New-York tribune., 1921-02-20
First Real Balloon
vente d i'm l782S.
By Two Frencllmen
Brothers Got idea by Watch
ing Smoke Curl Upward
From Fires Then Expert
nlented With Paper Bag

NA6biNGiQN, Feh. THE sd-
ventures of three naval aeronauts and
the international interest in their safe
return from the frczep Canadian
north recall numerous historic at
tempts of man to fulfill for himself
on earth the ages-old feeling that he
would have wings some day" says a
bulletin from the headquarters of the
National Geographic Society in Wash
ngton.
"These American hirdmen who got
their noses and cars nipped by the
cold performed no such feat as did
paedalus, who, some thousands OF
years ago in the age of myths, few
near enough to the sun to melt the
wax on his wings. Daedalus's expert
ment and the attempted flight of GER
tain monk called Elmerus, who. John
wilkins, one Of the founders of the
Royal Society of England. tells us, flew
for distance of more than an eighth
ef mile from q town in Spain, are
sufficient evidence, however, to accord
10 aviation the palm for being the
older Of the flying arts.
"Balloonng, though less romantic in
It's appeal and decidedly more common
place and placid looking in it's appear
ance, may perhaps be considered the
John the Baptist of both arts as they
are practiccd to-day, as its progress
has been steadily on the upgrade since
Roger Bacon, back in the thirteenth
century, propounded the theory that a
hollow globe of very thin metal, filled
with ethereal air or liquid fire, would
float upward on the atmosphere.
Dew Suggested as Filler
"From that day priests, philosophers
and scientists put forward the idea that
a light sphere could be made to rise
and float in the upper atmosphere.
Almost every conceivable thing was
suggested for filling these balloons.
One of the most amusing was the
morning dew, since that substance, ac-
cording to their suggestions, was shed
by the stars during the night and
would be drawn back TO heaven in the
day by the heat of the sun.
"As the result of watching the clouds
the brothers Joseph and Jacques Mont
golfer, of Annonay, France, in 1882,
invented the first real balloon. They
concluded that if the vapor of the
upper air large bag filled with such
vapor might rise and drift about as
The clouds do.
"Another interesting story is told
about the Montgolfer brothers origi
mating the idea. They were watching
the smoke wreaths curl upward from
their FIRE when one of them began
wondering if the smoke could not carry
other things up with it too. In the
enthusiasm of the moment they made
2 small fire on little tin tray and
held a large paper bag over it, With
delight they watched the bag fill out
and try to rise, A neighborc, widow,
seeing the smoke issuing from their
window and fearing that the house was
on fire, went running into the reem.
She suggested that they attach the
tray to the bag and the immediate
result was that the bag rose to the
ceiling.
after several private try-outs, they
announced a public%ascene OF balloon
on June 5, 1888, and many spectators
gathered to see this sphere, 1O5 feet
in circumference, which the inventors
inflated with the hot air from burning
straw, rise high in the air and float
off for about one and a half miles.
The brothers believed for quite Whlle
that they had hit upon some peculiar
quality in the straw which had lifting
properties and did not realize until
later that Aeir wonder ball had risen
only because Of the lightness of
heated air. But they made the balloon
a reality.
"From this time forward the physi-
csts in France and elsewhere took
seriously this infant invention which
had suddenly made its appearance in
their midst. Subscriptions We're taken
up to further the project, the Roberts
brothers constructed a balloon, the
noted scientist, Charles, conceived the
idea of filing it with hydrogen, and
day for the ascent was set. The crowd
that gathered was great and curious
and so interfered with the operations
that the balloon had to be moved to
another place, but the eager throng,
not to be outdone, learned its where
abouts and were there to see the per
fomance. The sphere rose 5000 feet
in the air amid the rain, which some
had thought would be an obstacle
to the wild enthusiasm of the specta-
tors.
Experiment at Versailles