His first balloon was a small parallelopiped in very thin
taffeta, containing less than seventy-eight cubic inches of air.
He made it rise to the roof of his apartment in November,
1782--at Avignon, where he then happened to be. Having returned
some little time after to Annonay,
Joseph and his brother performed the same experiment, together
in the open air with perfect success. Certain, then, of the new
principle, they made a balloon of considerable size, containing
upwards of sixty-five feet of heated air.
This machine likewise rose, tore away the cords by which it was
at first held down, and mounting in the air to the height of from
two to three hundred feet, fell upon the neighbouring hills after
a considerable flight. The brothers Montgolfier then made a very
large and strong balloon, with which they wished to bring their
discovery before the public.
The appointed day was the 5th of June, 1783 and the nobility of
the vicinity were invited to be present at the experiment.
Faujas de Saint Fond, author of "La Description des Experiences
de la Machine Aerostatique," published the same year, gives the
following account of it:--
"What," says Saint Fond, "was the general astonishment when the
inventors of the machine announced that immediately it should be
full of gas, which they had the means of producing at will by the
most simple process, it would raise itself to the clouds.
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