Fine ArtVintageFootageSubscriptionBoardsFree ResearchPricing
  • Fine Art
  • Vintage
  • Footage
  • Subscription
  • Boards
  • Free Research
  • Pricing

Historic Balloon Experiments

19th-century engravings of experimental balloon designs and uses, showcasing innovations in air travel and scientific exploration.

Balloon steering project by Tessiore in 1845 pulled by a tame vulture, France. Old 19th century engraving from La Nature 1887
Balloon steering project by Tessiore in 1845 pulled by a tame vulture, France. Old 19th century engraving from La Nature 1887
139 assets in this story
6145-52393711
Observatory. George's Hill. International exhibition, Philadelphia 1876. 27. still image. Stereographs, Photographs. 1876. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection. Pennsylvania, Exhibitions, Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)
1746-19690137
Abbe Soumille's seed drill. From ''Encyuclopedie'' by Diderot and d'Alembert, Paris 1751.
4220-21826266
The Annihilator rocket leaves Earth for Mars         Date: 1910
4409-17338098
Jules Verne (1828-1905). French writer. Illustration from the work From the Earth to the Moon, written in 1865. Engraving by Gerard, 19th century. Colored.
1746-19627268
General view of a gas works, showing retorts being charged. From Charles Partington 'The British Cyclopaedia', London, 1835. Copperplate engraving.
1746-19631841
Children watching an outdoor scene through a camera obscura. From A Ganot 'Natural Philosophy' London, 1887
1746-29014369
Engraving depicting the Canadian Eclipse Expedition preparing to observed the total eclipse of 1869 from Jefferson City, Iowa. Dated 19th century
4220-21861523
French scientist GAY-LUSSAC  makes one of his ascents at Paris - the first instance  of a manned aerial device  being used for scientific  purposes.     Date: 9 September 1804
4266-26400
Johannes Hevelius, Selenographia by Hevelius, Johannes (1611-1687)  Yale University  1647  Germany  Woodcut  Graphic arts  Portrait,Genre,History
1746-28997969
Engraving depicting Ernest Pétin's flying machine: Pétin, a Paris milliner r 'designed this machine in 1850 and, although it was never built, it had many features of later actual airships, such as air screws, gas bags, and a frame to accommodate passengers and engineers. Dated 19th Century
1746-2670
Jean-Dominique Cassini (c1670-1756) Italian-born French astronomer. Headpiece from his tables Astronomiques du Soleil de la Lune Paris 1740 showing telescopes being used at the Paris Observatory to observe Saturn, the moon, etc,
4409-162963
Jean-Pierre Blanchard's balloon ascent from the Champ-de-Mars, Paris, 1784. Woodblock engraving by H. Rousseau after Delang from Louis Figuier's "Les Merveilles de la Science: Aerostats" (Marvels of Science: Air Balloons), Furne, Jouvet et Cie, Paris, 1868.
1746-29014366
Engraving depicting the total solar eclipse of 1870. British Eclipse Expedition at Oran, unloading instruments and equipment. Team led by William Huggins. William Huggins (1824-1910) an English astronomer best known for his pioneering work in astronomical spectroscopy together with his wife Margaret Lindsay Huggins. Dated 19th century
6145-30210901
Representation of the aerostatic globe, which has risen from above one of the basins of the royal garden of the Tuileries, on December 1, 1783 ... (IT)
6145-29250223
Machinery used in China for irrigation. Coloured engraving by J. Pass, 1811.
4220-21859990
MOY AND SHILL'S PROJECT           An elaborate machine with  massive propellors and  relatively small wings       Date: 1874
6145-52394025
Corliss engine. still image. Stereographs, Photographs. 1876. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection. Pennsylvania, Exhibitions, Centennial Exhibition (1876 : Philadelphia, Pa.)
4220-21840485
The 'scow' - an alien  spacecraft from the planet  Clarion, with whose occupants  Truman Bethurum became quite  friendly      Date: 1952
1746-111344700
Engraving depicting the siderostat of the horizontal telescope. Dated 20th Century
4409-17404252
Design for The Magic Flute: The Hall of Stars in the Palace of the Queen of the Night, Act 1, Scene 6. Artist: After Karl Friedrich Schinkel (German, Neuruppin 1781-1841 Berlin); Karl Friedrich Thiele (German, 1780-1836). Dimensions: image: 9 x 13 3/4 in. (22.8 x 35 cm)plate: 11 3/16 x 15 3/4 in. (28.4 x 40 cm)sheet: 13 13/16 x 20 3/16 in. (35.1 x 51.2 cm). Publisher: Published by Ludwig Wilhelm Wittich (German, 1773-1832). Date: 1847-49.Schinkel, the most prominent and prolific German architect of the nineteenth century, also worked for Berlin's major theatrical stages. His designs for a 1816 production of Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte remain his best known. Inspired by the Masonic themes incorporated in the opera's libretto, most of Schinkel's sets are in a resolutely Egyptian style.The pair shown here at left evokes the land reigned over by the evil Queen of the Night; the two at right are for the opera's second act, when the princely pair Tamino and Pamina progress through the rea
5513-39741201
The Art of Cloud Analysis - How the United States Navy Uses Balloons to Gain Weather Information.The art of cloud analysis has been highly developed in America. particularly by the United States Navy which, with the aid of helium balloons, sends aloft delicate instruments which climb into the upper atmosphere at a speed of about 1,200 ft. per minute. The basic part of the cloud analyser. which with the aid of a transmitter sends to earth details of the height and density of clouds, is a piece of string saturated with a salt solution. As electricity passes through it a resistance reading is given, indicating the liquid-water content of a cloud. If the balloon passes through a dense cloud the string picks up moisture and becomes a Netter conductor of electricity. A low resistance indicates rain. An increase in resistance indicates a decrease in the amount of liquid water in the air. These same balloons of polyethylene, a fragile, plastic substance, are used by the United States Navy in
1746-30001462
Engraving depicting Reuben Jasper Spalding's method of an electrically driven ornithopter
1746-28997845
Engraving depicting Tissandier crashing his balloon. Gaston Tissandier (1843-1899) a French chemist, Meteorologist, aviator and editor. Dated 20th Century
6176-66091046
Dumont Atmospheric Turbine. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1883
4220-21833008
'THE WAR OF THE WORLDS'  Dead London, devastated by the  Martian attack       Date: First published: 1898
4220-21826563
(also known as Capitaine  Bord's project) - a brave  attempt at maximising lift,  M. Dorand's multiplane is one  of many projects of this era  which never leave the ground.     Date: 1908 - 1909
1746-21120490
Exploring the upper air with a weather box kite. The kite was released at Drexel Aerological Station and continuously read temperature, wind velocity, pressure, altitude, and time. From: 'The Boy with the U.S. Weather Men', 1917
4389-1397
Goddard with Rocket
4220-21826686
'TO MARS VIA THE MOON' (Mark Wicks) A spacecraft from Earth  overflies Mars : it bears a  remarkable resemblance to the  flying saucers of the 1940s.     Date: 1911
4220-21861521
French scientists GAY-LUSSAC  and BIOT conduct scientific  observations in a balloon at  4000 metres altitude ; later  they went even higher, up to  6500 metres     Date: 20 August 1804
6239-71008464
The experiment in full operation  | Library of Congress
1788-21787346
Gas balloons from the Gordon Bennett Cup, Paris, 1906, France, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XXXIV, No 1, January 6, 1907.
1746-30001938
Engraving depicting a mammoth skeleton in the Museum of Natural History, St Petersburg, with, centre and left, skeleton and model of modern elephant for comparison.
1746-19661194
Lhomme dans la Lune (The Man on the Moon) from the frontispiece of novel by Gonzales. Man uses two ropes to guide his aircraft powered by flying birds.  From Histoire des Ballons by Gaston Tissandier, Paris, 1887. Aviation
6177-V53865065
4409-162270
French locksmith Le Besnier and his flying wings of wood and muslin, 17th century. Woodblock engraving from Louis Figuier's "Les Merveilles de la Science: Aerostats" (Marvels of Science: Air Balloons), Furne, Jouvet et Cie, Paris, 1868.
1746-111906532
Photograph of an aperture synthesis, a type of interferometry that mixes signals from a collection of telescopes to produce images having the same angular resolution as an instrument the size of the entire collection. Dated 20th century
1848-51147103
Flying machine by Jacob Degen, hand-colored copper engraving from Friedrich Justin Bertuch picture book for children, 1807, Weimar, Germany, Europe
1746-30009826
K. E. Tsiolkovsky in his workshop with models of airships. (Photo).
PREVIOUS
of 2
NEXT
2401 S. Ervay, Suite 206
Dallas, Texas 75215
United States
Browse
CategoriesGalleriesFree Research
For Creators
License Your ContentSuperStock For StudentsFrame of Mind BlogContributor PortalNew Image SpotlightLicense AI Imagery
Resources
About UsLicensingTerms & ConditionsAPI AccessPrivacyPricing
Contact
+1 866 236 0087help@superstock.com Contact form
©2026 SuperStock. All Rights Reserved. -A
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.