Professor Samuel Archer King – Aeronaut

     Professor Samuel Archer King, (April 9, 1828 –  November 3, 1914), was one of America’s earliest and well known aeronauts who performed balloon ascensions all over the north east. 

     He made his first balloon ascension at Philadelphia on September 25, 1851 in a balloon he’d designed and constructed himself.  The take off was less than grand, for their hadn’t been enough gas to fill the balloon, but King took off anyway not wanting to disappoint the crown.  As the balloon began to rise, it struck an enclosure, then a bridge, and then some telegraph wires.  The balloon then came down in the Schuylkill River.  It then proceeded to bounce across the river  giving King a good dunking until it finally came to rest on the opposite shore. 

     On another ascension from Wilkesbarre, Pa., in 1855, King found himself over some thickly forested mountains looking for a place to land when the balloon became snagged in the top branches of a hemlock tree and was then driven into the branches of another tree.  The sharp branched caused the gas bag to burst and King fell 40 feet to the ground.     

     In August of 1857, King ascended from New Haven, Connecticut, with two passengers aboard.  Air currents blew the balloon out over Long Island sound and then eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean.  King managed to set the balloon down in the water and allowed it to be “dragged” by winds to a tiny unnamed island.  The men were rescued a short time later by a boat that had been following their progress. 

     On October 13, 1860, Professor King and photographer J. W. Black ascended over Boston in a tethered balloon.  It was during this flight that the world’s first aerial photograph was taken.  

     At the 1861 Fourth of July celebration held on the Boston Common, King ascended with four passengers.  Once the balloon rose, winds began carrying it towards Boston Harbor.  Not wanting to be blown out to sea, King made preparations to land on a small strip of sand at the shoreline.  After dropping ballast and releasing gas, the balloon began to settle towards the intended landing place, but as it neared the ground one of the passengers suddenly jumped out, which significantly lightened the load, and the balloon suddenly shot up again again and resumed its course over the water.  King knew that their only chance of survival was to all leave the balloon at the same time, and after dropping low enough, they all jumped and splashed down in the harbor.  The balloon continued on and was later recovered a few miles off shore by a passing boat.     

     The following year King made another July 4th ascension from the Boston Common with four passengers, and once again he was carried out over the harbor.  Fore more information, click here.

     Another adventure occurred while King was giving tethered ascensions at Melrose, Massachusetts, (Date Unknown), where the balloon was tethered to the ground by men holding it with ropes.  There King ascended with five women passengers.  Then someone lost their grip on a rope, which it seemed to set of  a chain reaction, and within seconds all men had let go, and the balloon sailed upwards.  Two women reportedly “clapped with joy”, which the others expressed concern.  King successfully brought the balloon back to earth about four miles away. 

1870 Advertisement

     On July 4, 1872 King was scheduled to take off from the Boston Common in his new balloon, “Colossus”, the largest balloon ever constructed up to that time.    https://newenglandaviationhistory.com/samuel-a-kings-balloon-colossus-1872/

     Professor continued to pilot balloons well into his 80s.  On October 27, 1907, King and four passengers took off from Philadelphia in the balloon “Ben Franklin“, said to be the world’s largest at the time, holding 92,000 cubic feet of gas.   They landed safely in Belchertown, Massachusetts. 

     Professor King passed away on November 3, 1914, at the age of 87.  Throughout his career he’d made 480 flights in a balloon.  

     Professor King had a son, Frank K. King, who was also an aeronaut.  

     Sources:

     The Charleston Daily News, (Charleston, S. C.), “Up In A Balloon – Perilous Adventures of an Aeronaut – A few Flights With Him “,  March 21, 1870

     The Birmingham Age-Herald, (Ala.) “The Oldest Aeronaut”, November 7, 1914, pg. 7

     The Waterbury Democrat, “First Aerial Photo Shown”, October 1, 1943.  

Samuel A King’s Balloon “Colossus” – 1872

Samuel A. King’s Balloon “Colossus” – 1872

Updated November 27, 2002

Advertisement from August, 1878      In January of 1872, famous aeronaut and balloonist Samuel A. King, (1828 – 1914), of Boston, began constructing what would be, when completed, “the largest balloon ever made in America”.  The name of the balloon was to be “Colossus”.

     The balloon, it was reported, would have a circumference of 191 feet, with a capacity to hold 100,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas.  It would require 1,200 yards of Lyman cloth to make, which would be custom manufactured for this specific purpose.  To give the balloon added strength, twenty-four bands of four-thickness cloth would encircle the sphere.  The entire balloon would be coated with an oil based varnish to make it air tight in order to prevent the massive amount of gas from wicking out through the fabric.

     The pilot and passengers would be carried in two custom made cars suspended beneath the balloon, with one car situated above the other.  The upper car would be smaller than the lower one.  The top car would carry scientific instruments and passengers, while the lower one more passengers and ballast.  The entire balloon, empty, would reportedly weigh between 1,400 and 1,500 pounds, and when fully inflated would have a lifting capacity of 7,000 pounds, which could equate to fifteen or twenty passengers. 

     It was expected that the Colossus would be completed in time for its scheduled inaugural launch from the Boston Common as part of the city’s 1872 Fourth of July celebration.   Construction would take place at Mr. King’s residence and workshop located at 179 Chelsea Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts.  

     On June 6, 1872, as the balloon was nearing completion, it was seriously damaged by fire.  Portions of the balloon fabric had been spread out on a vacant lot between Chelsea and Watts Streets where it had received the first of four coats of the oil-varnish.  As the fabric was left to dry, a storm approached, so workmen carefully rolled it up to prevent moisture damage.  At some point after the storm had passed, the fabric was unrolled, at which time sections were found to be on fire due to spontaneous combustion caused by solvents in the oil-varnish. 

     Professor King was away in Philadelphia at the time making arrangements for the completion of one of the passenger carrying baskets, and was notified of the setback by telegraph.  

     Fortunately the balloon was salvaged, and repairs completed in time for it’s anticipated ascension from the Boston Common on July 4th.   On that day thousands came to watch the event.  This was to be Professor King’s 164th balloon ascension, and he was going to take twelve passengers with him on this historic flight.  “In my judgement,” King told a reporter, “although you can’t depend much on the weather, we will find ourselves about ten o’clock to-night somewhere up in the mountains of New Hampshire.”  His comment about the unpredictability of the weather would prove to be prophetic.  

     Most of the twelve passengers were newspaper men, but at least one was a scientist from Washington, D.C., who planned to record atmospheric conditions with scientific equipment.   While the balloon was being inflated on the Common, at least four citizens approached King with cash offers if he’d take them along on the flight, but all were refused.    

     The scheduled time for lift-off was 4 p.m.  Shortly after 2 p.m., as the balloon was about 80% inflated with Hydrogen gas, a violent storm suddenly appeared, and when the sky opened up spectators were sent running for cover in all directions.  The strong winds whipped at the balloon which swayed back and forth tugging at its moorings.  Whether it was struck by lightning or not is uncertain, but suddenly there was a loud boom as the Colossus abruptly exploded.  The fabric was in shreds and the massive giant immediately fell flat on the ground.  One newspaper described the scene afterwards as such: (The balloon) “…lay inanimate on the earth a dirty mass of cotton shreds, dragged and slimy in the rain and mud.”

      Fortunately there were no reported injuries due to the explosion.

     Fore more information about Prof. Samuel King click here. 

      Sources:

     The Daily Dispatch, (Richmond, VA.) “A Colossal Balloon”, (Copied from the Boston Advertiser, May 23, 1872.     

     The Tiffin Tribune, (Tiffin, Ohio), “The Largest Balloon In The World Ruined By Spontaneous Combustion”, (Copied from the Boston Advertiser), June 20, 1872.

     The New York Herald, “Boston’s Big Gas Bags – Serious Catastrophes To Science In Boston”, July 5, 1872

 

 

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