A few days ago the subject was balloons — specifically the Chinese “reconnaissance” balloon that flew over the U.S. recently. I got to thinking that maybe more time should have been spent on the “early” balloons….
It appears that back in the 18th century sometime, some inventors turned their attention to balloons. They began by attaching something heavy to something filled with lighter than normal air — like hot air. The very first balloons were hot air balloons. My extensive research uncovered a story about a Brazilian priest (turned inventor, I guess) that some think may have “invented” the hot air balloon. I mentioned the other day that the first recorded use of reconnaissance balloons was during the French revolutionary wars. Apparently the French were among the first to show an interest in balloons. French brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier experimented with hot air balloons and in the late 1700s were ready to send up passengers — a rooster, a duck, and a sheep. The experiment went well… if you don’t count a minor injury to the rooster when he was kicked by the sheep. After that successful “flight,” the brothers sent up a man in a balloon that was tethered — the balloon was attached to a line that was anchored to the ground.
Soon afterwards a couple of Frenchmen went aloft in a balloon, cut the line and sailed over Paris at an altitude of about 3,000 feet. They burned wood and straw to maintain a supply of hot air and were aloft for about 25 minutes and covered about five and a half miles. The flight caused quite a stir in Paris and created a frenzy over balloons throughout Europe.
Balloon mania was on — inventors kept working on balloons. Heated air could get a balloon up, but when the fuel for the fire ran out, the air cooled and the balloon came down — wherever it happened to be. Keeping the fire going in the air was complicated and dangerous. So the inventors began to fill balloons with hydrogen gas. That worked well, but it was very flammable.
In 1783, Jacques Charles launched a hydrogen filled balloon from the site of what today is the Eiffel Tower and it flew for two hours, covering 27 miles. Among the crowd of onlookers was the American philosopher-statesman — and inventor — Benjamin Franklin. Ben called called the flight “a most beautiful spectacle.” Of course not everyone was impressed or understood what all the fuss was about. Someone asked Franklin what those floating things could possibly be used for. His reply was, “What use is a newborn baby?”
It turns out that a use was found soon. In 1793 the first airmail letter was sent from London to Paris by balloon — the letter was addressed to B. Franklin.
Another famous American, President Abraham Lincoln, got interested in balloons on June 17, 1861, when he received a telegraph message from high up in the air. A balloon enthusiast named Theodore Lowe had taken several representatives of the American Telegraph Company up over Washington, D.C. in a tethered balloon. They ran a wire down the tether and sent the first air-to- land telegram. It was forwarded to Lincoln.
Later that night, Lowe’s balloon was tethered over the White House while Lincoln asked about military possibilities. Lowe’s conversation with Lincoln very probably led to the use of balloons by the Union troops during the Civil War. Tethered balloons provided a high platform from which to spy on the enemy. An added psychological benefit was that the balloons looked scary lurking above the battle zone. The Confederacy was unsuccessful in trying to shoot down the Union’s balloons, so they decided they needed some of their own.
(As an added bonus for taking time to read this, here’s some additional information…. the balloons the Confederacy came up with were made of silk — providing a nice elegant Southern touch to the project. In fact, it gave rise to the tale that Southern belles had donated their best dresses to the air-war effort.)
Of course the one problem that plagued the advancing balloon technology was that they couldn’t be steered. They could only go up and down and were at the mercy of the wind as to which direction and how far they moved sideways. Balloon “pilots” were just passengers, so a lot of effort was put into devices to make the balloons go where the pilots wanted. Inventors came up with oars, sails, wings, parachutes and propellers, but nothing worked. One inventor suggested harnessing a team of vultures, but that idea never panned out. Nothing really succeeded until the development of a lightweight gasoline engine. By the beginning of World War I, balloons were using motors, propellers and rudders.
And the rest, as they say, is history……
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