How was the world's first hydrogen balloon made?

Inspired by hot air balloons, inventor Jacques Charles decided to build a hydrogen-powered airship which he thought was safer.

Illustration of Jacques Charles and his first manned hydrogen balloon flight with Nicolas-Louis Robert on December 1, 1783. Photo: Amusing Planet — Illustration of Jacques Charles and his first manned hydrogen balloon flight with Nicolas-Louis Robert on December 1, 1783. Photo: *Amusing Planet*

On June 4, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers made the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon in southern France. The balloon, made of sackcloth lined with paper, rose to an altitude of nearly 2 kilometers and remained airborne for 10 minutes. News of their success quickly reached Paris and aroused the interest of Jacques Charles, a French inventor and scientist who was well versed in the properties of gases.

After studying the work of researcher Robert Boyle and his contemporaries such as Henry Cavendish, Joseph Black, Tiberius Cavallo, Charles believed that hydrogen was more suitable for lifting balloons than hot air. He believed that hot air balloons were quite dangerous with open flames, hydrogen was flammable but completely enclosed in the balloon so it was safer.

Jacques Charles decided to build a new airship. He hired two engineers, brothers Anne-Jean Robert and Nicolas-Louis Robert, to help build what would become the world's first hydrogen airship. To finance the expensive undertaking, naturalist and geologist Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond set up a public subscription fund and sold tickets for the balloon demonstration. Parisian society, having witnessed the Montgolfier brothers' impressive flight a few weeks earlier, eagerly subscribed.

Charles designed the balloon and asked the Robert brothers to build a lightweight, airtight bag. The Robert brothers came up with a method of dissolving rubber in a solution of turpentine and using this solution to coat sheets of silk, making them airtight. They then sewed the silk sheets together to form the main shell.

The balloon was relatively small, about 4 m in diameter, and could only lift about 9 kg. To fill the balloon with hydrogen, a large amount of hydrochloric acid was first poured into a tank containing iron filings. The hydrogen produced was fed into the balloon through a tube connected to the tank.

The process of inflating the first hydrogen balloon. Photo: National Air and Space Museum — The process of inflating the first hydrogen balloon. Photo: *National Air and Space Museum*

On August 27, 1783, the world’s first unmanned hydrogen balloon took off from the Champ de Mars in Paris. The balloon took off just as a thunderstorm was brewing. But the bad weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd gathered below. The balloon soared straight up into the sky and disappeared into the clouds within minutes.

About 45 minutes after takeoff, the balloon lost some of its hydrogen, descended, and landed in a village 24 kilometers north of Paris. The villagers, unaware of the balloon’s existence, were terrified by the sudden appearance from the sky. They attacked the strange object with various agricultural tools and even guns.

Buoyed by the success of their first flight, Charles and the Robert brothers began preparations for their next attempt – to put one or two people in a balloon. On December 1, 1783, Charles and Nicolas-Louis climbed into the balloon and ascended to an altitude of about 500 meters. They flew for 2 hours and 5 minutes, covering 36 kilometers, before landing safely in the Nesle Plain, north of Paris, at sunset.

Nicolas-Louis dismounted and Charles took off again, this time rapidly climbing to about 3,000 metres and again seeing the Sun. However, the sharp pain in his ears from the low atmospheric pressure began to bother him and he had to descend. He landed gently at Tour du Lay, about 3 kilometres away.

Despite this successful flight, Charles decided not to fly again, although he continued to design airships. One of his designs was a long, steerable airship, built at the suggestion of French mathematician Jean Baptiste Meusnier. The vehicle was equipped with rudders and oars to provide propulsion, but these proved ineffective.

On 15 July 1784, the Robert brothers flew in this balloon for 45 minutes. The Robert brothers then flew again with M. Collin-Hullin on 19 September 1784. They flew for 6 hours and 40 minutes, covering a distance of 186 km from Paris to Beuvry near Béthune, becoming the first balloonists to travel more than 100 km.

Thu Thao (According to Amusing Planet )

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