Up Up and Away
Jan 3rd, 2017 by bachmann
Barthélemy Faujas-de-St.-Fond (1741-1819) was a lawyer, naturalist, and geologist, with an ardent interest in the prospect of ballooning and the experiments being conducted by the Montgolfier brothers. While St. Fond made significant contributions in the study of volcanic activity, he is now mostly remembered as the first to document and publish an account of the Montgolfiers’ balloons, presenting details of each experiment and subsequent improvements. St. Fond also provides particulars of each public ballooning events, including position of witnesses, precise timings and viewing angles. Initially, the Montgolfiers experimented with hydrogen gas, which exhausted too quickly for use in practical travel. However, the Montgolfiers soon discovered that air heated to 100 degrees Celsius could provide enough lift and endurance to provide long distance balloon travel. On June 5, 1783 the brothers tested a balloon made of paper and linen, which rose some 6,000 feet and traveled over 7,000 feet from the point of release. They soon followed this success by demonstrating a balloon experiment carrying a sheep, rooster, and duck to an audience at Versailles, with King Louis XVI in attendance. The animal crew came down safely with exception of the rooster, whose wing was hurt. However, St. Fond quickly rejected any notion or implications of a balloon mishap.
“…but this, was done by a kick of the sheep, half an hour before the ascent, in presence of more than ten witnesses. It is vexatious to see the public papers thus assert facts without proof, which in such cases ought always to be guaranteed by the signatures of those who send them.”
“At last the brothers Montgolfier commenced their work. They first of all began to make the smoke necessary for their experiment. The machine—which at first seemed only a covering of cloth, lined with paper, a sort of sack thirty-five feet high—became inflated, and grew large even under the eyes of the spectator, took consistence, assumed a beautiful form, stretched itself on all sides, and struggled to escape. Meanwhile, strong arms were holding it down until the signal was given, when it loosened itself, and with a rush rose to the height of 1,000 fathoms in less than ten minutes.”
“When we reflect for a moment upon the numberless difficulties which such a bold attempt entailed, upon the bitter criticism to which it would have exposed its projectors had it failed through any accident, and upon the sums that must have been spent in carrying it out, we cannot withhold the highest admiration for the men who conceived the idea and carried it out to such a successful issue.”
“The aerostatic machine was constructed of cloth lined with paper, fastened together on a network of strings fixed to the cloth. It was spherical; its circumference was 110 feet, and a wooden frame sixteen feet square held it fixed at the bottom. Its contents were about 22,000 cubic feet, and it accordingly displaced a volume of air weighing 1,980 lbs. The weight of the gas was nearly half the weight of the air, for it weighed 990 lbs., and the machine itself, with the frame, weighed 500: it was, therefore, impelled upwards with the force of 490 lbs. Two men sufficed to raise it and to fill it with gas, but it took eight to hold it down till the signal was given. The different pieces of the covering were fastened together with buttons and button-holes. It remained ten minutes in the air, but the loss of gas by the button-holes, and by other imperfections, did not permit it to continue longer. The wind at the moment of the ascent was from the north. The machine came down so lightly that no part of it was broken.”
- Description:
- Faujas-de-St.-Fond, (Barthélemy) cit 1741-1819 author. Description des expériences de la machine aérostatique de MM. de Montgolfier. Paris ;: Chez B. Le Francq,, 1784.
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:29669463
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University