When Were Hot Air Balloons Invented?


The first balloon flight of the Montgolfier brothers took place on June 4, 1783, at Place Cordelier in Annonay. On November 21, 1783 in Paris, France, the first free flight of man took place in a balloon made of paper and silk, made by the Montgolfier brothers. On November 21, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlande, a French military man, were the first to take off without ties and made the first free ascent in a hot air balloon.

Hot air balloons were invented in 1783. The first balloon capable of carrying passengers was invented by a Frenchman named Pilatre De Rozier, it flew for 15 minutes, and its cargo consisted of two birds and a sheep. It crashed afterward and proved the potential for balloon flight.

In 1785, François Pilatre de Rozier and a man named Romain attempted to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon, an experimental system using hydrogen and hot air chambers, an experimental system using hydrogen and hot air. Around October 15, 1783, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier, after being introduced to an unmanned balloon and flying with animals, made the first Manned flights in balloons, he made at least one tethered flight from the Reveillon shipyard. Laboratory at Faubourg Saint-Antoine.

The French Origins of the Balloon

In France, on September 19, 1783, brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier publicly demonstrated their 10-minute unmanned balloon. In 1783, wealthy French papermakers, brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgaufill, presented their invention, the hot air balloon, to a group of rich and famous in their hometown of Arnonay, France. Montgolfier brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne built the first large balloon and were responsible for the first manned flight.

Shortly thereafter, on December 1, 1783, less than two weeks after the first free flight of a man in a balloon, Jacques Alexandre César Charles launched a balloon containing hydrogen gas. Meanwhile, another scientist, Jacques Charles, with the help of the Robert brothers, built a balloon filled with hydrogen, a gas lighter than air. In the same year, Jacques Charles returned to the idea of ​​using hydrogen to fill a balloon.

While there was some early work on atoms and molecules, scientists didn’t realize at the time that it was heated oxygen that helped the balloon rise. It’s not the smoke that lifts the balloon, but the heated oxygen molecules. Joseph Montgolfier believes that the balloons rose because of smoke from the fires.

How the Early Balloons Were Fueled 

The air was kept warm by adding straw to the fire, which was grilled under the balloon. At first, early balloons burned materials on board the balloon to generate heat to push the shell into the air. In fact, the used one just made the air in the bag heat up more slowly.

At a given signal, the ball broke away from the mooring and remained free to soar in the air. The balloon was thrown from the center of Paris and flew for 20 minutes. The balloon reached a height of 450 m, flew 3 km, stayed in the air for 8 minutes and landed safely.

The hydrogen balloon flew 25 miles, allowing the pilot to stay in the air for 2.5 hours. On April 3, 1783, the larger balloon, after being filled and released, reached an altitude of 1,000 feet and covered 3/4 of a mile. The 74,000 cubic meter (2.6 million cubic feet) balloon skin is the largest ever built for a thermal aircraft. The balloon was quickly squeezed out of the cylinder; the first flight took place on December 1, 1783, under the leadership of inventor and physicist Charles and two brothers, Robert.

Gas Balloons Preceded Planes

Gas balloons remained the primary means of air travel until the Wright brothers invented the fixed-wing aircraft in America in 1903. abandoned. From the moment the first hot air balloon took off in 1783, the pioneers of human flight believed that the true future of aviation depended on lighter-than-air inflatable aircraft and the creation of huge airships.

Modern hot air balloons were made possible by the invention of Dupont’s lightweight, sealed nylon fabric, the use of propane as a high-temperature fuel, high-efficiency burners to maintain air temperature, and modern flight instruments.

The First Balloon Flight

Europe met its first balloon on August 8, 1709, when the Brazilian-Portuguese priest Bartolomeu de Gusmão managed to raise a small paper balloon filled with hot air in front of King John V and the Portuguese court in Lisbon. The balloon is the same basic mechanism invented by the French Montgolfier brothers, but only improved in detail; propane torches replaced charcoal and nylon to replace the large cloth bag.

The passengers were a sheep, a duck and a rooster, and the balloon stayed in the air for 15 minutes before falling to the ground. About 2 months later, on November 21st, the first attempt was made with a ball made by two French brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier. On September 19, 1783, King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette put them in a basket under a balloon and flew in the air in front of a crowd at the Palace of Versailles.

At the time, the brothers thought they had discovered a new gas lighter than air (which they called Montgolfier gas) and caused the inflatable balloon to rise, and the hydrogen balloon immediately caught fire, according to the CBC. The story goes that after the balloon landed, farmers rushed forward to attack the strange device.

Dmitri Oz

Hello, I'm Dmitri. I grew up around carnival workers, and I created Performer Palace to generate interest in circus skills and the performing arts.

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