Montgolfier brothers: Difference between revisions

{{hatnote group|

{{for|the British band|The Montgolfier Brothers}}

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| caption = Joseph-Michel (left) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, late 18th century

| death_date = '''Joseph-Michel''': {{Death date and age|df=yes|1810|6|26|1740|8|26}}, Balaruc-les-Bains, France<br/>'''Jacques-Étienne''': {{death date and age|1799|8|2|1745|1|6|df=y}}, Serrières, France

| occupation = Inventors, balloonists, paper manufacturers

| known_for = Making the first confirmed human flight, in a ''Montgolfière''-style [[hot air balloon]]

}}

 

Joseph-Michel also invented the self-acting [[hydraulic ram]] (1796) and Jacques-Étienne founded the first paper-making vocational school. Together, the brothers invented a process to manufacture [[Vellum#Paper vellum|transparent paper]].

Joseph then built a box-like chamber {{convert|3|by(x)|3|by(x)| 4|ft|m|1|order=flip}} out of very thin wood, and covered the sides and top with lightweight [[taffeta]] cloth. He crumpled and lit some paper under the bottom of the box. The contraption quickly lifted off its stand and collided with the ceiling.

 

 

===Public demonstrations, summer 1783===

To make a public demonstration and to claim its invention the brothers constructed a globe-shaped balloon of [[hessian (cloth)|sackcloth]] tightened with three thin layers of paper inside. The envelope could contain nearly {{convert|790|m3|ft3|abbr=on}} of air and weighed {{convert|225|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. It was constructed of four pieces (the dome and three lateral bands) and held together by 1,800 buttons. A reinforcing fish net of cord covered the outside of the envelope.

 

 

[[File:First montgolfier brother rv042v13m 0 hx11xg48b.tiff |thumb|left|150px|First Montgolfier brothers balloon, 1783]]

On 21 November 1783, the first free flight by humans was made by [[Pilâtre de Rozier]], together with an army officer, the [[marquis d'Arlandes]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Early_Balloon_Flight_in_Europe/LTA1.htm| title = U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission: Early Balloon Flight in Europe| access-date = 2008-06-04| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080602012700/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Early_Balloon_Flight_in_Europe/LTA1.htm| archive-date = 2 June 2008| df = dmy-all}}</ref> The flight began from the grounds of the [[Château de la Muette]] close to the [[Bois de Boulogne]] park in the western outskirts of Paris. They flew about {{convert|3000|ft|m}} above [[Paris]] for a distance of nine kilometers. After 25 minutes, the balloon landed between the windmills, outside the city ramparts, on the [[Butte-aux-Cailles]]. Enough fuel remained on board at the end of the flight to have allowed the balloon to fly four to five times as far. However, burning embers from the fire were scorching the balloon fabric and had to be daubed out with sponges. As it appeared it could destroy the balloon, Pilâtre took off his coat to stop the fire.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

 

 

In December 1783, father Pierre Montgolfier was elevated to the nobility and the hereditary appellation of '''de Montgolfier''' by King [[Louis XVI of France]].

*[http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2003/hetherington/final/montgolfier_bros.html "Lighter than air: the Montgolfier brothers"]

*[http://www.start-flying.com/Montgolfier.htm "Balloons and the Montgolfier brothers"]

 

<!-- some categories individual to one person eg birth and death year are under the redirect for that person -->

[[Category:French balloonists]]

[[Category:18th-century French businesspeople]]

[[Category:People of the Industrial Revolution]]

[[Category:Aviation inventors]]

[[Category:18th-century French inventors]]

[[Category:Papermakers]]

[[Category:People from Ardèche]]