The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-07-08
AERONAUTS EVEN
in ANCIENT TIMES
FIRST AUTHENTIC FLIGHT MADE
BY DE ROSTER, A CRIMINAL, IN.
1888. AMERICA SOON CAUGHT
The FEVER AND MANY BAL
LOON RIDES WERE TAKEN.

LOON RIDES WERE TAKEN.
| The first aeronautical voyage his
tory chronicles was that of the legen-
dairy DaedaIus and his son, remarks
an exchange. AS mythology says, the
| father, Daedalus, had some kind of a
tiff with Minos. his majesty, the king
of Crete. One sunny day when the
kingly wrath had reached the boiling
stage, Daedalus and his son, Icarus,
decided different climate would be
good for them. So the wings were
waxed on and they sailed away. But
they rose so high that the heat from
the sun melted the wax and Icarus
dropped into the Icarian sea.
Archytas of Tarentum made a pig
con of wood that flew in the fourth
century; b. G. Simon, the magician,
in 66 A. D., endeavored to do little
air experimentation and broke his
neck. In the reign of the Emperor
Comnenus a Saracen met a similar
fate in Constantinople and flying was
abandoned for a few centuries. Rog-
or Bacon, In the thirteenth century
Dante, the mathematician Of Perguia
who rose on wings above Lake Ira
simene; Oliver OF Malmesbury. the
monk; Bernouin, Besnier, Lana, and
finally the Marquis de Bacqueville, in
the middle of the eighteenth century
dabbled bit In aeronautics.
Hot Air Doomed the Experiments.
Joseph Montgolfier, a paper manu-
facturer of Annonay, France, discov-
cred In 1882 that heat rarihed air
and made 1t occupy a much larger
space than 1t did before being heated
He made a small paralIopiped of taft
feta and filled it with heated air. 1t
rose to the roof Of his apartment and
he was convinced. A large balloon
was made and on June s. 1888, the
first public ascension was made. No
one rode In this Montgolfier. as 1t
was called, but the flight lasted ten
minutes. To commemorate a year
ly festival was established.
Hydrogen had been dicovered by
Cavendish six years before. 1t was
found to have a specific gravity
about one sixteenth of that of air
Two months after Montgolier's tri-
umph Professor Charles of Paris, sent
up an inflated hydrogen balloon which
after travelling fifteen miles was torn
to pieces by the superstitious peasan-
try. A month later another Mont
golfer was sent up containing a
sheep, a cock and duck Louis XVI,
king Of France, witnessed the flight
and he demanded that human should
make an ascension. He ordered that
criminal should be sent up. The fam
Gus Pilatre de Rozier pleaded for the
honor and 1t was granted. On October
is, 1888, the first known ascent, was
made by Rozier in a hot air bag, re-
naming up for four minutes and
twenty-five. seconds.
america Caught the Fever.
In November Of the same year he
made another flight which lasted
twenty minutes and the fad spread.
America caught the fever. and James
Wilcox, a carpenter of Philadelphia
flew over the SchuylEill river in an
aerostat made by the scientists, Rit-
tenhouse and Hopkins. Two other
flights, one Of twenty seven miles in
Montgofier from Paris, and a shorter
one by Professor Charles in a hydrogen
flying known to the world.
voyages were made. the first trip in
England being recorded In September
of that year. A year later the English
channel was crossed from Dover to
Calais by Blanchard and DR. Jeffries,
an American. Blanchard received a
pension from the government for his
fight and Marie Antoinette gave JEFF
fries her card winnings OF the night
he was presented.
So it went. Flight after fight was
made and the fad became more popu-
lar. But on July 10. 1888, Rozier and
companion, M. Romano, were drown
ed in attempting to cross the English
channel. That was the first balloon
accident known.
For almost a century the balloon
scarcely altered in design, all of them
were made with fantastic decorations
and the willow basket was not used.
However, many improvements were
effected in the method OF imitation, the
construction Of the valve, the ripping
panel and the quality Of scientific in
struments used.
Modern Balloons are Similar.
Before 1852 ballooning was looked
upon much as an amusement and In
order to defray the balloonists' ex-
penses the public had to pay to see
their flights. But Creswick and Jas.
Glaisher obtained grants from the
British association in 1862 to make
flights for scientific observations.
which lifted ballooning In England
from the amusement place. They rose
to a height of $4,000 feet during one
ascension, Glaisher became uncons-
cious and temperature Of IL degrees
below zero was recorded.
The size OF the balloons increased,
previous balloons OF the early days
had been of about 10000 cubic feet
capacity, but one was constructed in
Paris OF $4,000 cubic feet in 1853. In
1859 captive balloon Of 100000 cubic
feet was made. However, most mod
ern balloons do not run more than S0,-
600 cubic feet. That is the largest
balloon that is allowed to compete for
the James Gordon Bennett cup race.
In 1886 the record fight was 500 miles
In eighteen hours. In 1870 balloon
made a thousand miles and last year
HawIey and Post established a new
worlds record Of about 1000 miles, fly
ing for the Bennett trophy from st.
Louis.
William 9heehan. MINIMIZING ana