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172
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
31
In
1783,
the
sons
of
Pierre
Montgolfier,
a
rich
papermaker
at
Annonay
department
of
Ardeche,
were
already
in
the
prime
of
life,
and
it
is
related
of
them
that
their
principal
occupation
was
experimenting
in
the
physical
sciences.
Joseph
Montgolfier,
after
being
convinced
by
a
number
of
minor
experiments
made
in
1782
and
1783,
that
a
heat
of
180
degrees
rarefied
the
air
and
made
it
occupy
a
space
of
TWICE
the
extent
it
occupied
before
being
heated--or,
in
other
words,
that
this
degree
of
heat
diminished
the
weight
of
air
by
one
half--began
to
speculate
on
what
might
be
the
shape
and
the
material
of
a
structure
which
being
filled
with
air
thus
heated,
would
be
able
to
raise
itself
from
the
earth
in
spite
of
the
weight
of
its
own
covering.
His
first
balloon
was
a
small
parallelopiped
in
very
thin
taffeta,
containing
less
than
seventy-eight
cubic
inches
of
air.
He
made
it
rise
to
the
roof
of
his
apartment
in
November,
1782--at
Avignon,
where
he
then
happened
to
be.
Having
returned
some
little
time
after
to
Annonay,
Joseph
and
his
brother
performed
the
same
experiment,
together
in
the
open
air
with
perfect
success.
Certain,
then,
of
the
new
principle,
they
made
a
balloon
of
considerable
size,
containing
upwards
of
sixty-five
feet
of
heated
air.
This
machine
likewise
rose,
tore
away
the
cords
by
which
it
was
at
first
held
down,
and
mounting
in
the
air
to
the
height
of
from
two
to
three
hundred
feet,
fell
upon
the
neighbouring
hills
after
a
considerable
flight.
The
brothers
Montgolfier
then
made
a
very
large
and
strong
balloon,
with
which
they
wished
to
bring
their
discovery
before
the
public.
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