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Article #173: The History of the Hot-Air Balloon

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Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier were both how the upper atmosphere would affect
sons of a successful paper manufacturer, living creatures. The king suggested
Pierre Montgolfier. Joseph was a dreamer using criminals in an experiment, but the
and inventor. Etienne was practical, with inventors ultimately chose to use animals
a talent for business. As was the custom for the first attempt.
at the time, however, their father In September of 1783, the Montgolfier
arranged to leave his factory to the brothers launched a balloon with a basket
oldest son, Raymond. Both Joseph and attached. The basket contained a sheep, a
Etienne were sent away to learn other duck, and a rooster. Within eight
crafts. minutes, the balloon rose to a height of
Shortly after taking control of the over 450 metres and traveled more than 3
factory, however, Raymond died kilometers. The extra weight made it
unexpectedly. Etienne was called back to unstable, however; it tipped crazily and
take over the family business. He became eventually crashed. All of the animals
very successful, incorporating the latest escaped unscathed.
cutting-edge technology to his paper mill Experiments with human passengers began
and winning government grants and later that year. At first, the balloons
recognition for his achievements. were tethered to the ground. The first
Joseph, however, continued to dream. untethered flight was made in November.
According to popular myth, he conceived The two passengers were a young doctor
of the idea for a hot air balloon while and an army officer, both of whom had
idly watching some laundry dry over a volunteered. Their flight lasted about 25
fire. He noticed that billowing pockets minutes, reached a height of 100 metres,
of air were forming in the cloth as it and covered about 9 kilometres. They
warmed. As he noticed this, he thought could have gone longer, but the fire
about the fortress of Gibraltar, which keeping the balloon aloft had started to
had never been taken by land or sea. He scorch the cloth. The two aviators had to
started to consider whether it could be apply wet sponges to the cloth while
taken by air, with troops carried high aloft to keep it from incinerating, and
over its walls in craft powered by the they landed as soon as they came to an
same force that was causing the cloth to open field.
billow. During the time the Montgolfiers were
Soon after, Joseph started his first developing their hot air balloon, they
experiment with flight. He built a were under pressure from competing
box-like frame of lightweight wood, about inventors using hydrogen. Hydrogen gas
a metre long on all sides, and covered it was discovered in 1768, and hydrogen
with delicate taffeta. He then lit a balloons were being developed at the same
piece of paper on fire beneath this time. Eventually, hydrogen balloons
impromptu balloon. To Joseph's surprise, became the dominant flight technology,
it shot up and crashed into the ceiling. and hot air balloons were relegated to
He immediately wrote a letter asking his novelty status.
brother Etienne to come with a large The modern hot air balloon is a fairly
supply of taffeta and rope. recent development. In 1960, inventor and
Together, the brothers built a larger engineer Ed Yost revived the
balloon-this one about three metres by Montgolfiers' old design, updating it
three. This one was a bit too successful. with plastic lining and a kerosene
In its first test flight, in December of burner. Yost was an engineer involved in
1782, it shot so quickly into the air the development of high-altitude weather
that the brothers lost control. It balloons. He attempted several
floated over two kilometers before record-breaking feats in his modern hot
crash-landing in a field. air balloon, including a successful
After a few more experiments, the crossing of the English channel and an
brothers decided to give a public unsuccessful attempt to cross the
demonstration to establish their claim on Atlantic. Even though his Atlantic
their invention. In June 1783, they sent attempt failed, it set several records
up an unmanned balloon in front of a for flight time and distance covered.
crowd of French dignitaries. It rose to Later, another pilot successfully crossed
an estimated height of 2,000 metres, and the Atlantic using Yost's balloon design.
news of their invention quickly spread Today's hot air balloons use propane
throughout France. The inventors made burners and rip-stop nylon, and they've
several more demonstrations in Paris. never been safer to ride. The next time
So far, all demonstrations had been you're floating above the earth in a hot
unmanned. But the inventors were eager to air balloon, remember: you're seeing the
see whether living beings could withstand world as the first inventors of flight
such a flight. At the time, nobody knew saw it, over two hundred years ago.






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