Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-05-29
The First Balloon Ascension.

WE have said that balloons were invent
ed in France. 1t is to the brothers Mont
| golfer that the discovery is attributed.
| These two brothers, James and Joseph,
were paper manufacturers at Annony,
and they had already distinting guished
themselves by the invention of a machine
known as the Hydraulic ram" (belier
| hydr0ulaque) when they contrived their
| first balloon, in the year 1888. This bal
| loon was of enormous size, being thirty
five feet in diameter, 10 feet in circumfer-
ence, and able to hold $4,000 cubic feet of
air 1t was made of canvas, lined with
| paper, and weighed 500 pounds The ex-
citement occasioned by its first trial in
| public was extraordinary, for people made
| up their minds that the secret of aerial
| navi igation had been discovered, and that
henceforth the highroads of the heavens
would be open to everybody. The first
| balloon, however, ascended alone without
carrying any one with it. A large aperture
had been contrived in the lower part, and
under it was lit straw fire, which intro
duccd into the canvas globe % 300 cubic
| feet of hot air. much lighter consequently
than the surrounding atmosphere; for it
is one the properties of heat to dilate all
the bodies which it penetrates, and to
make them fill much larger
space than when they are cold.
1t is thus that a volume Of air,
heated at a temperature of boiling
water ii. e., 100 degrees centigrade, or 212
degrees Fahrenheit), is greater by 37-10O
than at the temperature of 0 degrees
centigrade (32 degrees Fahrenheit), and
that, at the temperature of $50 degrees
centigrade $3.50 degrees Fahrenheit, it be-
comes almost double. The hot air thus
Il Io 3ln Ill I'D
and met with no resistance but that of the
canvas covering; by degrees, however, it
became so light that its weight, added to
that of the balloon, was less than an equal
volume of surrounding air. whereupon, to
the astonishment and delight of the spec
tators, the "Montgolfieren rose majestical-
ly from the earth, and scared aloft to the
height of 200 or 800 feet.
This experiment was repeated every
where with equal success, and on the 18th
of October, 1888, NJ. Pilatre des Rosters
and the Marquis of Arlande ventured
courageou.ly into a car fastened beneath
the balloon, and rose several times to
height of 800 feet. The balloon was held
in by cables. This success emboldened
them, and on the 21st November-a great
dav in aeronautical annals-the two in
trepid noblemen determined upon a free
ascension. The starting-place appointed
was at Bois de BOulogue, and all Paris
turned out of doors to witness the sensa-
tional spectacle. As the Marquis of Ar
lande was stepping into the car, Louis
XVI, who was present, spoke with some
concern of the dangers which might at
tend the experiment. Sire" answered
the Marquis who was an officer, and who
had been long waiting for oftpromised
but oft-deferred promotion, Sire, your
Majesty's Minister Of War has made me
so many promises in the air, and has suf-
fered me to build so many castles in the
same place, that am going up to take
look at both" The balloon rose magnifi-
Gently, scared to height of nearly 1900
yards, and, after crossing right over Paris,
fell, at the end Of seventeen minutes, at
six miles from its starting point 1t is
needless to add that the Marquis obtained
his promotion, the King saying, as he
gave it him in person: You have gone
higher, sir, of yourself than l can ever
raise you u'-CornhsK Magazine.