Who Invented the Balloon

An article by Peter Pierce    Comments Off

There are several stories towards invention of balloons. Both gas filled and hot-air balloons were invented in the year 1783.

Etienne Montgolfier and his brother Joseph from France noticed that bits of paper floated in the hot air escaping the chimney when the fire of their kitchen was alight. They tried an experiment based on the same process with paper bags in 1782. They made paper bags out of cloth lined with paper. In a public square they set up fire under the bags and the bags floated like balloons for a mile. A year later they arrived at Paris in the month of September with a big hot air balloon and sent few animals afloat in the balloon. It has said to be been watched by King and queen of France and the balloon carried the two brothers safely for about eight kilometres in 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, JAC Charles, a Physicist in Paris heard about this story of the balloon and two brothers in Lyons. But he was not aware of any details and in August he used Hydrogen to fill up a small balloon. When in 1783 he witnessed the Montgolfier brothers fly their balloon, he was excited that his balloon was a totally different type. In December the same year, he flew his balloon, just like a modern gas balloon and travelled safely with two people for about 27 miles.

Michael Faraday invented rubber balloons in 1824 after experimenting with various gases.