Filling a balloon with hydrogen gas Size:XS: 30 x 20cm 1809 during a banquet

1809 during a banquet

Pictured with child actors Michael Brown 12 and Julien Tavener

Figures are dwarfed by the size of the pillars

on Tuesday 20th July

Filling a balloon with hydrogen gas Size:XS: 30 x 20cm 1809 during a banquetScene showing the inflation of a balloon by hydrogen gas piped from a barrel. The gas was produced by the reaction of sulphuric acid and iron. A preliminary balloon of this type was flown at the Champ de Mars in Paris, France on the 27 August 1783 an event witnessed by Benjamin Franklin. Plate 3 from the book Description des expriences de la machine arostatiques de MM. de Montgolfier, by Faujas de Saint Fond (Paris, 1783). Inscribed below : 'Bertault