Jacques-Étienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier

French inventors

• Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier
• Born: January 6, 1745
• Birthplace: Vidalon-les-Annonay, France
• Died: August 2, 1799
• Place of death: Serrières, France

• Joseph-Michel Montgolfier
• Born: August 26, 1740
• Birthplace: Vidalon-les-Annonay, France
• Died: June 26, 1810
• Place of death: Balaruc-les-Bains, France

The Montgolfier brothers contributed to the invention, improvement, and flying of lighter-than-air craft. Their greatest achievement was successfully coordinating the invention and flying of the first balloon.

Early Lives

Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (zhahk-ay-tyehn mohn-gawl-fyay) and Joseph-Michel (zhoh-zehf-mee-shehl) Montgolfier were born at Vidalon-les-Annonay to Pierre Montgolfier, a paper manufacturer, and Anne Duret. Joseph-Michel, the elder of the two brothers, showed an early inclination toward creativity and inventiveness when, at the age of twelve, he glided from the second floor of the family residence to the ground, supported by umbrellas, which he held in his hands. He was sent to the College of Touron in the Rhone Valley, from which he twice ran away. The second time he fled to Saint-Étienne, where he developed a new process for making Prussian blue dye, which was used in his father’s paper-making industry. Joseph-Michel returned to Vidalon to work with his father in the family paper mill but then joined another brother, Augustine, at Rives to aid in the development of another Montgolfier plant.

Jacques-Étienne was sent at a very early age to the College of Saint Barbe in Paris. From 1755 to 1763, he studied science, since he had a particular taste and aptitude for precision and exactitude. Upon completion of his secondary studies, he became a student of architecture and had as his professor the famous Jacques-Germain Soufflot. He succeeded remarkably in his chosen field.

From 1763 to 1772, Jacques-Étienne studied and practiced architecture in Paris and its suburbs. His father, however, asked Jacques-Étienne to return to Vidalon to aid him in the management of the family business. Although he had been happy and successful in Paris, he conceded to his father’s desires. From the moment of his return to Vidalon until his death, he strove to become very competent in his new profession. Initially he was named as technical adviser to his father. By 1777, Jacques-Étienne was recognized by the French authorities as the inventor of vellum paper.

In about 1780, Joseph-Michel went to Avignon under the pretext of acquiring a degree in law. By 1782, he received his degree, but during this time his dominant interest remained in science and invention. Following the discovery of hydrogen by Henry Cavendish in 1766 and the publication of Joseph Priestley’s book on the different types of air, Joseph-Michel and his brother Jacques-Étienne had toyed unsuccessfully at Vidalon with small paper bags that they filled with hydrogen. Although these experiments had proved quite unfruitful, they were the beginnings of the Montgolfiers’ invention.

Lives’ Work

On November 15, 1782, while still at Avignon, Joseph-Michel pondered several of his scientific readings and considered the discoveries of Cavendish and Priestley. One day, he buttoned his shirt and proceeded to hold it over the fire in his fireplace. The shirt filled with the heated air and rose toward the ceiling. Returning to Vidalon, Joseph-Michel and his brother constructed a taffeta vessel and filled it with warm air from a fire of paper mixed with wool and damp straw. This lighter-than-air craft rose to a height of thirty meters. Believing in the outstanding importance of their adventure, the Montgolfier brothers contacted the Academy of Sciences in Paris.

A vessel three times as large ascended on December 14, 1782. It subsequently fell unharmed on the nearby hills of Grattet. This experience was repeated successfully several times and provided Joseph-Michel and his brother occasion to calculate the characteristics of a “globe” considerably greater in size.

The new balloon was about 40 feet (12 meters) in diameter and made of sections of thin paper of several layers. It was fortunate that the Montgolfier family owned a paper mill. The different parts were held together and strengthened with ropes and metal wires. The base was held open by a wooden form 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide, to which was attached a metallic stove, in which straw and pieces of vine were burned to produce the necessary heat. The whole machine weighed more than 490 pounds (225 kilograms).

After several experiments, June 4 was chosen by the Montgolfier brothers as the official date for the public presentation of their new invention. The event was to occur in the center of Annonay, in the place des Cordeliers. The whole experience was to be witnessed by the general council of the Vivarais region, whose meeting coincided with this auspicious aerial adventure.

On June 4, 1783, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, the spectators, almost suffocated by the smoke, could see a strange contraption begin to take shape and start to rise from the earth. On the command of Joseph-Michel and his brother, the restraining ropes were released and the balloon was freed. It rose without any difficulty over the heads of the admiring spectators and attained an estimated altitude of more than half a mile (1,000 meters). The south wind carried it more than a mile (2 kilometers) from the center of Annonay. Upon the request of the inventors, the senators of the Vivarais who had witnessed the event signed a succinct report of all that had occurred.

Jacques-Étienne had written to the Academy of Sciences in Paris in December, 1782. He confided the discovery of the balloon to the geologist Nicolas Desmarest. Yet Desmarest did not bring it to the attention of the academy, whose members learned of it by the official version describing the event at Annonay on June 4, 1783.

A commission of the academy was formed to invite Jacques-Étienne to Paris in order to demonstrate the new finding to the Parisians. It was normal that Jacques-Étienne be chosen rather than Joseph-Michel, since the former had studied and worked previously in the French capital. Socially and professionally he was a well-known personage in the Parisian world of that time. The decision was taken to allocate academy funds to the Montgolfiers’ project. The king also decided to give a small sum of money to the scientists. Jacques-Étienne undertook in his Paris demonstration to have a lamb, a chicken, and a duck as passengers in the ascent of the newest balloon. This larger craft was made by Jacques-Étienne at the factory of a good friend. On September 19, 1783, the latest version of the Montgolfier craft was shown to King Louis XVI, the representatives of the academy, and the court at Versailles. Jacques-Étienne directed the whole operation with great success, and all the royal assistants witnessed the ascension of the new balloon to an estimated altitude of more than 3 miles (5,000 meters). After eight minutes of flight, the craft descended about 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) from Versailles. Its passengers were slightly shaken, but only the chicken suffered an injury: a broken beak.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne communicated faithfully all during these new experiences. They now decided that it was time to have one of their balloons transport two human beings. The two men chosen were Marquis François d’Arlandes and Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier. Yet it is certain that on October 12, prior to the ascent of the two chosen airmen, Jacques-Étienne received his aerial baptism during a ten-minute ascent. This would be his first and last flight.

During this time, Joseph-Michel had brought his aerial experience to Lyons. After several improvements in technique, he completed, on November 18, a flight of 15 kilometers from Lyons. The Lyonnais no longer were envious of the flights directed by Jacques-Étienne near Paris.

With its new basket large enough for two passengers, Pilâtre de Rozier and Arlandes ascended in the attached container on November 21, 1783. Jacques-Étienne had improved, for this memorable event, the method of heating the air within the balloon.

Jacques-Étienne next established his new point of departure for the first free balloon flight of Pilâtre de Rozier and Arlandes. It was to take place from the grounds of the Château de la Muette, in Paris. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Jacques-Étienne made a final inspection and permitted this historic departure. The two valiant airmen rose majestically above Paris, floated over the Seine, Saint Sulpice, and the Luxembourg Gardens. Finally, the landing took place at the Butte aux Cailles, more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the Château de la Muette. The Montgolfiers had succeeded in their dream. Two days later, Jacques-Étienne was invited by another aeronautical engineer to christen the latter’s hydrogen-fueled balloon. Within two days the first human flights in lighter-than-air craft had taken place.

On December 10, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers were named to the French Academy of Sciences. Jacques-Étienne received the Order of Saint Marcel; Joseph-Michel received a royal pension as well as gifts conferred by the king and Marie-Antoinette. Other gifts and honors also were proffered to these successful inventor brothers.

Joseph-Michel then proceeded in his typically impetuous fashion to launch the largest balloon in the world from Lyons on January 19, 1784. Joseph-Michel himself ascended in this balloon, which was more than 100 feet (31 meters) in diameter and nearly 125 feet (38 meters) in height. The so-called Fleselles did not successfully complete the trip from Lyons to Paris as planned. Jacques-Étienne returned to the paper mill at Vidalon and continued to produce inventions in that industry. Joseph-Michel returned to the responsibility of the paper mill at Rives.

Significance

The Montgolfier brothers worked successfully at the invention of hydraulic machines for use in the paper-making industry and at other innovations in this field. Yet their most outstanding achievement was the invention of the lighter-than-air balloon.

While Jacques-Étienne was at home assisting his father in the family paper mill, Joseph-Michel returned to Vidalon to seek the partnership of his brother. The two young men, though very different from each other, had from very early childhood a marked, fraternal affection that made them most compatible in their future invention endeavors. A distracted though remarkably scientific genius, Joseph-Michel was responsible for many other types of inventions in papermaking, hydraulics, and chemistry. Yet his invention of lighter-than-air craft remains his outstanding contribution to the advancement of science. He was successfully seconded by his younger brother, Jacques-Étienne, who was educated formally earlier than Joseph-Michel. The stabilizing effect of Jacques-Étienne on the more impetuous genius of Joseph-Michel produced a very well-balanced inventive team.

The Montgolfier brothers had been the original inventors and the primary moving force in the development of lighter-than-air craft. Later inventors, in turn, would build on the Montgolfiers’ elementary findings, perfect their balloons, and advance into the new forms of lighter-than-air craft called dirigibles.

Bibliography

Christopher, John, and Brian Jones. Riding the Jetstream: The Story of Ballooning from Montgolfier to Brietling. London: John Murray, 2002. A history of ballooning. Contains information on the Montgolfier brothers but focuses on twentieth century balloonists.

Dwiggins, Don. Riders of the Wind: The Story of Ballooning. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973. A history of ballooning, featuring narration by ballonists who participated in the invention and development of this activity. Includes pictures, diagrams, and outlined maps of flights in various parts of the world. Rather elementary and narrative in style, it is intended for younger readers.

Gillispie, Charles Coulston. The Montgolfier Brothers and the Invention of Aviation, 1783-1784. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. The most comprehensive book in English on the family history of the Montgolfiers and the inventions of Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne. Sources are all in French. Each subject is treated very thoroughly. Includes copious notes and illustrations, some in color. The details of the Montgolfiers’ other inventions are very well integrated.

Jackson, Donald Dale. The Aeronauts. Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1980. A fine presentation of aeronautical history, including events, inventions, and persons from the early nineteenth century through the use of aerostats. Includes a good section on the use of balloons and dirigibles in war. Contains excellent illustrations and pictures, black-and-white as well as color, a bibliography, and an index.

Marevalas, Paul. “Joseph Montgolfier: The Ballooning Pioneer.” Ballooning (September/October, 1981): 59-63.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “The Montgolfiers’ Moment in History.” Ballooning (May/June, 1981): 59-63. Two good articles by a twentieth century balloonist who writes briefly on the invention of lighter-than-air craft. The author makes interesting contrasts with modern methods and frank statements regarding the limitation of practical uses of balloons and dirigibles. Provides a modern point of view on the state of the art of ballooning.

Rosenband, Leonard N. Papermaking in Eighteenth-Century France: Management, Labor, and Revolution at the Montgolfier Mill, 1761-1805. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. A detailed description of labor-management relations at the Montgolfier family’s paper mill, the site of a bitter strike and lockout in 1879. The book describes the conditions that led to the labor dispute and how the family ultimately benefited by training a new type of worker and altering factory procedures.