Charlier and Montgolfier - hydrogen and hot air balloons

Jacques Alexandre César Charles: born 1746 November 12 Bogenst, Loire - died 1823 April 7 in Paris - French inventor and scientist. He is known as the inventor of the air balloon, filled with hydrogen or other lighter-than-air gas, this type of balloon was later named after the inventor CHARLIER. His first balloon, filled with hydrogen, took off in Paris from the fields of Mars in 1783 August 27; in the same year, on December 1, he and engineer Nicolas-Louis Robert, one of the balloon manufacturers, embarked on their first air journey. Charles also discovered the physical law, that bears his name: at constant volume, the pressure of an ideal gas is directly proportional to its absolute temperature.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier were born into a family of 16 children, who were paper producers. Their parents were Pierre Montgolfier (1700-1793) and Anne Duret (1701-1760). Pierre Montgolfier first named his eldest son Raymond Montgolfier (1730-1772) as his successor - Joseph-Michel was the 12th child. Described as crazy and a dreamer, he was impractical in business and personal affairs. Jacques-Etienne was the 15th child, much more even-tempered and business-like in character, and was sent to Paris to study architecture. After the sudden death of Raymond in 1772 he was recalled to Annonay to run the family business. Over the next 10 years Etienne applied his talent to technical innovation in the family paper business, then as now a high-tech industry. He managed to introduce the latest Dutch inventions of the time into the family factories. The brothers are pioneers in aeronautics - they raised a balloon, made from paper with a hole in the bottom into the air, filling the balloon with hot air. Montgolfier first publicly experimented in 1783 June 5 with a canvas balloon, covered with wallpaper from a factory, owned by their family. The balloon was about 11.5 meters in diameter and weighed 230 kg, rose to a height of 1500-2000 m in 10 minutes (according to witnesses) and landed about 2 km from the take-off point. Balloons filled with hot air were called "hot air balloons" or "MONTGOLFIER". On September 19 of the same year the Montgolfier brothers launched a hot air balloon in Versailles with a ram, a rooster and a duck in its basket. At high altitude, the balloon punctured, but landed so smoothly, that the animals were not injured. Initially, it was planned to "fly" two prisoners, but due to the possibility of escape, they were replaced by the mentioned animals. Finally, in 1783 on November 21, the first people, to take off and land safely in a hot air balloon, were chemist Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier and royal guard officer Marquis Francois Laurent d'Arlandes. It happened in the western suburbs of Paris. From the castle, called "de la Muette", the hot air balloonists rose to a height of 915 meters and, after flying a distance of 9 kilometers, smoothly landed in an open area near the road to Fontainebleau. The flight lasted 25 minutes. Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier died in 1799. August 2, at the age of 54, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier - 1810 June 26, aged 69.

Two simple, colorful, well-designed models, that even a beginner and inexperienced modeler can put together without any help from more experienced colleagues. But working in a company is both more fun and simpler.