THE RISE OF THE BALLON.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 30, 30 October 1907, Page 4

THE RISE OF THE BALLON.

HISTORY OF iviAN'S ATTEMPT TO CON,'i QTJERTHE'AIR. . »In view of the' British Government's experiments with the dirigible balloon and the consequent interest taken at the present time in the progress of aeronautics it- is (writes Mj-. William Marshall in the "Daily Express") to .find how completely tho early, history •of this science has been allowed to drift,.into obscurity. '. '; •'

w ''TM r o" v ap"jic'aH'w belief that balloons are the'primitive means: i os* aerial' navigation, while flying. machines, of' various- types are a later development'.] .'■But whereas the earliest '.use:of balloons,-at' all events in' Europe,- can be fixed with toler-: a.ble'cprtaiiity; tho origin of mechanical dc-'; : vlc'os fur Achieving the conquest of. tho air: is/lost .in .the mists of antiquity. , / Thai 'the..legend of Daedalus-'.and his ill-; fatoil J 'sbriiia'd some foundation in fact seemsfiteviUp shown, '.by. .tho stories of Archytas of.: Ta'fentum'.and his kites four centuries before; our era, of Archimedes, the defender, of Syracuse, of Simon the Magician, who broke his; '"fleck""!!!'" t'h'd-'Eorumi'iarid of tlie lV Saracen'at : Coiistantir.pple. So 'wo come down;.to. Dante,' the mathematician of Perouso, who rose oil, .-.wings* aboy.o-...Lako Trasimene, to Oliver of Maltnesbury, the monk, to Bcrnouin, Bcsnicr; ant), Lana, .and finally.to the, Marquis do Bac.qu&illei;. in. the : , middle/'Of .the -eighteenth century."''"*•":'"■' ' ■- - • " - ■/■- . ' . -'•"•

'. 1 ' 'yigfeOVEßY'. OF HYDROGEN. - About,this time events occurred which practical)y<uirnerl the-"attentioii:bf.inventor's tor'a' hundred years from flying machines. In 1767. following immediately upon tho discovery of : hydrpgeh:by>Cavendish, Dr. Black, ,of Edin'burgli/pointed''out that a vessel filled with' this gas would-rise-in the air, and on Juno ' ; -M,'C1782,/Professor Tiberius Cavallo road; before'the Royal Society a paper which pro-, •posed-the use of hydrogen for. aerostats.: : ' Almost simultaneously tho brothers Etienne and .Joseph,;, Mohtgolfier,. -who'.'were •-. papor,, manufacturers, as a.result of•,reading.Priest-ley's'-'•'Experiments' Relating 'to' Different »l£incls'~'6f""Air,""iiivenfed"tho hot-air or fire balloon, and on June 5, 1783, the first Mont-'' golfiero ascended at Annonay, Auvergno. ,To commemorate their -in'vcntibij;.; a yearly, festival was. c^stablis.he;d,;i'of,-:!wh'iyx v tiidp Cure is the derfpa'tch;oFa huge Mohtgolfierp. .' On August 27 of' the/sairie.year. Professor .Charles, of Paris, seems,to/ have sent up' the jfirst 'with. 'niable air," ''which';" after,-tr'a/elling fifteen miles, Was torn to, pieces by" the superstitious peasantry. In September,, at Versailles, in the presence of Louis XVI., Joseph .Montgoliier sont up aTire-balloon'.carrying'ashcep, a cock, .and:iv duck being to''a-SCentl 'ap'p'eklV, t'o/', ISto : ' beejV' the famous Pilatre de Rozier,'who on' October;lo went up from a garden _,in the Faubourg St. Aiitoinc. Louis had decided to make, the'first experiments with, criminals,, but do Rozicr petitioned the King: that he might go, asking: why.so great an'honour, should be deputed to '•'ai'irihifna'l..''.'■'';.■.'':".'■''!' v ''."'').'!''• ' ."'/■.-;•'

..".Orf'November 21,tho^first voyage was/made in a:;|i'ra-ba!!ooii; by 'dellozier and-tho/.Mar-q'uis''d''Arlahdes, anU.lasYed twenty,minutes. La. ..thoi. same month,' quite independently. James Wilspx/a.carpcnter,/went.'up over 'the •'Schuylkill- River, ■in vtraericaV his balloon be'ing v madc'ln-' the'scientists Itittenhouso and Hopkins, 'of' 'Philadelphia. In December the brothers Robert travelled from ..Paris co Ncsie, a distance of twentf-seven miles; innd an ascent was.also mode in a hydrogen balloon by Robert and Dr. Charles, who suggested the valve and sand T ballast, \

:-;■■., /FIFTY; TRIPS!' /" •; In.tho noxt year, 1784, ballooning had be'come'. more;- popular, and more than fifty /voyages or asceuts were made. .'■' Ballooning now began ,to excite much attention in England l , and soon became a fashion.ablo craze: The first'ascent, ia the' United , Kingdom was made by James Tytler, from Comely Gardens, Edinburgh, his fire-balloon descending about half a Hiilo from the start. On, September 15 tho first.ascent in England was.rtnade by,-a/'Venetian, Vinccnzo Lunardi,. secretary;;to :the .'Neapolitan Embassv in London. Ho started iiy the presonco of thfc Prince of "Wales from tho Royal Artillery Giounds, "Moorlields, and descended in the parish of Standon, near Ware. ■ De MoretT to whose venture Dr. Johnson subscribed, had tried to anticipate Lunardi,. but his balloon fell on the fire,and was destroyed ..by the v mob':"'on October 12, James Sadler accomplished asu'ccL's's'ful voyage,from Oxford;'.tV'Hartwell,. n.qar ,Aylesbury. In later, years bis son crossed from Dublin to Holyhead." In' the same month, October 10,' 178i,..Professor Sheldon and Blanchard made an ascent from Chelsea, the latter having 'had as early as 1782 a "/lying boat," in which;he had remained some minutes suspended in the air eighty feist above the 'ground;../'. , ;v CP^SsfNG'T^ On January 7./1785,7 the En'glisb-Chaiino! ,]vas first crossed,/hyyoccupaiits.of ;n. ; :balloon, when Dr.,', Jeffries, -ah Amorican, travelled;from Dover 1 I Forest -of Giiiiibs,'iiear Calais." Blanchard received' a pension.of, 1200 livros per annum, and 'it-lis' ; Antoinette prosehtod .liim*\yftii : ':her: ciircl on tlie night' be iva's;. jn t iip d,i iced 1.,'.,.I~'.,. In tho same month.. j-ICj'qsbie :;;ascendeil:'.ih , .-/Ir'elaiid. He al'tcrwaiuls/triiedHn'/ci'loss'St. "George's Cliannolj l)Uttfdl/iljt6,',th'o: sea, from which ho was rescued* Oh'/March 23, 1785; Count Zam-bcccari,!-an 'Italian', who was killed in 1812, made his first ns.-ent in England; accompanied by Admiral Sir Edward Vor.rioh, when they travelled from London to ,I|orsham, about thirty-five, miles. He had been one -of tlio first to send up' a hydrogen-balloon towards the end of 1783. In Ju1y,'.1785, Major Money from ■ was rcscucd'.hfter falling into the sea;-.air.experi-ence which "was'"also, undergone'..by James Sadler and by Lunardi.' /Ascents we're also made this year by Windham, tlio niember./for Norwich", and' by Colonei'rFitzpntrick. On June 15, 1785, the cause of,aerial navigation by balloon claimed ; its first ; <victim3/'Wlinii'Pilatre do Iteier and M. Unmaine were/killed while.trying to rival '.the feat/of B!anclia'rd'6nd Jeffries'-by-'crossiiiß the English Channel. . This is merely an-:-atteuipt to unravel the taiiglod'tlVrea'iFof -tbe: history of'neronuutics down to thcr./cLoso/'pf/the.e/ghtecnth.;contury. From that -'time -the interest deepens, since it is centred around ballooning as applied to military; operation's: '';, But that is another ■ story. ;