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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
41
continued
their
course
till
they
had
passed
Paris.
“They
then
descended
tranquilly
in
the
country,
beyond
the
new
boulevard,
without
having
experienced
the
slightest
inconvenience,
having
still
the
greater
part
of
their
fuel
untouched.
They
could,
had
they
desired,
have
cleared
a
distance
three
times
as
great
as
that
which
they
traversed.
Their
flight
was
nearly
30,000
feet,
and
the
time
it
occupied
was
from
twenty
to
twenty-five
minutes.
This
machine
was
70
feet
high,
46
feet
in
diameter,
and
had
a
capacity
of
60,000
cubic
feet.”
It
is
reported
that
Franklin,
more
illustrious
in
his
humility
than
the
most
brilliant
among
the
lords
of
the
court,
when
consulted
respecting
the
possible
use
of
balloons,
answered
simply,
“C’est
l’enfant
qui
vient
de
naitre?”
Chapter
X.
The
Second
Arial
Voyage.
(1st
December
1783.--Charles
and
Robert
at
the
Tuileries.)
The
first
ascent
of
Roziers
and
Arlandes
was
a
feat
of
hardihood
almost
unique.
The
men’s
courage
was,
so
to
speak,
their
only
guarantee.
Thanks
to
the
balloon,
however,
they
accomplished
one
of
the
most
extraordinary
enterprises
ever
achieved
by
our
race.
On
the
day
after
the
experiment
of
the
Champ
de
Mars
(27th
of
August),
Professor
Charles--who
had
already
acquired
celebrity
at
the
Louvre,
by
his
scientific
collection
and
by
his
rank
as
an
official
instructor--and
the
Brothers
Robert,
mechanicians,
were
engaged
in
the
construction
of
a
balloon,
to
be
inflated
with
hydrogen
gas,
and
destined
to
carry
a
car
and
one
or
two
passengers.
For
this
ascent
Charles
may
be
said
to
have
created
all
at
once
the
art
of
aerostation
as
now
practiced,
for
he
brought
it
at
one
bound
to
such
perfection
that
since
his
day
scarcely
any
advance
has
been
made
upon
his
arrangements.
His
simple
yet
complete
invention
was
that
of
the
valve
which
gives
escape
to
the
hydrogen
gas,
and
thus
renders
the
descent
of
the
balloon
gentle
and
gradual;
the
car
that
carries
the
travellers;
the
ballast
of
sand,
by
which
the
ascent
is
regulated
and
the
fall
is
moderated;
the
coating
of
caoutchouc,
by
means
of
which
the
material
of
the
balloon
is
rendered
airtight
and
prevents
loss
of
gas;
and,
finally,
the
use
of
the
barometer,
which
marks
at
every
instant,
by
the
elevation
or
the
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