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172
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
33
“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.”
Etienne
Montgolfier
has
left
us
a
description
of
this
first
balloon.
“The
aerostatic
machine,”
he
says,
“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
1bs.
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.”
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