Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1875 — THE HISTORY OF THE BALLOON. [ARTICLE]

THE HISTORY OF THE BALLOON.

The probably-tragic end of Prof. Donaldson and his youthful companion, Mr. Grimwood—at least the mystery which surrounds their fate since Thursday evening 'of last week—invests the subject of aeronautics with an interest which does not attach to it at all times, and which the people of this section may not attach to it again, unless, perhaps, some equally-un-fqrtunate aeronauts from among them may, like Donaldson and Grimwood, meet with an equally-unfortunate death. In view of the present interest of the public in the subject, we have thought that a short history of Aeronautics woul(l be acceptable. The inventors of the balloon were the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, sons ol a paper-manufacturer at a small town called Annonay, in France. The Montgolfier family were ardent Huguenots, and suffered a deal after the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Both brothers were mathematicians and architects. Annonay affords a fine view of the Alps.' The two Montgolfiers had often watched the ascent of clouds along the sides of the mountain, and, being of a reflective cast of mind, they began to inquire into the caupef of the equilibrium of those enormous masses of clouds sailing through the air. They found a theoretical solution; but, not satisfied with this, resolved to test their ability in copying nature. They thought of making artificial clouds, and of sending them to join those that hovered about the tops of the Alps. They enveloped the vapor of water in a light envelope. It rose for a moment; but, the vapor condensing, it soon fell to the ground. They next tried to inclose the smoke produced by the combustion of wood in a linen envelope; but here they met with no better success. They now came across Priestley’s “ Experiment on the Different Kinds of Air,” in which the learned chemist acquainted the world with a great number of new gases and with their properties. Stephen, reflecting on Priestley’s theories, came to the conclusion that it would be possible, by inclosing in a light envelope a gas lighter than air, to cause the whole to rise. He first tried hydrogen; but, the material of his envelope not being able to prevent its escape, his balloon soon returned. The brothers now lighted a Ate, held paperbags over it, and found that, when well filled with the smoke or the heated air, the bag moved rapidly upward. • It was on the sth of June, 1783, that the first public balloon-ascension was effected, under the direction of the Montgolfier brothers. Their balloon was made of 1 linen and was 105 feet in circumference. *lt was heated from little piles of straw and, when set free, rose to a considerable height, traveled ten minutes and then descended, about a mile and a half from the place of departure.

• The ascension of Montgolfier’s balloon created a general sensation wherever the news spread, and other ascensions followed in quick succession. Two brothers of the name of Robert decided to 'repeat the Montgolfier experiment; Hydrogen—at this time known as inflammably air—was used, ifistead of common heated air, to fill the balloon, which was made of silk, varnished with, a species of gum,’ and was about thirteen feet in diameter. The inflation began on the 23d of August, 1783, and was not concluded until the 27th, when it was set free and rose to the height of about 3,000 feet. A vast assemblage of people gathered at the- Champs de Mars -siria witnessed it ascend. The excitement created .by the novel sight in the gay city of Paris was so intense that the crowd did not disperse, although, shortly after the balloon had made its ascent, a heavy shower ot rain began to fail. The rain, however, did not check in any way the flight of the balloon. After remaining in the air a little less than an hour it deft scended, fifteen miles from the Champs de Mars. It met with a very inhospitable reception from the peasantry among whom it fell; for, believing it to be a messenger of Satan, they tore it into shreds. About the middle of the following month Joseph Montgolfier sent up a balloon in the presence of the French royal family at Versailles. This time a cage with a cock, a duck and a sheep for tenants was attached to the bag.' They were carried to a height of 1,50 j feet and returned uninjured after a journey of two miles, performed in eight minutes, to the earth. Francoise Philatre de Rozier was the first human being who ventured to navigate the air. After various experiments in a balloon attached to the ground with ropes he risked himself in a free one, and , his first free ascent was successful. A short time alter other ascents were made by two other French gentlemen, Messrs.

Charles and Robert. Charles reduced the balloon to pretty much the form it has at present. He introduced the netting, the valve and the car. After this balloon ascensions became a rather every-day affair. The first American balloon ascension took place in 1783 and the first English one in the same year. Of the most noted balloon ascensions we haye space to mention but a few. That of Lunardi, secretary to the Ambassador from Naples to England, is remarkable more for the excitement its novelty produced in London than from any wonderful incidents connected with his aerial trip or any new discovery inade by him. His balloon was thirty-three feet in diameter, and, when exhibited at the Lyceum, in the Strand, attracted vast numbers to see it. He made his ascension Sept. 15, 1784, from the artillery grounds in the presence of the Prince of Wales and a vast concourse of people. He took a pigeon, a cat and a dog with hjm, and hoped to steer the balloon upward or downward by means of oars, a large number of which he took with him. The pigeon flew 'away, and he descended after he had been up an hour and a half, to deposit the cat, which was suffering from the cold, on terra firma. One of his oars broke and fell. A lady, supposing it to be the aeronaut himself, was so much affected that she died. A jury sitting at a criminal trial acquitted a young man accused of felony, rather than run the risk of not witnessing the ascension. The King, in consultation with his Ministers, dissolved the meeting in order to enjoy the new sensation. Lunardi descended the second time at Standon, near Ware. He became the lion of the day and the center of attraction for a time, and was presented at court, all of which encouraged others to ascend from English soil, and the Italian soon found a great many Englishmen to emulate his daring. Among these were Blanchard, who, accompanied by an American physician, crossed the Channel in 1785. This is the first time it was crossed. Philatre de Rozier attempted to repeat Blanchard’s featonthe 15th of June, 1785, leaving’Boulogne for England. He used two balloons, or rather a double balloon, one afire-balloon, ten feet in diameter, and the other a gas-balloon thirty-sev-en feet in diameter. The fire-balloon was placed under the gas-balloon, and when the aeronaut wished to ascend or descend he increased the fire in the fire-bal-loon, and thus avoided a waste of gas. The ascent was successfully made; but after the balloons had been in the air about half an hour they were discovered to be in flames. Rozier and his companion, Romain, fell from a height of 3,000 feet, and both were killed—the former instantly, the latter surviving a few moments only. Others have frequently tried to cross the Channel. Crosbie, who was the first to ascend from Ireland, tried it in 1785 and fell into the sea, but was rescued by a passing vessel." Lunardi, already mentioned, also fell into the sea in a similar endeavor and was saved in like manner.

Nadar’s balloon, constructed in Paris in 1863, had a capacity of 200,000 cubic feet of gas. There were two stories to the car. He made two ascents in the “ Giant,” the first time carrying thirteen persons and the second nine. The first trip was a very short one. The second lasted seventeen hours, and was brought to a close 400 miles from Paris, the place of departure. It was a very difficult thing to land the monster. It dragged along the ground, in consequence of the high wind blowing, a distance of seven miles, and no one in thecar escaped entirely uninjured. The largest balloon ever constructed was probably. Godard’s fire-balloon. It had a capacity of nearly 500,000 cubic feet of gas, and was heated by an eighteenfoot stove which, with the chimney, weighed 980 pounds! A couple of successful ascensions were made with this balloon in 1864 from Cremorne Gardens. The ascents of M. Glaisher in the interest of science, in 1862, are among the most remarkable ever made. He made in all about twenty-eight ascents, reaching various heights. The greatest height reached was on Sept. 5, 1862, when he rose nearly seven miles from the earth. His description of this ascent is exceedingly interesting. He left the ground at three minutes after one p. m. The temperature at starting was 59, and the dewpoint 50- One mile above the temperature was 41 and the dew-point 38. “Shortly after, we entered a cloud of about 1,100 feet in thickness, in which the temperature of the air fell to 36% degrees, the dew-point being the same, indicating that the air here was saturated with moisture. On emerging from the cloud at 1.17 we came upon a flood of strong sun-light, with a beautiful blue sky, without a cloud above us, and a magnificent sea of clouds below —the surface being varied with endless .hills, hillocks, mountainchains and many snow-white masses rising from it.” When five miles high the voyagers experienced some difficulty in. breathing; and when they had attained the elevation of 29,000 feet M. Glaisher laid his arm on the table, possessed, he says, of its full vigor, but, on being desirous of using it, he found it powerless. He continues: “ I tried to move the other arm and found it powerless also. I then tried to shake myself and succeeded in shaking my body. I seemed to have no limbs. I then looked at the barometer and whilst doing it my head fell on my left shoulder. I struggled and shook my body again, but could not move my arms. I got my head upright, but for an instant only, when it fell on my right shoulder, and then I fell backward, my back resting on the side of the car and my 1 head on its edge. When I shook my body I seemed to have power over the muscles of my back and considerable power over those of my neck, but none over either my arms or my legs; in fact, I seemed to have none. As in the case of the arms, all muscular power was lost in an instant from my back and neck. I dimly saw Mr. Cogswell (his companion) in the ring, and endeavored to speak, but could not; when, in an instant, intense dark blackness came, the optic nerve finally lost power suddenly. I was still conscious, with as active 'a brain as at the present moment while writing this. I thought I had been seized with asphyxia and that I should experience no more, as death would come unless we speedijv descended. Other thoughts were actively

entering my mind "when I suddenly became unconscious, as on going to sleep. . . . My last observation was made at 1:54, at 29,000 feet. Whilst powerless, I heard the words temperature and observation, and I knew Mr. Cogswell was in the car speaking to me and endeavoring to arouse me. . . . Therefore, consciousness and hearing had returned. I then heard him speak more emphatically, but I could not see, speak or move. I heard him again say: ‘Do try —now do!’ Then I saw the instruments dimly, then Mr. Cogswell, and very shortly saw clearly. I rose in my seat and walked round, as though waking from sleep, though not refreshed by sleep, and said to Mr. Cogswell: ‘ I have been insensible.’ He said: ‘ You have, and I, too, verynearly.’ . . . Mr. Cogswell told me he had lost the use of his hands, which were black, and I poured brandy over them.” At that height it was intensely cold. Hoar frost formed around the neck of the balloon. Mr. Cogswell’s hands were frozen. The water in the vessel supplying the wet-bulb thermometer was solid ice. Pigeons let out of the balloon at six or seven miles dropped dowm like so much lead. While M. Glaisher was insensible it is estimated that the balloon reached a height of 37,000 feet, or seven miles. The above extracts are taken from the British Association report, and are to be found, with much more, in the article on Aeronautics in the first volume of the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica— an article which has been of frequent use in verifying some of the facts above adduced. The author of the article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica says that the number of accidents that have occurred bears but a very small proportion to the number of successful attempts that have been made. Of 471 adventurers only nine w r ere killed; and, of these, one owed his death to bravado, and six to the dangers attendihg the use of the fire-balloon. It must be remembered that most of these 471 adventurers made several ascents. Balloons were extensively used in the American and Franco-Prussian wars. One that left Paris during the siege landed near Christiana, Norway, fifteen hours after its ascent —having in the meantime crossed the North Sea. Great efforts have been made to devise some means of guiding balloons ■ but the medium in which they are necessarily immersed subjects them to such a complex system of forces that it is doubtful if it will ever be possible to navigate them securely. —Chicago Tribune, July 25.