The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-10-23
feet; Rene Cashier, pilot; Charles Levec.


fleet; Rene Cashier, pilot; Charles Icvec
4 aid.
German balloon. Abercron. 10000 ct,'
lbic feet: paul Nickel pilot; Rudolph
4 Denig. aid.
/ American balloon. st. Louis, 1900
cubic feet; Allen II. inwley. pilot; An.
gustus post aid.
1 1T was expected that they would
start IN the order named. the Po,nmern
taking flight at 4 r. Nj. and others fol.
lowing In their order. with All interval
or five minutes each between the sew
/ ernl ascensons.
! The balloon is of comparatively re-
cent invention, the germ OF the inven-
ton being found In the discovery by
Gayendish In 1875 OF the remarkable
ilghtness of hydrogen. gas. lie made
I some experiments. but they had no
practical vsluc at the time. The In
vention of the balloon. says one of our
reference books. is due to two broth
ers. Stephen and Joseph MontEoltler,
papermakers at Annonay, France. IT
struck these brothers. on reading Cav.
endish's different Kinds of Air. that
the air could be rendered havigable by
inclosing a light gas with covering Of
nconsi derable weight. Led by their
avocation, they fixed upon paper as the
most fitting material for the purpose
and first attempted to make balloons
OF that material. filed with intlam-
.mable air. They were not successful.
and instead of abandoning paper as u
covering. sought another gas more
suited to the paper. But their second
experiments were no better than the
first Nothing daunted. however. at
Avignon in 1852, Stephen Montgolfier
caused n silk para.lelopiped of about
fifty cubic feet to rise to the roof OF
tile room. Encouraged by this success.
the brothers finally. in June, 1888, In
tile presence of an immense multitude,
raised balloon tthirty-five feet in
diameter to height of 1900 feet. IL
was made of packcloth. covered with
paper and was heated by all iron chafer
placed beneath 1t, in which ten
pounds of moist straw and wool were
burned. When the news Of this eX-
pertinent reached Paris it caused a.
profound sensation. and a commission
was appointed by the Academy of
Science to repor: upon it. But the
people could not wait. and Il subscrip-
ton was raised to defray the expense
or repeating the Annonay experiment.
The work of construction was COM
mitted to the brothers Robert, famous
at the time for the making of philoso-
phical Instruments. and Professor
Charles young physicist of reputc.
Professor Charles decided to use hydro
gen gas. although the making Of the
quantity necessary was a formidable
But he trlumphed over
all difficulties. and in the course of
four days filled silk balloon twelve
feet in diameter. This balloon was
TO the Champs de Mars. and
on August o. 1883, assembled in the
presence of 100000 spectators. In No
vember following Pilatre des Rosters
and companion constructed a balloon,
hlled 1t with heated air and made an
aerial flight. They remained in the
air twenty-five minutes. and sailed over
the Seine.
Isrom that time on men have been
working on the problem of aerial navi-
cation. and it is interesting that the
first successful airship was sailed by
santos-D umont. more than hundred
years later. in the same, atmosphere in
which the first balloon carried a pas
senger.