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128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
29
send
up
a
balloon
eighteen
inches
in
diameter.
At
noon
of
the
same
day
he
made
this
experiment
in
presence
of
a
numerous
assembly
in
the
garden
in
front
of
the
Hotel
de
Surgeres..
The
little
balloon
mounted
freely,
but
was
held
in,
like
a
kite,
by
means
of
a
silk
thread.
In
the
course
of
the
same
afternoon,
the
baron
took
down
the
balloon
and
filled
it
anew
with
hydrogen,
and
then
let
it
off.
The
spectators
had
the
pleasure
of
seeing
it
rise
to
a
great
height,
and
pass
away
in
the
direction
of
Neuilly,
and
it
is
said
to
have
been
found
at
a
distance
of
several
leagues,
by
peasants.
However
trifling
this
experiment
may
appear
at
first
sight,
it
added
a
new
fact
to
the
science
of
aerostation.
The
material
employed
by
the
baron
was
lighter
and
better
than
paper.
It
was
what
is
called
gold-beaters’
skin.
This
skin
is
simply
the
interior
lining
of
the
large
bowel
of
the
ox.
It
is
carefully
prepared,
is
relieved
of
the
fat,
stringy
and
uneven
parts,
is
dried,
and
is
afterwards
softened.
Little
balloons
of
this
material
came
to
be
the
fashion,
and
they
are
still
frequently
seen.
At
the
same
time,
Montgolfier
was
busy
constructing,
at
the
request
of
the
Academy
of
Sciences,
a
balloon
seventy
feet
high
and
forty
in
diameter,
with
which
it
was
proposed
to
repeat
the
experiment
of
Annonay.
He
took
up
his
quarters
in
the
magnificent
gardens
of
his
friend
Reveillon,
proprietor
of
the
royal
manufactory
of
stained
paper
in
the
Faubourg
St.
Antoine.
The
new
balloon
was
of
a
very
singular
shape:
the
upper
part
represented
a
prism,
twenty-four
feet
high
the
top
was
a
pyramid
of
the
same
height;
the
lower
part
was
a
truncated
cone,
twenty
feet
in
depth.
It
was
made
of
packing-cloth,
lined
with
good
paper,
both
inside
and
out.
The
gossipping
and
prolix
Faujas
de
Saint
Fond
thus
describes
this
machine:--“It
was
painted
blue,
represented
a
sort
of
tent,
and
was
richly
ornamented
with
gold
Its
height
was
seventy
feet;
its
weight
1,000
lbs.;
the
air
which
it
displaced
was
4,500
lbs.
in
volume,
and
the
vapor
with
which
it
was
filled
was
half
the
weight
of
ordinary
air.
The
approach
of
the
equinox
having
brought
rain,
all
the
conditions
under
which
this
balloon
was
constructed
and
exhibited
were
unfavourable.
The
structure
was
so
large
that
it
was
impossible
to
get
it
together
and
stitch
it,
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