for the purpose, evince a singular 

 disregard of the essential difference between a ship and a balloon. The 

 former sails in two fluids of very different density ; and the act i. n of 

 the water, the denser of the two, upon the rudder, is a guide to the 

 impelling power derived from the air or lighter or less dense element ; 

 tiut no such regulator can be applied to the balloon, which is sustained, 

 as well as impelled, by the air. 



Mr. Green has been the most successful of our aeronaut*. He was 

 the first to introduce the use of common coal gas instead of li\ 

 gas for the purpose of inflation, by which an immense saving of 

 effected, and the buoyancy of the balloon may be longer main: 

 as coal gas is far less liable to escape than hydrogen. Mr. ' 

 accompanied by Messrs. Holland and Mouck Mason, made the remark- 

 able voyage undertaken on the 7th of November 1836, with the Great 

 Nassau balloon. Intending to cross over to the Continent, these 

 voyagers started from Vauxhall Gardens, London, at half-past one on 

 the above-named day, crossed the Channel, continued their voyage 

 through the night, and descended at half-past seven the following 

 morning in the valley of Elbem, about two leagues from \\Yillnirg, in 

 the duchy of Nassau. The balloon with which this feat was jierforiiied 

 was of silk, more than 60 feet high, and ;r 

 contained, when fully dint 'tided, more than 85,000 cubic f. 



Much ingenuity continues to be unprofitably wasted on ballooning. 

 Tear after year contrivances are brought forward which have l>ef<ue 

 been shown to be unsound in theory. In 1840 Messrs. Marsh and 

 Kanwell suggested a complicated machine, consisting of a light metallic 

 frame, to which about twenty small balloons were attached. Sir George 

 Cayley proposed a light kind of frame, exposing about 500 square 

 feet of surface, to which some sort of steering apparatus was to be 

 attached. Mr. Partridge has drawn attention to a machine which had 

 somewhat the appearance of an ovoid balloon, with a complicated appa- 

 ratus of sails and vanes, and a steam-engine fed with liquid fuel ! 

 M. Kiibriot, in 1889, made an oblong balloon, with a car provided with 

 sails. He expected that the car and sails would guide the Iwlloon ; 

 but when the machine was tried at Paris, the balloon guided the car, 

 as it is the wont of balloons to do. Mr. Green himself, in 1840, 

 exhibited a model at the Polytechnic Institution, of an app 

 which he expected would suffice to guide a ballo.ui, l.ut nothing satis- 

 factory resulted. .About that same year, Dr. Polli, of Milan, suggested 

 that the structure of a fish should form a model for an 

 inoti\e; but ho was forestalled in this obvious but fallacious idea by 

 other parties in Kngland. In 1842, Mr. Henson took out his patent for 

 that "aerial machine" which lived its little day of popularity.. -md tin n 

 went out of sight. A small steam-engine, in a car, wan to pro]..-! a 

 light framework 150 feet long ; and a tail .Ml feet loni; w:n to serve a* 

 a rudder at one end ; but whether the machine rould raie itself to a 

 height, or could propel itself by the engine, or could steer itself t.v (lie 

 tail, were inquiries never satisfactorily answered. Next came M. Monge's 



balloon, constructed at Paris in 1844; it was about I 

 diameter, formed of sheet copper Mth of an inch thick, w. 

 800 Ibs., and was capable of containing lOfl Ibs. of hydrogen. The 

 egg-shape, the fish-shape, the fan-shape, the kite-shape, all have been 

 proposed, time after time. Mr. Bell patented two machines a ///. 

 vi<r, having both a sustaining and a propelling power ; and a para- 

 chute motor, having a propelling power which constituted it 

 sustaining power. The plan lowed ingenious upon paper, but this is 

 not very nigh praise. 



